Italy
Turin University:
The University of Torino (UniTo), established in 1404, is one of the most ancient and prestigious Universities in Italy. It hosts about 70,000 students, 4,000 academic, administrative and technical staff and 12.300 graduate students. In different areas in Torino and key places in the Piedmont Region, the University of Torino can be considered as “city-within-a-city”, promoting culture and producing research, innovation, training and employment.
UniTo carries out scientific research and offers over 150 undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses in almost every field of study. UniTo is deeply involved at international level, through the participation of its professors and researchers in international projects, the establishment of joint educational courses, such as bi-national degrees and international PhD programs, through the subscription of formal cooperation agreements (roughly 700) with Universities and Institutions all around the world. It has a long tradition of hosting international visiting professors, researchers and students and thanks to International funding many mobility programs are available. In the last years, UniTo has been fostering the strengthening of its internationalization policy through the promotion of mobility projects, such as UNI.COO Project (a student mobility program on international and development cooperation with African, Latin American and Asian countries), TeachMob and WWS projects for the attraction of Visiting Professor and Visiting Scientists.
UniTo is deeply involved in scientific research and manages roughly 500 projects per year, both at national and international level. The long record of participation of UniTo in the EU strategic research agenda results from 115 FP7 funded research projects, among which 33 UniTo - coordinated projects and 9 ERC grants as host institution, along with 46 H2020 funded projects up to February 2017.
Mario Baratta
Mario Baratta is Full Professor in Veterinary Physiology at the University of Turin. He took MVD at University of Parma (Italy) and PhD in "Neuroendocrinology in farm animals" University of Bologna (Italy). Seconded national expert in the panel “ Animal Health and Animal Welfare at EFSA (European Food Safety Agency), member of the European Biotechnology Network and member of European Network granted by EU: COST FA 1308 “ Dairycare: bringing welfare into focus” where he works in the working groups on biomarkers and biosensors in animal welfare. He is Coordinator of the Graduate School in Veterinary Science for Animal Health and Food Safety, University of Turin and President of the Italian Society of Veterinary Physiology (www.sofivet.it). Member of the editorial board of Journal of Dairy Research; reviewers of EU grants; Israel Research Foundation; Indian Science Foundation; Great Britain BBSRC; Italian MIUR; Strategic Grants of University of Padua and University of Pavia (Blue Sky Research foundation), ANR (French Agence Nationale de la Recherche).
His research projects concern: i) new biomarkers on mammary gland functionality in dairy cows, ii) new biomarkers and biosensors in stress checking in ruminants; iii) MicroRNAs as biomarkers in differentiate muscle in cattle; iv) the role of adult mammary stem cells during lactation in dairy cow .
Luca Battaglini
Full Professor in Animal production in mountain environment and Livestock farming systems. Member of NatRISK ¬Research Center on Natural Risk in Mountain and Hilly Environments The research activity mainly concerns livestock farming systems sustainability for land conservation, cattle, sheep and goats breeding, milk and cheese production.
Main field of interest of the scientific production are: i) sustainability and ethics of livestock farming systems for land conservation and characteristics of typical products (milk, cheese, meat); ii) variation factors of milk yield and quality in dairy cow, sheep and goat; iii) pasture systems and their influence on animal production in hill and mountainous environment; iv) sustainability of livestock systems in marginal area; v) characteristics and products' quality of local breeds.
He is member of the Consultative Technical Committee of the Consortium for the saving of local sheep breeds in Piedmont and the EurSafe (European Society for Agricultural and Food Ethics). Member of Scientific Committees (Commissions Environmental impact of livestock, Ethics of animal production and Landscape) for the Scientific Association of Animal Production (ASPA). Member of the Board of Directors of the Society for the Study and Promotion of Alpine Livestock Systems (www.sozooalp.it).
Elisabetta Macchi
Assistant professor in Veterinary Physiology in the Dept. Veterinary Science. Her main research interests are: i) the evaluation of welfare of livestock animals in different housing conditions: non invasive monitoring of behaviour and endocrine responses ; ii) evaluation of welfare of animals employed in Animal Assisted Activities (AAA) and Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT); iii) eco-ethological, physiological and endocrine evalutaion of reproductive biology and welfare in wild species. She has teachings in Veterinary physiology and ethology courses; Applied Ethology and Behavior and animall welfare in breeding management of dogs and cats.
Silvia Miretti
MVD in Veterinary Medicine, University of Turin and MVD in Laboratory Animals Science and Medicine, University of Milan, Italy, Assistant professor in Veterinary Physiology, Dept. of Veterinary Science, University of Turin, Italy. Research interests: i) hormonal changes linked with environment stress/welfare conditions in stocking animals (hormones analysis on different substrates such as faeces, hair coat, and saliva); ii) adult stem cells, bovine skeletal muscle and microRNAs; iii) mammary gland growth factors and signal transduction Primary teaching area: Applied Ethology: behaviour and welfare of confined and domesticated animals, including farm, companion, and laboratory animal species.
Tiziana Civera
Full professor of Food Hygiene and Inspection at the University of Turin. The main research lines cover the safety and hygienic control of dairy and meat chains, as far as biological risks are concerned. Collaborate with competent authorities and food producers to improve food safety through analytical and operational tools. She collaborates with the Piedmont Veterinary Service the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Piedmont, Liguria and Valle d'Aosta in the development of application-oriented research projects as well as drafting of Regional surveillance plans. The main collaborations involved research on the characterization of Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, Yersinia in meat and dairy production.
Alberto Brugiapaglia
Alberto Brugiapaglia graduated with a M.Sc. degree in Agricultural Sciences with an Animal Science specialization and obtained a Ph.D. on meat sensory evaluation from the University of Torino, Italy. He performed postdoctoral research on meat quality from double-muscled cattle. Since 1988, he has been associated with the Department of Agricultural, Forest, and Food Sciences of the University of Torino where he was promoted to assistant professor and then to associate professor. He is responsible for teaching general and advanced courses in meat science and technology and meats laboratory. He was among the founders of the Italian Association of Meat Tasters. Since 2012, he is Vice-Contact Person for Italy of the International Congress of Meat Science and Technology (ICoMST). His main research interest focus on ante and post-mortem factors that affect live performances, carcass composition and meat quality of different species. More recently, he has investigated the genetic and genomic basis of beef quality.
Mario Giacobini
Mario Giacobini Degree in Mathematics at the University of Turin, PhD and post-doc in Computer Science at the University of Lausanne (CH), now Associate Professor in Computer Science at the Department of Veterinary Sciences at the University of Turin, where he leads the Data Analysis and Modeling Unit. His research interests concentrate on Artificial Life, both as bio-inspired computational techniques - mainly Machine Learning and Evolutionary Algorithms and their application to biodata mining - and as modeling of biological phenomena - ranging from Epidemiology to Molecular Biology - mainly using concepts and instruments of Network Science. His didactical activity focuses on the management and analysis of data in Veterinary Sciences, from the undergraduate to the post-graduation levels
Giovanni Perona
MVD in Veterinary Medicine (2001), PhD in Animal Production at the University of Turin (2005), Giovanni Perona has been researcher at the “Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique” (INRA) of Clermont Ferrand (France) in 2003. Currently he is responsible of the Teaching Farms of the University of Turin and health manager of the Experimental Stable Case of sheep, goats and pigs at the same University.
