PHD STUDENT
assunta.russo(AT)ipsp.cnr.it
publications: –
personal details and activity: –
Curriculum Vitae
In 2019, I achieved my master’s degree in Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Rome ”Campus Bio-medico”. This academic career allowed me to carry out, from 2018 to 2019, an Internship for Master thesis degree (Title: ”New approaches for the selective transcriptome sequencing and analysis in the Botrytis cinerea-grapevine pathosystem” at the Research Institute, Edmund Mach Foundation, San Michele all’Adige (TN). I worked in the Genomics and Biology of Fruits Crop Department where I developed a transcriptome enrichment procedure for the pathogen in infected plant material based on a subtractive hybridization protocol and evaluated for the preparation of an amplified cDNA library to be subjected to the Oxford Nanopore MinION sequencing technology, providing a new tool in the area of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)-based experiments for plant pathogen interaction studies.
Actually, I’m a Ph.D. student in Sustainable Agricultural and Forestry Systems and Food Security from Agriculture Department at University Federico II of Naples in collaboration with IPSP-CNR. My research activity aims to characterize the functional basis and metabolic pathways of the complex network of trophic interactions and signaling among plants, soil beneficial microorganisms, pests and their natural antagonists, in order to develop bio-inspired strategies and technologies for sustainable protection plans of agricultural productions.
My experimental activity is about the evaluation of the impact of Trichoderma harzianum and Beauveria bassiana on the phenotypes and physiology of tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum) through non-destructive (in vivo) measurements of:
• Primary metabolism: it includes the study of photosynthesis, photorespiration, mitochondrial respiration and the evaluation of photosynthetic limitations thanks to a portable systems of simultaneous analysis of gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence (Heinz Walz GmbH Effeltrich, Germany):
• Secondary metabolism: by studying the blend and amount of emitted volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with PTR-ToF-MS (Proton Transfer Reaction Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectrometry).