LIFE RESILIENCE
Prevention of X. fastidiosa in intensive olive & almond plantations applying productive green farming practices (LIFE17-CCA/ES/00030-RESILIENC)
Develop and test 10-20 new olive cultivar that will be resistant to Xylella fastidiosa, with good agronomic characteristic and compatible with intensive production systems. The tests will be carried out in infected field (in Italy) and uninfected regions (Spain).
General objectives
The project will:
- Evaluate and crossbreed pathogen-resistant olive varieties as resilient options for olive producers in potentially infected areas, minimizing the risk of losses due to XF and other pathogens. These new olive varieties can create different olive oils with new organoleptic qualities, increasing the competitiveness in the sector.
- Demonstrate sustainable best practices and technologies for intensive Mediterranean olive and almond production systems, on 250 ha in Spain, Italy and Portugal, that lower their water consumption and carbon footprint, increase biodiversity and resistance to pests/pathogens without compromising yield.
- Provide a replicable model of best practices for olive, almond, and other woody crops such as citrus and grapevine production systems in Europe, increasing their capacity to adapt to CC and future epidemics to be replicated ten-fold (2500 ha) during the project.
- Involve multidisciplinary actors in transnational collaboration to provide new prevention strategies and EU policies for uptake.
Role of the University of Cordoba
The University of Cordoba will carry out trials for olive breeding with the objective of developing new varieties that will be able to resist this deadly disease.
Investigador Principal: Diego Barranco Navero
Correo electrónico de contacto: ag1banad@uco.es
Página web del proyecto: http://www.liferesilience.eu/
LIFE ReNaturalNZEB
Recycled and Natural Materials and Products to develop nearly zero energy buildings with low carbon footprint (LIFE17-ENV/ES/000329)
This Project aims to identify natural and recycled construction materials and related technologies to develop and popularize the NZEB with low carbon footprint in Spain and Portugal.
There will be built 11 demonstrators to check hypothesis and results either in residential, industrial and public buildings. Furthermore, labelling criteria, recommendations and regulations needed to introduce the low carbon construction as a new compulsory requirement in the development of architecture in the regions participant in the project will be develop.
General objectives
- Development of a construction model of nearly zero energy building with low carbon footprint and low cost using green and circular economy criteria. The decreased embedded energy and CO2 emissions will be more than 60% and the reduction of weight of more than 20% both compared to actual construction standards. This new model is only 25% more expensive than the nowadays building average costs.
- Introduction of sustainable construction materials and technologies «close to the market» such as kenaf insulation, rice husk composite materials and biomass ash in concrete structure.
- Promotion of sustainable construction technologies with low market rate in Spain and Portugal such as wood structure, windows and finishes, compressed earth block structure, cork insulation, olive kernel biomass, clay wall panels and sustainable green roof/façade.
- Building 10 prototypes (2,000 m²), in existing and new constructions, with the natural and recycled technologies selected in the project. They have different typologies, sizes and uses to test the viability of those technologies in different scenarios.
- Decreasing the energy demand in buildings using envelopes made with recycled and natural materials. The energy demand of the building will be 10% of the current average in Portugal and Spain building stock. This construction model building demand will be lower than the recommendations published by EU in 2016/1318 (29th of July 2016) for Mediterranean countries: 0-15 kWh/m² year for dwellings and 20-30 kWh/m² year for offices.
- Dissemination of proposed technologies. Hosting workshops, courses, technical talks and ads in media highlighting the long term environmental and economic advantages compared with the current construction standards.
- Promotion and dissemination of nearly zero energy buildings in Portugal and Spain. Visiting the prototypes, promoting their replication and the use of the technologies with low carbon footprint and circular economy.
- Development of technical documentation, regulations, recommendations and urban regulations to reduce embodied energy in construction and promote the use of construction technologies based on recycled and materials.
Role of the University of Cordoba
- Promotion of sustainable construction technologies with low market rate in Spain and Portugal such as wood structure, windows and finishes, compressed earth block structure, cork insulation, olive kernel biomass, clay wall panels and sustainable green roof/façade.
