Regional Institute of Wine and Oil

Irvos laboratory, collaborations with the universities of Perugia and Lisbon

Create a worldwide network of scientific research centers involved in the cultivation and testing of yeasts. This is the ambitious but feasible objective that emerged during the study day organized by the Regional Observatory for Biodiversity of Perugia to which IRVOS was invited with the specific desire to become aware of the progress made precisely in this field .

Since 2002, therefore ten years now, the Regional Institute of Wines and Oils of Sicily has been engaged on this front: “We started – explains the scientific director Daniele Oliva – with the search for Saccharomyces in the old wineries”. A research that led to great results, so much so that it was decided to continue with "studies on musts at the beginning of fermentation, - continues Oliva - an activity that saw us engaged from 2005 to 2007, up until the important discoveries achieved through research carried out on the island of Linosa starting from 2009”. Results all documented and which have aroused interest at an international level, gaining space in important magazines in the sector with three publications in 2012.

The conference which was held on 7 December at Villa Fabri, home of the Observatory for Biodiversity where for the first time in Italy research on yeasts began, so much so that it now constitutes a "biobank" at an international level given the collection acquired , was simultaneously satisfying and stimulating for the IRVOS scientific team. “Satisfaction because obviously we were invited to discuss our steps forward – comments Oliva – and stimulation because a virtuous collaboration is being established which could allow our laboratory to make a leap in quality in the name of research at the service of the wine sector and oil mill". In fact, the conference specifically emphasized the positive effects that scientific research can have on an economic level: “Better quality of wine – Oliva exemplifies – depends on the progress made by our experiments and research”. A research that now goes beyond national borders: for a few months IRVOS has started a collaboration on the comparison between the populations of Saccharomyces yeasts with the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Lisbon, in Portugal.