Ongoing funded projects

Project: MENTORING - Addressing Malnutrition and mEtabolic health in Non-communicable diseases ThrOugh pRecIsion Nutrition: impact in quality of life and proGnosis of lung cancer patients.

Call: HORIZON–EIC–2023-PATHFINDERCHALLENGES-01

Duration: 2024-2028

PI: Pedro Mena

HNU Partecipants: Alice Rosi, Federica Bergamo, Francesca Scazzina, Letizia Bresciani, Claudia Favari, Daniele Del Rio

Other partecipants: Marcello Tiseo, Marco Ventura, Francesca Turroni (Microbiome Research Hub, UNIPR), Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Parma, IMDEA Alimentación (Spagna, coordinatore), German Cancer Research Center Heidelberg (Germania), I3S – Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde dell’Università di Porto (Portogallo), Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems (Germania)

Web site: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/how-to-participate/org-details/999999999/project/101162297/program/43108390/details

The MENTORING project aims to improve the nutritional and metabolic status of patients with lung cancer through a personalized nutrition approach. Specifically, the project seeks to provide tailored nutritional recommendations in line with the established nutritional treatment guidelines for individuals undergoing oncology care for lung cancer, ultimately enhancing their quality of life.

Project: MoreMedDiet- More on the adoption of a healthy Mediterranean diet

Call:PRIMA - Initiative Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area, Section II, 2022

Duration: 2023-2026

PI: Gianni Galaverna

HNU participants : Alice Rosi, Federica Bergamo, Francesca Scazzina, Perla Degli Innocenti, Nicola Luigi Bragazzi

Other participants: Martina Cirlini, Cristina Mora, Giovanni Sogari, Audrey Cavalieri – UNIPR (Italy), Universidad de Extremadura, Departamento de Producción Animal y Ciencia de los Alimentos - UEx (Spain), CICYTEX Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas de Extremadura (Spain), Damanhour University - DU (Egypt), Centre de Recherche Institut Paul Bocuse (France), JASSP SAS (France), Télécom Sud Paris, École de Institut Mines-Télécom (France), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per la Bioeconomia - CNR-IBE (Italy), Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Agrarie, Alimentari, Ambientali e Forestali - UNIFI-DAGRI (Italy), Instituto Politécnico de Leiria, Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre -  ipleiria-MARE (Portugal), Université de Tunis El Manar – UTM (Tunisia), Aydın Adnan Menderes Üniversitesi (Turkey)

Web site: https://x.com/moremeddiet  

The MoreMedDiet project aims to promote the adoption of the traditional Mediterranean Diet in different population groups. This goal wants to be achieved through the creation of healthy and tasty recipes considering consumers' ideas and suggestions while raising awareness of the overall benefits of the Mediterranean Diet.

Project: PREDICT-CARE - Developing tools for the PREDICTion, at individual level, of the CArdiometabolic REsponse to the consumption of dietary (poly)phenols

Call: ERC Starting Grant 2020  (cordis.europa.eu/project/id/950050)

Duration: 2021-2025

PI: Pedro Mena

HNU participants: Cristiana Mignogna, Maria Sole Morandini, Cristiano Negro, Joana Maria Santos Rebelo, Claudia Favari, Vicente Agulló, José Rinaldi De Alvarenga, Letizia Bresciani, Laila Guimaraes Zeraik Cardoso, Elisa Monica, Nicola Bragazzi, Alice Rosi, Nicole Tosi, Francesca Scazzina, Sara Dobani, Elisabetta Viale, Costanza Michelini, Furio Brighenti, Daniele Del Rio.

Other participants: Other Participants: Ruggero Bettini, Annalisa Bianchera, Ilaria Zanotti, Chiara Dall’Asta, Valeria Barili, Riccardo Bonadonna, Alessandra Dei Cas, Valentina Spigoni, Raffaella Aldigeri, Massimo Corradi, Silvia Ranzieri, Alessandro Barbarese, Marco Ventura, Francesca Turroni (UNIPR), Davide Martorana (AOUPR), Rosalia Aloe (Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Parma), Ruggero Bettini, Federica Bergenti, Giulia Frigeri, Patrizia Riso, Cristian del Bo', Monica Laureati, Camilla Cattaneo (University of Milano), Michele Vacca (Roger Williams Institute of Hepatology), Raúl Domínguez-Perles (CEBAS-CSIC).  

Web site: hnu.unipr.it/en/predict-care/

The ERC PREDICT-CARE project aims at implementing integrative tools for the prediction, at individual level, of the cardiometabolic response to the consumption of dietary (poly)phenols, taking into account inter -individual differences in both metabolism and health effects of these plant food bioactives. The project consists of two intervention studies, one in acute and one under chronic conditions, and the development of an integrative,
high-throughput platform. A top-research project on personalised nutrition with plant bioactives.

Click here for further info.

Project: ItPrePlate project – Development of the Italian Pregnancy Plate, a new educational tool for Italian pregnant women

Call: Bando di Ateneo per la Ricerca 2023 Azione B: progetti annuali riservati a ricercatori T.D. DR 438 prot. 53353 del 16.02.24

Duration: 2024-2025

PI: Alice Rosi

HNU participants : Francesca Scazzina, Silvia Callegaro, Beatrice Biasini, Elena Bertolotti

Other participants: Giovanni Sogari, Giulia Andreani

The main objective of this project is creating an evidence-based, educational tool to help Italian pregnant women eat properly. ItPrePlate will provide practical information on how to combine foods in the various meals, choosing different foods along the week to get the wide range of nutrients pregnant women need to match their increased nutritional requirements.  

