MICAMO

MICAMO LAB SRL is a biotech company, born as Spin-off of the University of Genoa. It was founded in 2011, dealing with food and environmental security. It gathers the competencies of several research groups, with a long experience in basic and applied research in the assessment of biological risk, associated both with the workplace and the food industry.
The company helps the customers to decrease their environmental impact by improving their processes and products through multiple and innovative biotechnological solutions.

MICAMO LAB works to increase the welfare of society, creating healthy and safe working places. MICAMO LAB contributes to improving the management of sidestreams in the food industry, ensuring the safety of the materials extracted from the byproducts. Side streams from agrifood productions are full of valuable components that can be exploited for many applications. MICAMO LAB uses its knowledge in circular economy to provide partners insight into opportunities for the optimum valorization of the side streams.

We develop your projects aiming to achieve top quality products and processes in a fully sustainable environment within the circular economy work-frame. Our RD team provides a wide range of specialized services to meet the complex and unique needs of your business. We can chemically and microbiologically evaluate your production sidestream to develop potential new flows. We help partners with green technologies to get the maximum from their secondary streams. We provide support at each stage to help a concept develop and grow into a product; from the monitoring of the supply chain to the analysis of risks and hazards.

Nowadays the food supply chain is now characterized by a production context in which food conservation and the reduction of food-related waste play a key role (Reg. EC N. 178/2002). The constant evolution of this field poses new problems and critical points that must be solved to guarantee the safety of the consumer

Within this context MICAMO LAB supports customers in several activities ranging from the formulation and implementation of sampling and analysis plans, to allergen analysis, drafting of HACCP manuals, evaluating the shelf life of packaged foods, and the prevention of food fraud through the identification of species using DNA barcoding techniques.

MICAMO LAB offers services for the evaluation of the microbiological risk in real-time, finding practical and effective solutions to support the companies concerned with food and environmental security. The innovative and quick services are offered to private companies, food industries, accommodations, thermal and hotel facilities managers, restaurant owners, shared structures, health-social-aid organizations, and in general to companies that need to estimate risks for microbiological contaminations. MICAMO LAB develops and actively participates in innovative projects aimed at food-related businesses for the upgrading of food safety and quality. Over the years MICAMO LAB has been involved in several UE-funded projects, playing a key role in the application of biotechnologies to the olive brine (STAMOIL), ensuring the quality of allergenic-free innovative products (TOMATO), and in the use of innovative technologies for the recycling of animal by-products (PRISMAMED).

The EU-funded EcoeFISHent project was officially launched in October 2021. This activity will develop innovative treatment and extraction technologies to process fish side-streams.

MICAMO LAB is the leading partner of the crucial Working Package for the transformation of byproducts and the extraction of raw material of high commercial value. In this project we offer our expertise in the microbiological field by analyzing and characterizing the samples through the whole transformation process from the fish and fishing side streams to the extract material that will be part of cosmetic and nutraceutical products.

Work Package

WP1, WP2, WP3, WP4, WP5, WP6, WP7, WP8

Team

Micaela Tiso

CEO

Graduated in biological sciences, PhD in biochemistry, with specialization in biotechnological applications. She has conducted research studies in numerous projects funded by public and private bodies aimed at improving the quality safety and enhancement of food products.

Consultancy for the preparation of analytical methods for the detection of GMOs, bound by the standards of the ARPAL Regional Agency for the Protection of the Ligurian Environment, and Responsible for the design of spaces for the Molecular Biology laboratory.
Responsible for the Planning, Implementation and Scientific Coordination of numerous professional refresher courses, aimed at employed in the research sector or in the official control sector; in courses for the dissemination of scientific culture aimed at both teachers and secondary school pupils.
Lecturer of numerous courses, always for the topics of his competence: Biochemistry, Cytology, Histology, Molecular Biology, Immunobiology and Food Safety. She has acquired skills in: Molecular Genetics; Genetic manipulation techniques; Mutagenesis techniques; Gene and protein sequencing techniques; PCR; Legislative aspects of biotechnology; Biochemical Engineering; Gene expression optimization; Cloning vectors.

Matteo Zinni

Report & data analysis

He holds a degree in Natural Sciences and Natural Systems Sciences at the University of Genoa; in the same university in 2018 he obtained his PhD by studying and numerically analyzing the invertebrate communities of the incoherent substrates of the Ligurian coast.

Since 2016 he has been regularly enrolled in the register of the National College of Agricultural Technicians and Graduated Agricultural Technicians. Over the years he has combined naturalistic expertise with data analysis that allowed him to deepen various aspects of statistics and modeling in the environmental and non-environmental fields. He has collaborated with various bodies in the field of terrestrial invertebrate monitoring. Author and co-author of peer-reviewed publications, he carries out the activity of reviewer for some magazines.
He has many years of experience in scientific dissemination. In MICAMO he combines his experience in the numerical analysis of data deriving from experimental work with the activity of environmental consultant mainly aimed at the agronomic-food sector and the development of circular economy projects through the use of invertebrates.

Furio De Vecchis

Enviromental consultant

Graduated in Biotechnology at the University of Genoa, he subsequently obtained a master's degree in Sciences and Technologies for the Environment and the Territory at the University of Milan-Bicocca.

Thanks to interdisciplinary studies and research projects, he acquired knowledge in different areas, including the environment, sustainability, food quality, medical-pharmaceutical sector. In MICAMO lab he works as an environmental consultant, quality consultant and as a project coordinator.

Valeria Mascarello

Food technologist

Graduated in Food Technology at the Department of Science for Food, Nutrition and the Environment of University of Milan.

She has had experience in university and private laboratories, both for the chemical and microbiological analysis of food and for the research activity with a view to circular economy for the enhancement of food waste products. She also had experience within food companies in the quality field.

Simone Raineri

Food safety specialist

He holds a degree in Biological Sciences and a 2nd level University Master's Degree in Biotechnology of food products at the University of Genoa.

He worked in important companies in the food sector in the role of quality manager. In MICAMO he works as a quality consultant, food hygiene and project coordinator.