The major outstanding challenges of orbi-virus vaccine research is to develop vaccines that can afford a broad protective immune response against as many serotypes of each virus as possible, and to develop a high throughput DIVA assay (e.g. an ELISA). This project will use a coordinated multi-partner approach to address these issues, to develop new experimental prototype vaccines and diagnostic approaches.
BaSynthec will combine computational and experimental biology approaches with novel high-throughput methodologies to reduce and modify a la carte the chromosome of Bacillus subtilis, a genetically tractable bacterium and one of the key microbes used as a Cell Factory in biotechnology.
DROPS will develop novel methods and strategies aimed at yield maintenance under fluctuating water deficit and at enhanced plant water-use efficiency. We deal with high genotype x environment interaction in the field (any trait can have positive, negative or no effect depending on drought scenarios) with an approach combining Physiology, Genetics, field testing and Ecophysiological modelling. The project targets four traits : seed abortion, vegetative growth maintenance, root system architecture and transpiration efficiency.
Dynamic information about bio-molecular processes in living cells is important for fundamental understanding of cellular functions, which is one of the primary targets of molecular cell-biology with important applications to pharmacology. However fur further progress in this field, and this specifically for monitoring genomic processes, there is immense need for developing sensing and detection techniques that can operate with sufficient sub-microscopic resolution inside the living cells and bringing real-time information about local bio-molecular interactions.
Plant secondary metabolites are an important source of therapeutic drugs or drug leads. The advent of genomic and metabolomic technologies has now made it possible to bring the field of plant natural products into the 21st century and replace serendipitous and haphazard finding by rational design and discovery. This proposal is devoted to plant terpenes, the largest and most diverse group of plant natural products.
The CoMoFarm project will establish high-yielding production systems for pharmaceutical and industrial proteins based on plants, plant tissue and plant cells. The aim is to develop systems in which both the production host and the product itself show consistent yield and quality.
The overall objective of the project is to collect and analyze new data on non-tariff measures (NTMs), particularly on governmental standards and regulations that prescribe the conditions for importing agri-food products into the EU market and into the markets of the main competing players. Furthermore, impacts from EU NTBs on least developing country (LDC) exports are examined.
The MAIN AIM of the proposed integrating project NUE-CROPS is to develop knowledge, models and tools required to (a) breed/select NUTRIENT USE EFFICIENT (NUE) CROPS and (b) integrate NUE-crops with AGRONOMIC INNOVATIONS to significantly reduce fertiliser use and associated negative environmental impacts of crop production, while maintaining or improving crop yield and quality. The consortium includes 10 academic centres of excellence and 3 large breeding companies in 6 EU member states, China (an ICPC region) and the USA.
Plants sustainably produce low levels of secondary metabolites of high industrial value. However, they are often too complex to be economically manufactured by chemical synthesis. Advanced metabolic engineering and exploitation of plants as Green Factories has been prevented due to poorly understood metabolic pathways in plants and the regulation thereof.
Obesity has been estimated to cost the EU some 70 annually through health care costs and lost productivity, and additionally over-consumption of salt, sugar and saturated fats and under-consumption of fruit and vegetables cause almost 70,000 premature deaths annually in the UK alone.
