University of Florence (UNIFI)

The University of Florence was established, with such denomination, in 1924, following the historical institute Studium Generale founded in the XIVth century. The University of Florence, comprising 12 faculties (Agriculture, Architecture, Economy, Engineering, Law, Literature and Philosophy, Medicine, Pedagogy, Pharmacy, Political Science, Psychology, and Sciences), is one of the major Italian research and education institutions with about 2,000 professors and researchers, 1,600 technicians and more than 1,900 PhD and post-docs. The University participates in NOMOREFILMS with its Department of Agrifood Production and Environmental Sciences. The Department includes seven sections, among which the Microbiology Section, that will actually carry out the work. The research topics in the Microbiology section are photosynthetic organisms physiology and mass culture, soil microbiology, and food microbiology. The group involved in NOMORFILMS has a solid expertise in microalgae and cyanobacteria physiology and mass cultivation as well as in photobioreactor design.

The main activity will be to establish in the laboratory the culture conditions that maximise growth and the synthesis of the product (or activity) of interest for a selected number of strains.