Project: COFFEAT - Role of coffee circulating metabolites in the regulation of the epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) pro-atherogenic properties: a fat-depot specific approach to reduce coronary atherosclerosis

Call: PNRR-M4C2- I1.1 – MUR Call for proposals n.104 of 02-02-2022 - PRIN 2022 - ERC sector LS4 - Project Code 2022NZNZH8 - CUP Code D53D23014440006 - Funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU

Duration: 2023-2025

PI: Daniele Del Rio

HNU participants : Pedro Mena, Lorena Sánchez Martinez, Cristina Del Burgo

Other participants: University of Padova (Italy, Coordinator), National Research Council (CNR), Università "Magna Graecia" di Catanzaro (Italy)

The overall objective of COFFEAT project is to determine whether and how coffee circulating metabolites affect the physiopathology of

human epicardial adipose tissue and whether they inhibit the epicardial adipose tissue-related pro-atherosclerotic effects. The properties of selected coffee circulating metabolites will be directly tested and characterized in cultures of human epicardial adipose tissue and monocytes samples collected from CAD patients and in cell cultures of adipocytes and monocytes.

Project: NOVELTY - AcorN: a forgotten resource to be rediscOVered and valorizEd in the production of good and heaLThY foods

Call: PNRR-M4C2- I1.1 – MUR Call for proposals n. 1409 del 14-09-2022 - Bando PRIN 2022 PNRR - ERC sector LS9- Project Code P2022N57PN- CUP Code D53D23022000001- Funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU.

Duration: 2023-2025

PI: Letizia Bresciani

HNU participants : Daniele Del Rio

Other participants: University of Camerino (Italy, Coordinator), University of Milan (Italy)

Social media: NOVELTY

NOVELTY project aims to promote the recovery of acorn for the production of food products for human consumption through a few main activities: a) Characterization of commercial acorn

flour from a nutritional and technological point of view; b) production of acorn flour based-food products; c) nutritional composition,

bioactive compounds and contaminants analysis as well as technological quality and sensory acceptability of derived acorn products;

d) validation of acorn flour and related products as food with potential health benefits through in vivo test in the model of Drosophila melanogaster (both wild type and engineered to develop Alzheimer disease).

Project: 4-SEASOMed  - Discovering the role of SEASOnal dietary choices on Mediterranean diet adherence and effect on human microbiota

Call: PNRR-M4C2- I1.1 – MUR Call for proposals n.104 of 02-02-2022 - PRIN 2022 - ERC sector LS4- Project Code 2022A34JY8 - CUP Code D53D23014160001 - Funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU

Duration: 2023-2025

PI: Letizia Bresciani

HNU participants: Alice Rosi, Nicole Tosi, Federica Bergamo, Arianna Gallina

Other participants: Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Italia, Coordinatore), Università di Catania (Italia), Neuromed (Italia)

Social media: 4SEASOMed 

4-SEASOMed is a multi-center observational study which aims to assess the adherence to a seasonal diet, mainly for fresh fruit and vegetables, in a cohort of Italian adults involving 3 different areas (North-Centre, Centre-South and South Italy), monitoring the dietary habits across the seasons, to establish the association between the adherence to a seasonal diet, the Mediterranean Diet, and lifestyle habits. Moreover, the impact of adhering to a seasonal diet will be evaluated for its ability to modulate microbiota composition and microbiota derived metabolites.

Project: CARE-DIET - CArdiometabolic REsponse to plant-based DIETs at individual level: deciphering the complexity of plant bioactives

Call: FARE Ricerca in Italia: Framework per l’attrazione ed il rafforzamento delle eccellenze per la Ricerca in Italia - III edizione (2020)

Duration: 2022-2026

PI: Pedro Mena

HNU participants: Maria Sole Morandini, Cristiano Negro, Joana Maria Santos Rebelo, Cristiana Mignogna, Claudia Favari, José Rinaldi De Alvarenga, Costanza Michelini, Vicente Agulló, Letizia Bresciani, Laila Guimaraes Zeraik Cardoso, Elisa Monica, Nicola Bragazzi, Alice Rosi, Nicole Tosi, Francesca Scazzina, Sara Dobani, Elisabetta Viale, Furio Brighenti, Daniele Del Rio.

Other participants: Riccardo Bonadonna, Alessandra Dei Cas, Valentina Spigoni, Raffaella Aldigeri, Marco Ventura, Francesca Turroni (UNIPR), Rosalia Aloe (University Hospital of Parma), Raúl Domínguez-Perles (CEBAS-CSIC).

CARE-DIET aims to develop a holistic framework to unravel the effect of plant bioactives on cardiometabolic response at individual level, deciphering the complexity of the interactions among different dietary components, the gut microbiome, and host physiology. CARE-DIET adds an improved, more complete dimension to the ERC PREDICT-CARE project, beyond (poly)phenols, considering also carotenoids, phytosterols, glucosinolates, alkaloids, thiosulfinates, and alkylresorcinols and other dietary components able to modulate the gut microbiome and interact with the host physiology.