News

The Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences (ICEHT) participated in the 83^th Thessaloniki International Fair within the stand of the General Secretariat for Research and Technology (GSRT). The Fair was held from 8 to 16 September, 2018.

 ICE-HT participated with the demonstration of the Precision Agriculture methodology for the standardized quality control of plant crop and product using metabolomics and systems biology approaches. The methodology has been developed by the Metabolic Engineering and Systems Biology Laboratory, headed by Dr. Maria Klapa, Principal Researcher of the Institute. Τhe methodology is highly innovative and uses the high-throughput analysis of the concentration profile of small molecules in biological tissues (leaf and/or root in the case of plants) and the plant product (metabolomics) in combination with computational methods of bioinformatics and systems biology for the study of the stress factors in plants and how they affect the plant physiology and the product quality. The metabolic profile can be used for the systematic monitoring of the quality of the crop and the product, assisting in the early diagnosis of the stressful conditions and the design of actions to counteract them during the plant culture.   The methodology is part of the research field of Precision Agriculture and Systems Agro-Nutrition. It has been applied to tomato cultures in commercial green house in the context of the national project NSRF-Collaboration I: PHYTOALATOTITA. A relevant video was presented at the Fair.