Molecular Biobased Approaches for Plant Protection

Challenges to agricultural production and plant health include climate change, novel pathogen emergence, contamination with toxins and pesticides.
Molecular knowledge is speeding up biobased innovation in agriculture opening novel market niches. Major technical advances are revolutionizing the ability to understand the processes of microbe interactions and pathogens adaptation in agricultural systems, leading to novel products for plant protection.
The objective of the course is to elucidate how molecular information on biological processes and interactions occurring in the agricultural environment can lead the development of biobased approaches for agriculture, focusing on the protection of plant health. The course will have 2 CFU dedicated to laboratory and field activities.

The students will learn how to select and apply molecular methodologies to be used for improving agricultural production and plant health and quality as well as how to extrapolate key information from scientific papers on these subjects.
It is expected that at the end of the course the students will be able to design theoretically a research plan focused on developing bio-based approaches to solve issues related to challenges in agricultural production based on the molecular background acquired.