Determine and assess benefits/impacts and trade-offs of agroecology, and identify best practices
Our expertise and interest is in alignment with the Agroecology call topics; we evaluate the agricultural wastes as source of bio-active compounds and we tested their effects in:
• in vitro studies on primary immune cells (lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophils) from blood and immune organs (spline, ganglions) – in order to assess the systemic immune response
• in vitro studies on human and porcine epithelial cells lines (epithelial cells: IPEC-1, Caco2, HT-29 MTX etc.) – in order to evaluate the intestinal barrier functions and local immune response
The barrier functions can be evaluated by assessing:
- epithelium integrity: trans-epithelial electrical resistance (TEER) and dextran passage measurement,
- epithelial cell proliferation illustrating the epithelium regeneration
- epithelium secretory capacity: cytokine production.
• Molecular biology - assessment of genes expression of various biomarkers that are relevant for immune response and physiology of cells and tissues (blood, organs, etc.): cytokines, enzymes, signalling molecules, various proteins and receptors, etc., used to elucidate the metabolic pathways and influence of various factors (feed, environment) on animal performance and health, etc.
• Proteomic – evaluation of proteins profile in blood, cells & tissues (various applications relevant to animal health and animal production) by protein array, western blot, ELISA, etc.
• Phytochemistry - assessing the bioactive compounds (e.g. polyphenols) from plant/plant extracts / feeds to evaluate their antioxidant capacity and activation/inhibition of various metabolic processes, etc.
• In vivo studies on pigs to assess the effect of feed ingredients (e.g. bioactive compounds: polyphenols, polyunsaturated fatty acids, peptides) on the gut as the main target for gaining knowledge on effects of new/alternative antimicrobials. Samples from different regions of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of pigs subjected to in vivo treatments will be used to assess the different aspects of the intestinal barrier epithelium function. Expression of inflammatory markers and antioxidant/detoxifying enzymes (GPx, CAT, SOD) will be measured by real time PCR, western blot, ELISA etc.
The Institute of Biology and Animal Nutrition (IBNA - Balotesti) is the only one National Institute in the field of animal science in Romania, performing complex research-development activity in biology and nutrition of all species and categories of farm animals (from research to extension). The scientific research developed in our institute covers among others: investigation in animal physiology and nutrition to valorize local feeding resources and new feeds, to increase farm animal competitiveness on the market and the quality of animal products; biology studies: relationships nutrition-immunology; biomarkers in response to feed. The research activity of our institute is conducted mostly within the National Plan of Research – Development and Innovation through various financing programs (20-30 projects running). The institute has also been involved in international projects (FAO, Word Bank, EU-FP6-FP7, Horizon 2020, Life, COST networks, regional & bilateral projects).