- Develop technical documentation, regulations, recommendations and urban regulations to reduce embodied energy in construction and promote the use of construction technologies based on recycled and materials.
Investigador Principal: Marta Conde García
Correo electrónico de contacto: marta.conde@uco.es
LIFE LIVE-ADAPT
Adaptation to Climate Change of Extensive Livestock Production Models in Europe (LIFE17 CCA/ES/000035)
This project try to implement solutions for the Adaptation of Extensive Livestock farms to Climate Change
General objectives
- The demonstration of innovative technologies and practices on field for the adaptation of extensive livestock exploitations to Climate Change. This objective includes the testing of innovations for the improvement of water collection and use, the improvement of livestock management using ICT technologies, and the improvement in the quality of pastures and biodiversity in extensive exploitations for the new climate scenario.
- The Identification, adaptation and transference of Best Practices for the efficient adaptation of extensive livestock exploitations to Climate Change in Europe. These BPs will include solutions for energy efficiency, energy production, pastures and land management, livestock management, wastes management, water management, agro-forestry management, desertification, animal health, biodiversity improvement, and the valorization and marketing of eco-products produced in extensive exploitations.
- The Definition of innovative updated business models for extensive livestock exploitations adapted to the Climate scenario, including cooperation with other sectors such as tourism, and considering all environmental, economic and social factors. Actions within this objective include the Improvement in the promotion of “extensive” products as environmentally friendly and high quality products with added value in the market, together with the use of Short food chain distribution and the promotion of a change in the consumption model of citizens.
- Training and advice to farmers for the efficient adaptation to Climate Change of their extensive exploitations using ICT tools, and creating an open and dynamic course in a MOOC platform, available for everyone Objective 5 Definition of an Action Plan for the Adaptation of Extensive Livestock Production models in Europe including a proposal for policies, based in Participatory processes in Spain, France and Portugal, but involving experts from all over Europe.
Role of the University of Cordoba
The University of Cordoba role is to coordinate the project and to contribute to achieving the general objectives.
Investigador Principal: Vicente Rodríguez Estévez
Correo electrónico de contacto: pa2roesv@uco.es
FOUNDATION
Fusarium oxysporum mediated underpinning of cell type-specific modulation in multiple host interaction (H2020-MSCA-IF-2016-75066)
Fungi have a devastating impact on human nutrition and health. Each year, fungal pathogens provoke enormous agricultural losses in crop plants and contaminating food with harmful mycotoxins.
The soil-borne fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum infects plant root and vascular tissue, causing wilt disease in over a hundred different crops, including both dicots and monocots. A particular aggressive strain of this pathogen, tropical race 4, is threatening banana plantations worldwide. Currently, there is little information on the crucial biotrophic infection stage of vascular pathogens, from penetration of root to colonization of xylem vessels.
Fusarium provides an excellent model to investigate the cell-specific sensing and adaptation and suppression of plant immunity related to early infection stages. The host group has recently reported the chemotrophic sensing mechanism used by this pathogen, and identified host plant signals perceived by Fusarium in the soil.
Moreover, their work revealed a combined action of enzymes involved in fungal cell wall remodelling and plant cell wall degradation which contributes in virulence of this pathogen. In this project, we aim to identify the cell-specific virulence genes that F. oxysporum uses to colonize a dicot host (Arabidopsis) versus monocot (Banana) that has a fundamentally distinct vascular tissue architecture.
We will use dual RNA-Seq coupled with Laser capture microdissection (LCM) to identify core compatibility components in both the pathogen and the plant, that are essential for establishing wilt disease. This will lead to identification and characterization of potential targets in this interaction that could be used to develop novel resistance strategies in ongoing banana breeding efforts.
This project will thus advance fundamental knowledge of how a fungus senses and colonizes such a broad host range, while creating new opportunities for crop protection by dissecting the interaction at a cell-type specific resolution.
General objectives
- Cell-type specific fungal and host transcriptome of F. oxysporum f. sp. conglutinans and Arabidopsis to identify the crucial compatibility components in Fox interaction.
