A new European research project was recently launched which aims to leverage the untapped potential of marine microbial resources. The marine microbiome is one of the fastest-growing segments of the blue bioeconomy, and its study is vital for the discovery, understanding, protection, and utilization of our ocean resources. BlueRemediomics will develop novel tools and approaches to explore marine microbiome data, uniting an international consortium of experts that will work on the discovery and production of high-value sustainable marine microbiome-based products, processes, and services.
The marine metagenomic project will systematically catalog marine microbiome data and marine culture collections gained by the Tara Oceans Foundation to facilitate the development of industrial processes that reduce waste, increase the reuse of natural products and by-products, and improve aquaculture processes. The project simultaneously aims to ensure equitable access to and sharing of benefits derived from any new products, such as new medicines or cosmeceuticals. It will also gauge the societal appetite for biobased solutions.
The consortium connects 23 EU and non-EU participants, including Jiří Vondrášek Group from IOCB Prague. “We are working on analysis of microorganism metabolites and proteins. We will provide an interoperable platform with major biological repositories to identify new targets,” says Jiří Vondrášek, head of the Bioinformatics group. “Kristýna Boušová from our group will be responsible for the characterization and modeling of new promising protein candidates and the characterization of their functional properties in vitro. Together we will focus on new molecules and improvement of their function by protein engineering methods,” he adds.
A key aim of the project is to develop an open-access biodiscovery platform to integrate microbiome data and to enrich this data with functional information to facilitate its exploration for potential biological products. The project will also develop innovative approaches for the isolation and growth of these microorganisms to further enable such exploration.
About BlueRemediomics
BlueRemediomics (BlueRemediomics: Harnessing the marine microbiome for novel sustainable biogenics and ecosystem services) is a research and innovation action funded under the European Union’s Horizon Europe Programme, grant No. 101082304. The project will run for 4 years from December 2022 to November 2026, with a total budget of €9.19 million and EU contribution of almost €7.65 million. The remaining project funding (over €1.54 million) comes from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to support the role of the UK partners: University College London, University of Cambridge, and University of Aberdeen, and from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) to support the role of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.
BlueRemediomics partners
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) (Germany)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) (France)
- Sorbonne Université (France)
- Commissariat a l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (France)
- Institute Français de recherche pour l’exploitation de la mer (Ifremer) (France)
- European Marine Biological Resource Centre – European Research Infrastructure Consortium (EMBRC – ERIC) (France)
- Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (Italy)
- IOCB Prague (Czech Republic)
- Norce Norwegian Research Centre AS (Norway)
- Acondicionamiento Tarrasense Associacion (Spain)
- Fondation Tara Ocean (France)
- University of the Western Cape (South Africa)
- ABS International (Belgium)
- ERINN Innovation (Ireland)
- Naicons SRL (Italy)
- Latvijas Biomedicinas Petijumu un Studiju Centrs (Latvia)
- Zilt (Belgium)
- Valagro SpA (Italy)
- Leroy Seafood Group ASA (Norway)
- Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (Switzerland)
- University College London (UK)
- The Chancellors Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge (UK)
- University of Aberdeen (UK)
