Fondazione Umberto Veronesi has awarded Dr Carlotta Alias, researcher at the University of Brescia, a research fellowship within the “Post-Doctoral Fellowship 2026 – Experimental” call for the project “A new panel of foods from the Mediterranean diet as a DNA bioprotective tool against genotoxic effects of ultrafine air particulate matter (PM0.5): an in vitro study on human cells”. The aim of the project is to evaluate the ability of selected Mediterranean diet foods, particularly fruit and vegetables, to counteract or reduce the mutagenic and genotoxic effects of ultrafine urban air particulate matter (PM0.5). To this end, a panel of ten foods will be analyzed together with organic extracts of PM0.5 collected in Brescia, using short-term in vitro tests on human cell cultures.
The project is part of the broader study “PIANO B – Protecting against Air Pollution through Healthy Nutrition”, launched in April 2024 at the University of Brescia and supported by Fondazione Umberto Veronesi in previous years. The results of the research activities carried out within this framework have been presented at national scientific conferences and published in international scientific journals.