- Understanding the fungal cell wall remodelling during colonization of Arabidopsis (dicot) versus Banana (monocot).
- Elucidate the mechanism of orientation to xylem vessels by Fusarium in Arabidopsis (dicot) versus Banana (monocot) by establishment of CRISPR-Cas and generation of deletion mutants.
Supervisor: Antonio C. Di Pietro e-mail: ge2dipia@uco.es
Investigador Principal: Amey Redkar e-mail: amey.redkar@tsl.ac.uk
FAME
Fatty Acid Metabolism – Interlinking Diet with Cardiometabolic Health (ERA-NET JPI HDHL/PCIN-2016-084)
The overall objective is to use existing biobanked samples and dietary and phenotype data from cohort studies and randomized controlled trials to, a) identify novel lipidomics biomarkers of cardiometabolic health which could replace or be used in addition to fatty acid profiles as more sensitive biomarkers of status and of future cardiometabolic clinical events, b) establish relationships between whole diets and specific foods with tissue status of fatty acids as explanatory factors for diet relationships with cardiometabolic health, and c) to investigate genetic determinants of fatty acid status and metabolism which modify the physiological effects of dietary intake.
Results of the project may contribute to the refinement of, current food and nutrients based dietary guidelines, e.g. with regard to dairy intake, PUFA intake and plant-based diets and the targeting of intervention strategies aimed at improved cardiometabolic health to those most at risk and/or likely to benefit.
General objectives
- WP1 – FA metabolites from lipidomics as novel biomarkers of cardiometabolic health. It will evaluate novel lipidomic markers as risk factors for cardiometabolic health/risk. Dietary FA intake is hypothesized to affect FA partitioning across different lipid families. Cardiometabolic risk will be investigated in terms of cross-sectional relationships between lipidomic markers and CVD risk factors as well as prospective analyses with regard to T2DM risk. Furthermore, we will investigate if relevant lipidomics markers can be modified by specific dietary interventions.
- WP2 – Identification of FA biomarkers of dairy intake and their interaction with health markers. The objectives of WP2 are threefold: 1) we will use data from human FA intervention RCTs, that used dairy in dietary manipulation, to determine whether FA such as C15:0, C17:0 and trans-palmitoleic acid are biomarkers of dairy SFA intake; 2) we will then determine whether changes in these FA and other trans-FA and SFA are related to cardiometabolic health/risk using both CVD and T2DM endpoint measures and risk biomarkers; and 3) lipidomic analysis will be performed (as described in WP1) and combined with phospholipid FA data to determine whether any novel biomarkers of cardiometabolic health include dairy SFA.
- WP3 – Identification of genetic and dietary modulators of response to dietary FA intake. It will evaluate genetic and dietary modulators of response to dietary FA intake. We will concentrate on dietary intake of polyphenols as well as genetic variants involved in PUFA metabolism. These potential modulators are hypothesized to modify the response to dietary intake of FAs in terms of their effect on FA composition and cardiometabolic risk.
Investigador Principal: José López Miranda
Correo electrónico de contacto: md1lomij@uco.es
Página web del proyecto: https://fame.dife.de/
DIRECTION
Deciphering of Root and Rhizosphere microbiome to increase host fitness in the Fusarium oxysporum-plant interaction (H2020-MSCA-IF-2017-EF-CAR-7972)
Fungi have a devastating impact on human nutrition and health. Fungal pathogens provoke huge yield losses in crops, destroying around 23% of the agricultural production annually. A major proportion of this loss is caused by pathogenic root colonizing microbes that have evolved sophisticated strategies to outcompete the benign microbial competitors in the rhizosphere and to actively suppress the plant immune response.
The fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum (Fox) is a soilborne root infecting fungus that provokes vascular wilt disease in over a hundred different agricultural crops, and represents a serious threat world-wide. The current control methods for this pathogen depend upon extensive use of chemical pesticides, which are highly unsustainable in the food chain. Here we propose to use the Fox-tomato interaction as a model to molecularly dissect the role of the root (including endophytic) and rhizosphere microbiota in modulating vascular wilt disease.
