Production and Analysis of Natural Products of Extractive and Fermentative Origin

The main educational objective of the course is to provide the necessary knowledge to understand the principles governing fermentation processes in industrial production and to illustrate and discuss the most important analytical approaches used for the analysis of extraction or fermentation products of herbal, cosmetic and nutraceutical interest.
The teaching part on the production of fermented products aims to give an overview of the entire fermentation process of plant matrices and waste biomass, starting with the choice of microorganism, culture and fermentation technique. Through the knowledge of the metabolic pathways of the microorganisms used, the necessary skills to understand how the components present in the matrix are modified during the fermentation process and with what benefits will be acquired. During the lectures, the analysis of some industrial processes aimed at the production of primary and/or secondary metabolites will contribute to provide the skills to analyse criticalities and propose interventions to solve problems or improve the process.
With regard to the analytical part, the course's first objective is to provide knowledge of the main methods for the analysis of phytoderivatives. The subsequent training objective is to provide the student with a general understanding of the most modern instrumental analytical approaches and their applications to identify, characterise and assay analytes in plant matrices.
The teaching is therefore designed not only to transfer to the student the knowledge necessary to understand the analytical methods and their applications for the analysis of drugs and extracts according to the current pharmacopoeia, but also to provide those methodological tools useful to develop analytical methods for quali and quantitative analysis on the basis of the structure of the analytes, the matrix and the required sensitivity.
During the course, classroom computer lessons will be offered in order to provide skills in processing the analytical data obtained from the instrumental methods covered in the theoretical part. In order to make the notions provided by the theoretical course comprehensible and immediately verifiable, in the laboratory exercises with single-place activities, part of the methodologies discussed will be carried out in practice so as to allow a concrete knowledge of the analytical techniques and the functioning of the analysis instruments. The practical activities will also be aimed at learning the correct use of the main laboratory instruments.
In the concluding part of the course, applications of analytical techniques capable of qualitatively and quantitatively following the various steps of production processes will be discussed, thus integrating the different aspects of the course.

At the end of the learning process, the student must
-know the characteristics of the microorganisms most commonly used in fermentation processes and their metabolism
-understand the changes to the components present in the fermented matrix of plant origin
-know the different phases of fermentation processes in the production of raw materials and finished products of herbal, cosmetic, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical interest
-know and be able to put into practice the most important analytical applications described in the current pharmacopoeia for the analysis of drugs, natural extracts and fermentation products
-know the most modern instrumental analytical techniques,
-understand phytochemical analytical problems and design possible solutions by applying not only the knowledge acquired in the course but also that obtained from the other degree courses.
The student must therefore demonstrate during the exam a full ability to address and solve a range of problems related to the fermentation process and the most suitable analytical techniques for quali and quantitative determination. He/she will also have to demonstrate communication skills through the use of correct and appropriate terminology.