Research Fellowship
Biology and Evolution of Marine Organisms

Tel.: +39 081 5833276
Fax: +39 081 7641355
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Contatto Skype: carola.murano_1

Curriculum Vitae

Research Interests

My research activity is based on ecotoxicological studies of emerging pollutants and their effects  on marine organisms. In particular, my PhD research project concerns  the study of the potential effects of both micro and nanoplastics on the bioindicator Paracentrotus lividus. My interest is  to highlight the mechanisms of their uptake, toxicity and interaction at different levels of organization in adult sea urchin  through in vivo and in vitro experiments. My attention is mainly focused on the interaction of micro and nanoplastics  with the immune cells, the celomocytes, which are considered to be the sentinels of environmental stress. The oxidative and nitrosative stress status of the celomocytes is evaluated by biochemical assays, molecular biology and proteomic techniques that allow to identify the biochemical pathways involved in the sea urchin response to these emerging contaminants. The interest is also addressed to the activity of ABC transporters (ATP-binding cassette), which are an integral part of the xenobiotic resistance system known as multixenobiotic resistance (MXR). Another important aspect of this study is the formation process of the "protein-corona", a dynamic process through which nanoparticles are coated with proteins when are in contact with biological fluids, affecting not only nanoparticles behaviour but also proteins properties.