We will use a barcoded pyrosequencing approach to taxonomically define the root and rhizosphere microbiome in tomato. Next, we will dissect the impact of the microbiome on fungal host sensing, using an established collection of isogenic signalling mutants of Fox available in the host lab. We will carry out in vivo Fox- bacterial interaction assays to generate a dataset for identification of bacterial communities exerting an antagonistic effect on pathogen colonization.
The project will thus produce new insights into the interplay between the root microbiome and pathogen colonization. The, generated knowledge platform will be used to reassemble a synthetic ‘SynCom’ microbiome that will be used to control Vascular Wilt, thereby advancing the development of sustainable agriculture.
General objectives
- Define the culturable microbiomes from healthy and infected tomato plants upon interaction with F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici and define tomato specific microbial differentials.
- To understand the effect of major identified bacterial root and rhizosphere phyla on F. oxysporum-tomato interaction in vitro and in vivo by using an isogenic Fox mutant collection from host lab.
- Generate a complete Core synthetic microbiome community to resist F. oxysporum in tomato and determine its modulation by standard soil parameters such as pH and fertilizer application.
Supervisor: Antonio C. Di Pietro e-mail: ge2dipia@uco.es
Investigador Principal: Mugdha Sabale e-mail: sabale.mugdha@gmail.com
BIOMASSTEP
Development and transfer to bioenergy companies of an innovative Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIR) technology for rapid and economic analysis of the quality of local biomass in the cross-border network (INTERREG-POCTEP 0022_BIOMASSTEP_5_E)
This project aims to promote the use of biodegradable biomass generated in the southern area of Andalusia and Portugal as bioenergy. To this end, this project will develop rapid and economic analysis models based on Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIR) technology, which will allow the quality of the biomass and its future use to be determined quickly. This means a saving in costs and time compared to conventional techniques of analysis of the biomass and will speed up the decision-making process.
General objectives
- Through the official characterization of local biomass, the optimization and development of a rapid, non-polluting and innovative analytical methodology, based on the application of NIR technology, for the prediction of quality parameters of this waste will be carried out.
- Technology transfer of the developed tool to enhance the innovative capacity of the activities of biomass companies, so that results of the research can be exploited commercially, and process added value (quality biomass) may be generated.
- To develop a cross-border network between research centers, universities, public administrations and companies to promote the use of quality biomass.
Role of the University of Cordoba
- Development of NIR chemometric models for the prediction of physicochemical parameters of local biomass quality.
- Transfer of NIR technology to SME in the bioenergy sector.
- Intellectual property protection/patent application.
- Coordination of the overall project.
Investigador Principal: Pilar Dorado Pérez
Correo electrónico de contacto: qf1dopem@uco.es
Página web del proyecto: www.biomasstep.eu
ALGARED+
RED transfronteriza para el desarrollo de productos innovadores con microALGAs (INTERREG-POCTEP 0055_ALGARED_PLUS_5_E)
This project aims to:
- Promote scientific excellence in the Andalusia-Algarve transboundary cooperation area in the field of Microalgae biotechnology, through the creation of a transnational network of Universities, centers of R+D+i , technologists centers and companies dedicated to research, production and exploration of microalgae biomass, enhancing its international competitiveness.
- Stimulate the mobility of researchers and technicians between R & D centers and companies on both sides of the border.
- Enhance the transfer of know-how generated to companies to the incipient sector of biotechnology of microalgae.
- Collect the needs of the business sector to promote projects.
General objectives
- Promote scientific excellence in the field of microalgae biotechnology in the cross-border area
- Promote joint cross-border investigation Universities / companies / technology centers in the area of microalgae
- Promote the transfer of know-how and the technology generated for the companies of the sector of the biotechnology demicroalgas of Andalusia and Algarve.
