Academic Offerings: Postgraduate
PhD Programs

Analysis, Management and Protection of the Biodiversity Resources
School of Sciences in Varese

The Ph.D. Program is organized in a three year cycle of courses.. For admission, a Graduate level background knowledge in biology, ecology, biodiversity and statistics is required. Students are admitted in groups of 5 for each cycle, after a comparative admissions test, including written and oral exams. One of the positions is reserved for a non EU student. A grant is available for 2-3 positions.

Admitted students must submit a research project in one of the offered areas concerning topics as Aquatic Ecology, Aquaculture, Ichthyology, Botanic, Forestry and Parks Zoology, Microbiology, Population Genetics, Ecotoxicology. Besides the research activities, students are required to follow a program of lectures and seminars.

The following list reports some of the most recent research in progress and/or carried out by the Ph.D. students:

• Phylogeography of the endemic white-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes species complex) and of rudd (Scardinius erythrophtalmus). Results achieved by analysing different segment of mitochondrial DNA (cyt-b and 16S mt DNA) show different patterns of past range dispersion caused by river connections occurred during Pleistocene.
  
• Development of microsatellite markers to analyse genetic variability within and between populations of perennial herbaceous species of the Alps with different biological and bio geographical characteristics (Primula glaucescens, Sesleria varia, Carex austroalpina).
  
• Minimisation of the internal and external impacts, with improvement of fish welfare, in coastal Mediterranean Aquaculture. In this research, molecular descriptors of fish welfare are applied in a functional genomic context. Forecast models and innovative biotechnological solutions are utilized to control the release of nitrogenous compounds.
  
• Study on the biology and welfare condition of Perca fluviatilis colonizing a small pre-Alpine lake. The specie autoecology, plus the study of molecular descriptors of the fish responding to environmental pressures, including food availability, are part of the research.
  
• Modeling, by theoretical molecular descriptors and chemometric methods as predictive Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships (QSAR) models, of Persistence of chemicals in different environmental media, their Bioaccumulation and Toxicity  in living organisms.
  
• Investigation on role of plant biomass in the overall mass balance of organic contaminants in the environment. The final goal is to clarify the influence of vegetation in depleting atmospheric concentrations of  persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
  
• Isolation and characterization of ecofunctional genes and enzymes from high GC Gram positive bacteria for ecological and bioremediation studies.
  
• Bio climate interpretation for potential vegetation modelling, plant communities and ecosystem functions analysis (biodiversity, vegetation dynamic carbon cycling etc.) mostly using the tool of plant functional types and strategies.
  
• Biodiversity of the cyanobacterial mats forming community. The interactions among micro organisms and the surface molecules involved in the organizations of the communities are studied also like new drugs with specific antinflammatory action.
  
• Habitat evaluation models and decision support systems for the planning and management of wildlife and natural resources. Analysis and conservation of animal biodiversity relative to terrestrial vertebrates using “model” species linked to typical landscape or habitat types, with particular interest in problems related to alien invasive species.
  
• Analysis of animal biodiversity for a sustainable use of wildlife in the Maasai area of Mount Meru (Tanzania).
  
• Analysis of the process which regulate the pathologic alterations induced by parasitoid insects in their hosts. These studies can lead to the identification of new molecular systems displaying potent and selective insecticide activity.
  
• Evaluation of xenobiotic embryotoxic activity on Xenopus embryos obtained by the test FETAX (Frog Embryo Teratogenesis Assay-Xenopus). Analysis of gene expression to obtain new insights on the mechanisms of embryotoxicity and teratogenesis.

Director: Professor Marco Saroglia