The study of physiology, genetics and ecology of lactic acid bacteria in the gastrointestinal and food environments, with the aim of establishing and optimizing their role in human health, industrial processes and food quality.

Design, development and biochemical, physico-chemical and nutritional assessment of value-added cereal-based goods. Research is tackled by means of a basic approach for chemically understanding the functionality of cereal constituents in complex matrices. The fundamental information is focused/oriented to the achievement of end cereal products easily transferred and exploited by the related industry. This integrated global approach is devoted either to generate basic knowledge or to transfer obtained results efficiently to the industry.

Trace Elements group performed since 1990 integrated assessments of risk/benefit associated with the presence of toxic trace elements and their chemical species in foods, being remarkable the research conducted for arsenic and mercury. The group works in various fields: development of analytical methods, characterization of trace elements in food consumed by the population, intake assessment, bioavailability studies using in vitro models, studies of uptake and intestinal transport, evaluation of the toxic effects on the gastrointestinal tract of toxic elements.

This research group focusses on the philological analysis, study and interpretation of Greek and Latin texts from the Antiquity to the Early Modern period, in two main areas: 1. Greek Philology and Lexicography, and 2. Latin Philology and Biblical Studies. Reference works (critical editions, translations, commentaries, dictionaries, bibliographies) together with studies on Greek and Latin linguistics, lexicography, textual criticism, epigraphy, literature, classical reception, etc. form its main scientific output.

This group focuses on the study of cultural production and transmission processes within the Mediterranean during the medieval and early modern periods. Its members work with written sources in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, and Romance languages, from a multi-linguistic and transcultural perspective, based on the same methodological assumptions. Their research interests are structured around the following axes: 1. Religious and intellectual history of Mediterranean societies. 2.

The Group is devoted to the historical study of medical and scientific practices and knowledge production in urban settings, grounded in the solid tradition of the IMF in the field. Particular attention is paid to: 1. Knowledge and practices produced and enacted in specific spaces: museums, hospitals, etc., 2. Processes in which professional groups (physicians, naturalists) and communities of different sorts (patients, publics) interact. 3. Practices and knowledge using instruments, generating different representation devices (printed texts, maps, graphics). 4.

Cataloging and critical study of music sources, historical study of performance practices, editing and performance practice of Hispanic historical musical heritage, as a cultural value oriented towards social development.

Improve the plant growth by using rhizosphere fungi with biofertilizers and biorremediation capabilities.

This research Group carries out basic and strategic studies on the ecology, physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, functional genomics and biotechnology of arbuscular mycorrhizas, in relation to nutrition and protection of plants against biotic and abiotic stresses, and their contribution, in interaction with other soil micro-organisms, to the recovery of degraded ecosystems and conservation of threatened flora, and as an alternative to the excessive use of agrochemicals in agriculture.

The research group aims to develop production systems for ruminants which are sustainable, efficient, with minor environmental impact, yielding high nutritive quality and consumer-healthy products without compromising animal welfare. The activities focus on the nutrition of the ruminant and work on develop feeding strategies to lower the cost of the diet and paying special attention on the optimization of the ruminal fermentation.