Role of the University of Cordoba
Understanding and optimizing the key metabolic pathways involved in the assimilation of nutrients, production of bioenergy and the synthesis of compounds of interest for microalgae and the development of new applications for aquaculture based on microalgae
Investigador Principal: Emilio Fernández Reyes
Correo electrónico de contacto:bb1feree@uco.es
Página web del proyecto: http://www.algared.com/
AQUACLEW
Advancing QUAlity of CLimate services for European Water (ERA-NET ERA4CS/PCIN-2017-072)
The current work to develop climate services indicates that the following crucial improvements are required to increase user adoption and satisfaction: (a) indicators and resolution of the indicators given by the service needs to address a wider range of user needs; (b) large-scale climate service data should be more reliable at the local decision scale and (c) guidance and visualization tools in the services should better reflect the wider range of user needs. In AQUACLEW, research addressing these improvements will be co-developed considering user inputs to further integrate users across the whole chain of climate service production. This means users are updated on the latest scientific knowledge; better understand potentials or limitations of the data and can influence (choose between) assumptions made in each step when producing the service output.
General Objectives
The overall goal of AQUACLEW is to use innovative research techniques and integrated co-development with users to advance the quality and usability of several climate services for several water related sectors.
Role of the University of Cordoba
Our university leads WP1 “User needs” and therefore it is in charge of developing advanced feed-back loops along the whole chain of information production, to better understand user needs. In addition, UCO participates actively in the others work packages. In WP2, UCO is involved in the different proposed experiment to improve data quality (i.e. climate and hydrological model selection, and application of expert elicitation techniques in the context of climate services); in WP3, UCO leads one of the study cases “Drought and Water resource allocation for tourism, agriculture, energy sectors”; and WP4 contributes in the definition of the key performance indictors to quaintly the success in the project.
Investigador Principal: María José Polo Gómez
Correo electrónico de contacto: mjpolo@uco.es
Página web del proyecto: http://aquaclew.eu/
HiPerNav
High Performance Soft-tissue Navigation (H2020-MSCA-ITN-2016 -722068)
Primary liver cancer, which consists predominantly of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), is the fifth most common cancer worldwide and the third most common cause of cancer mortality. A successful surgical resection of HCC requires complete removal of the tumour while sparing as much healthy tissue as possible. Due to technical and clinical difficulties relatively low percentage of patients are eligible for resection. There is an urgent need to increase the patient eligibility and improve the survival prognosis after liver interventions.
HiPerNav will train early stage researchers (biomedical engineers and medical doctors) to become international leading in key areas of expertise through a novel coordinated plan of individual research projects addressing specific bottlenecks in soft tissue navigation for improved treatment of liver cancer. The multidisciplinary dialogue and work between clinicians and biomedical engineers is crucial to address these bottlenecks. By providing researchers with knowledge and training within specific topics from minimally invasive treatment, biomedical engineering, research methodologies, innovation and entrepreneurship, the link between academic research and industry will be strengthened. This allows for easy transfer of promising results from the research projects to commercially exploitable solutions.
The global image guided surgery devices market is promising; it was valued at USD 2.76 billion in 2013 and is projected to expand 6.4% from 2014 to 2022 to reach USD 4.80 billion in 2022. The market for soft-tissue navigation is still in its infancy, mainly due to challenges in achieved accuracy for targeting deformable and moving organs.
By providing multi-disciplinary training, the researchers in this consortium of international leading research institutions, universities and industry will initiate true translational research from academic theoretical ideas to the clinical testing of prototype, developed solutions and tools.
General objectives
The overall goal of HiPerNav is to successfully train and educate ESRs in the multidisciplinary field of image-guided interventions. The scientific and clinical goal is to develop a navigation platform for management of liver cancer and metastases treatment to improve the eligibility and prognosis for liver surgical procedures and ablation treatment. This platform should enable an integral management of surgical workflow in: preoperative surgical planning, intra-operative resection navigation and ablation monitoring and post operative quality control.
Role of the University of Cordoba
To provide detailed understanding of treatment planning and navigation workflow in order to verify which visualization interfaces enable the most intuitive and fail-safe data interpretation and decision making.
Serve as the foundation of the software and interface architectures.
Supervisor: Joaquín Olivares Bueno e-mail: el1olbuj@uco.es