From plant-based foods to metabolic health: CNR’s role in the NutriEV project
The NutriEV project explores the role of nutritional extracellular vesicles (nutriEVs) in gut health and metabolic regulation. By studying nutriEVs derived from raw and fermented foods, it aims to uncover their mechanisms in nutrient delivery to cells and their effects on obesity and metabolic disorders.
With this ambitious objective, the NutriEV project brings together expert partners in nutrition science, microbiome research, glycan analysis, molecular biology, nanotechnology, biosensors, organoid technologies, and clinical research. Among its key contributors is the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR – National Research Council of Italy), the country’s largest public research institution and the only one under the Ministry of Research conducting multidisciplinary activities. CNR operates through 106 institutes to drive innovation, enhance national industrial competitiveness, provide technological solutions for public and private sector needs, advise the government and public bodies, and contribute to human resource development. With over 8,000 employees—more than half of whom are researchers and technologists—CNR also supports around 4,000 young researchers in postgraduate studies and training within its priority research areas.
CNR promotes research activities in biomedical sciences, chemical sciences and material technology, physics and matter technologies, earth and environment, engineering, ICT and energy, social sciences and cultural heritage, as well as biology, agriculture, and food sciences.
In NutriEV, CNR is responsible for isolating and characterizing nutriEVs from plant-based foods high in carbohydrates, proteins, and micronutrients, and determining their surface membrane composition. CNR will produce EVs from selected raw and fermented model plant-based foods, providing bulk biomaterial for the rest of the consortium and setting up cell cultures for plant EV production. To achieve this, two CNR teams from different institutes under the Biology, Agriculture, and Food Sciences Department have joined forces to develop and study nutritional extracellular vesicles (EVs).
THE INSTITUTE OF BIOSCIENCES AND BIORESOURCES (IBBR)
The Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources (IBBR) conducts basic research on the biology of model species and organisms of agricultural and natural interest. IBBR-CNR also investigates the molecular and genetic basis of agro-food production and focuses on the sustainable management of bioresources in the biomedical, biochemical, and environmental fields. IBBR-CNR has five divisions spread across the national territory (Florence, Naples, Palermo, Perugia, and Portici). The main research activities of IBBR’s Naples division are dedicated to understanding the genetic, molecular, and biochemical mechanisms that regulate the life processes of cells, microorganisms, animals, and plants, applying this knowledge to nutraceuticals, biomedicine, ecology, and industrial biotechnology.
The Extracellular Vesicles and Mass Spectrometry Laboratory (EVs-MS) of CNR-IBBR is located in Naples and focuses its research on EVs from natural resources, such as plants, plant cell cultures, microalgae, and fermented foods. EVs-MS has expertise in the isolation, characterization, transformation, and exploitation of EVs, and the laboratory is well equipped for EV research. Gabriella Pocsfalvi, research director at CNR and group leader of the EVs-MS Laboratory, has over 30 years of experience in developing mass spectrometry-based analytical methods. In the last 15 years, her research has advanced the transformation of plant-derived EVs (PDEVs) and nanoparticles (PDNPs) into vectors for molecular delivery. Within the NutriEV project, Pocsfalvi leads WP1, which is dedicated to the isolation and characterization of EVs from plant-based foods rich in carbohydrates, proteins, and micronutrients, as well as the determination of their surface membrane composition. Using the expertise accumulated by the EVs-MS research group, plant cell suspension cultures for EV production will be established, and various methods for EV isolation will be adopted to provide well-characterized biomaterial for the other work packages.
Ani Barbulova (Postdoctoral researcher) has extensive expertise in the development of in vitro plant cell cultures and their industrial valorisation in the cosmeceutical field. She is the project manager of the Extracellular Vesicles Farming (FarmEVs) HE-MSCA-Se project, coordinated by CNR. She has knowledge in the isolation and characterization of EVs from plant cell suspension cultures. Part of the team involved in the NutriEV project is Immacolata Fiume, an experienced analytical chemist with a strong background in protein sequencing and mass spectrometry-based proteomics. Yu-Hsin Chang holds an MSc in physics, and her research focuses on isolating PDEVs and PDNPs using microchip technology and tangential field filtration, as well as their physicochemical characterization through interferometric light microscopy and other techniques.
