Biology of marine invertebrates

CANDIA M. Daniela Candia

BONASORO Francesco

SUGNI Michela

1. Autotomy, regenerative and reproductive phenomena in echinoderms: mechanisms, processes, cell lineages (stem cells or not) and factors involved; effects of environmental stress (exposure to contaminants, ecc.).
2. Reproductive processes and hormonal control in echinoderms.
3. Cell cultures from echinoderm tissues.
4. Mutability phenomena in collagenous tissues  of  echinoderms and sponges (connective tissues and mesohyl): an integrated approach (morphological, physiological, biomechanical, biomolecular).
5. Mutable connective tissues and their components: an applied biomimetic  approach to  exploit marine-derived resources for the ex-novo design and development of biomimetic smart materials (films, scaffolds and substrata for cell culture studies, ecc).