ENEA

Agenzia nazionale per le nuove tecnologie, l’energia e lo sviluppo economico sostenibile (ENEA)

Associated Member

ENEA is the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, a public body aimed at research, technological innovation and the provision of advanced services to enterprises, public administration and citizens in the sectors of energy, environment and sustainable economic development. The ENEA microbial collection has been created over 30 years by an interdepartmental team of researchers that has collected microbial strains (bacteria, fungi, microalgae, microbial consortia, virus) from different environments (contaminated sites, hypogea and archaeological sites, food, lake sediments, sea, soil, rhizosphere, water). The microbial collection has several environmental applications: i) sustainability and protection (soil, bioremediation, waste management, restoration of artistic heritage, biorefinery, reduction of climate-altering gas emissions), ii) plant disease suppression and plant growth promotion, iii) production of high-value and bio-based molecules (nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals, pharmaceutical, biofuels), iv) development of innovative vaccines, diagnostic systems and delivery of targeted cancer therapy (via the use of a vegetable virus). Of particular interest are the collection of microalgae located at the research center of Portici specialized in the extraction and characterization of high-value bioactive compounds from microalgae; the collection of Brindisi including microorganisms from several environmental sources capable of degrading/producing biopolymers from different matrices such as agro-industrial waste; the collection of Trisaia hosted at the Integrated Innovation Centre “Agrobiopolis” providing microbial strains with antimicrobial activity capable of inhibiting phytopathogen agents, yeast strains characterized for the production of bioethanol from different fermentable sugars, and filamentous fungi capable of synthesizing ligno-cellulolytic enzymes widely used in the production of biofuels from waste materials. ENEA laboratories are equipped with several cutting-edge facilities and service platforms, such as those for Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and metagenomic analyses, useful for the molecular characterization, identification, sequencing, fermentation and conservation of microorganisms. 

Key people:

  • Annamaria Bevivino
  • Massimo Iannetta