The scientific activity of the Fondazione over the years has been based on a wide collaboration existing with the framework of the Elba Project, which results from a close and broad scientific and technological cooperation between the former USSR State Committee of Science and Technology and the Italian Ministry of University and Scientific-Technological Research.
The scientific activity of the Fondazione, initiated in 1994, continue successfully as evidenced by the list of scientific publications at the Research Laboratories of the Fondazione in Genoa (Italy).
A step forward in the development of the activity has been the opening of a laboratory of the Fondazione in Moscow, at the renowned Center "Bioengineering" of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which carries out research in the field of molecular biology, site-specific mutagenesis, and theoretical modelling of protein structures.
The proper scientific equipment of the Fondazione has been enhanced by the donation of an X-Ray small angle diffractometer by the Institute of Crystallography of the Academy of Sciences.
One of the main scientific results concern the field of thin films of biomolecules, where with the discovery of an incredible thermostabilization of protein structure and function up to 150° C conditions have been created for opment of most diversified gle-electron effects at room temperature in films formed by CdS particles is a step forwards in the creation of quantum transistors.
Of particular significance, is the application to biocatalysis in cooperation with a leading pharmaceutical company (Antiobioticos).
Collaboration with several industrial research labs in the field of atomic microscopy has also brought significant results. During 1995-96, the integration of efforts in the characterization of protein thin films effected with different methods (STM, AFM, STEM, X-Ray diffraction, ellipsometry, etc.) in collaboration with the University of Tokyo and the Nagayama ERATO Protein Array Project in Japan, has given new impulse to research of technologies suitable for the production of protein crystals.
The use of thin film technologies for the preparation of elements to be coupled to biosensor transducers permits to create a wide range of interchangeable elements for various applications in medicine, environment control, electronics and agroalimentary industries.