Biological Data Capturing and Handling

Area 05 – Scienze biologiche

The most important question is “what is happening?” and then “how is it better to act?” and not “which is the numerical output of the instruments?” or “which is the correct result of the experiment?”. In this guide students get suggestions on how to plan experiments and to practise different methods to collect and handle data obtained from biological samples in laboratory activities with animals of interest in ecotoxicology and ecophysiology. The students can see the difficulties and problems of a correct method of investigation. During the acquisition of the data and the analysis of the results, some problems usually appear: therefore, the students have to formulate considerations in order to solve such problems and optimize the experiment.Marziale Milani is currently Professor of Physics at the Material Science Department, University of Milano–Bicocca. He is lecturing on “Laboratory of Measurements” for Biological Science and “Physics and Application of Lasers” for Optics and Optometry at the same University. His main research field cover laser physics, synergetics, metabolomics and submicron imaging and manipulation of soft matter by focused ion and electron beams.Damjana Drobne is Associate Professor for General zoology and Ecotoxicology at the University of Ljubljana. Dr. Drobne obtained Doctors degree in Biology. Her research activities during the past 15 years have included evaluation of sublethal histological and physiological responses of terrestrial isopod crustaceans to metals and pesticides. Recent work is focused on the use of light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy techniques to investigate effects of stress at cellular and tissue level.Grazia Santisi is a student of Biological Science at the University of Milano–Bicocca. She is involved in the investigation of the interaction between light and biological system metabolism. Model systems are yeasts and terrestrial isopods exposed to electromagnetic radiation or chemicalphysics xenobiotics.Primos Zidar is Assistant for General zoology at the University of Ljubljana. Dr. Zidar obtained Doctors degree in Biology. He has been active in the development of test methods on terrestrial isopods for the assessment of metal and pesticide toxicity. His key areas of study have included physiological and behavioural biomarkers of toxicity in terrestrial isopods.

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