THE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCES OF FOOD PRODUCTION (ISPA)
The Institute of Sciences of Food Production (ISPA) is a globally renowned centre of excellence in scientific research, innovation, and technology transfer, aimed at improving the safety and quality of agro-food products through multidisciplinary and innovative approaches, including biotechnologies, advanced diagnostics, and sustainable agricultural production systems. By creating synergies between scientific research and the production sectors through the transfer of scientific knowledge, CNR-ISPA fosters technological innovation paths for small, medium, and large national and international agro-food enterprises. With a staff of 137 members, including 100 researchers, ISPA’s headquarters is located in Bari, with secondary locations in Sassari, Turin, Milan, Foggia, and Lecce. CNR-ISPA’s activities are supported by innovative infrastructures owning advanced equipment for microbiological, chemical, molecular and proteomic, immunoenzymatic, toxicological and agronomic analyses on plant and agri-food matrices. Additionally, CNR-ISPA manages a microbial culture collection certified to EN ISO 9001:2008, containing about 13,000 strains of agro-food interest. It is a member of the European Culture Collection Organization (ECCO) and participates in the European Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure (MIRRI) project.
Vincenzina Fusco, senior researcher at ISPA in Bari, holds a PhD in Food Science and Technology. Her expertise lies in food microbiology and molecular biology applied to food science and technology (Open Researcher and Contributor ID, ORCID: 0000-0002-5608-7657). Within NutriEV, Fusco leads task 1.2, focusing on the production of EVs from fermented vegetable foods. She will isolate lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from plants, vegetables, and berries, then genotype and phenotypically and genomically characterize them to select technological and probiotic strains for EV isolation and fermented vegetable/fruit production. Fusco also leads task 3.1, which investigates the antimicrobial activity of raw and fermented food-derived EVs in vitro and in a gut inflammation model, targeting foodborne pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli O157:H7. This work is carried out by Fusco’s team, including Marco Montemurro, a researcher at ISPA (Bari) with a PhD in Soil and Food Sciences (ORCID: 0000-0002-8095-3279), and Daniele Chieffi, a research assistant at ISPA (Bari) with a PhD in Soil and Food Sciences (ORCID: 0000-0002-0532-2020) and Anna Licitra, a research assistant expert in the genomics of bacteria of agri-food interest (ORCID: 0009-0002-1689-6481). Daniele Chieffi and Marco Montemurro are food microbiologists with expertise in the isolation and characterization of probiotic and technological lactic acid bacteria for use as starters or adjuncts in the production of probiotic fermented foods, food safety, and human nutrition.
CNR’S IMPACT ON THE NUTRIEV PROJECT
CNR’s contributions to the NutriEV project are pivotal in advancing the understanding of nutritional extracellular vesicles (nutriEVs) and their potential in addressing metabolic and gut health challenges. Through its expertise in cutting-edge research across multiple disciplines—ranging from molecular biology and nanotechnology to food science and microbiome research—CNR plays a crucial role in isolating, characterizing, and harnessing the power of nutriEVs from plant-based foods. By combining its state-of-the-art laboratories and the collaborative efforts of its skilled researchers, CNR is not only contributing valuable scientific insights but is also ensuring that NutriEV’s innovative findings have a lasting impact on the future of nutrition, health, and disease prevention. With a commitment to pushing the boundaries of research, CNR is shaping the way health and nutrition are approached in an increasingly complex and interconnected world..
In addition to CNR, the NutriEV consortium includes the University of Oulu, the Technische Universität Braunschweig, the University of Copenhagen, and Zabala Innovation.
