Nanotoxicology: Nanotechnology is expected to bring a fundamental change in manufacturing in the next few years and will have an enormous impact in life sciences and biotechnologies. It is common opinion that the field may be growing up too fast for its own good and that the regulators cannot keep pace with the release of new nanomaterials. The physicochemical properties that render nanoparticles so promising also make their potential health and environmental effects extremingly difficult to predict. Epidemiological and toxicological studies already indicate that nanoparticles represent an health hazard, but a more general environmental risk exists when such particles enter the environment or accumulate in the food chains. In this context, we are searching for new molecular markers that allow a precise and fast diagnosis of possible damages to the environment and human health. Environmental biotechnologies: The Frog Embryo Teratogenesis Assay-Xenopus (FETAX) is a powerful and flexible bioassay for developmental toxicants that makes use of the embryos of the anuran Xenopus laevis. FETAX is amenable to modification in several ways and to being integrated with molecular biology techniques that considerably increase its capability. As exposureto xenobiotics may alter gene expression and therefore mRNA and protein patterns, transcriptome and proteome modifications can be studied with the aim to obtain new insights on the mechanisms of embryotoxicity and teratogenesis or simply to obtain molecular markers of exposure useful in the early diagnosis of environmental stress. Animal biotechnologies: Our Research Unit is also involved in the study of the basis for a modern sustainable aquaculture. The identification and characterization of Best Farming Practices that optimise the fish welfare and minimize the “internal” as well as “external” impacts of the fish farming are part of the research activity. More specifically the research goals are: 1) the identification, with a functional genomic approach, of molecular markers that describe fish response to environmental conditions, nutritional and feeding strategies; 2) the development of low impact farming technologies; 3) the assessment of impacts in coastal aquaculture systems and development of biologic technologies as a mitigation approach.