Journal of Aquatic Pollution and Toxicology Open Access

Valerio Zupo

Biography

Valerio Zupo is an established scientist currently working at Section Integrated Marine Ecology, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Ischia (Italy) and Head of Unit Marine Resources for Research. His research interests in particular, we study the effect of benthic diatoms living on P. oceanica leaves on the process of sexual inversion of the Hippolyte inermis shrimp. Some compounds present in these diatoms induce a process of apoptosis in the testis of the shrimp, favoring sexual inversion. We have shown that diatom extracts are capable of selectively killing human solid tumor cells in vitro. The definition of the molecular structure of the active compound is still ongoing. Finally, some secondary metabolites activated by chewing and present in various plants can influence the ecology and behavior of various invertebrates and are also studied, also from the point of view of ocean acidification processes, which modulate the activity of various infochemicals.Therefore the relationships between plants and animals are studied through structural and functional studies and the latter are conducted taking into consideration the effect of secondary metabolites as modulators of the physiology of some invertebrates and as infochemicals, especially when their effects may lead to the development of new biotechnology in the field of human medicine and aquaculture

Research Interest

The cultivation and maintenance of marine organisms in captivity is essential for carrying out experiments and testing hypotheses on the role played by various algal-derived compounds on model invertebrates. We have developed various systems for the cultivation and maintenance of larvae and adults of marine invertebrates (one of them is currently under patent) and we breed micro- and macroalgae, as well as some decapods, molluscs and other marine invertebrates. Some of them are used to test the effect of secondary metabolites on model invertebrates.