Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are one of the most challenging contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). Instead of being directly produced by human activity, ARGs emerge as consequence of antibiotic use in clinical settings, and residual antibiotic contamination.
Ongoing project
ARGs spread through horizontal gene transfer and conjugative plasmids, because their ability to cross inter-species barriers, are key in this process. Recent findings revealed the existence of marine plasmids (MAPS) of global distribution and broad host range. These MAPS can transmit ARGs across oceanic distances, and may reintroduce them to human food chains via marine products. They are, however, different to classical plasmids from clinical settings.
MAPMAR uses metagenomics, data science and single-cell sequencing to obtain a catalog of most prevalent and transmissible MAPs. By testing methods to block their transmission, MAPMAR explores strategies to curtail the risk of oceans acting as highways for ARG propagation.
Project partners
- Fernando de la Cruz, University of Cantabria, Spain (Coordinator)
- Anne-Kristin Kaster, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany
- Shay Tal, Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research (IOLR), Israel
Call
Aquaculture is an important source for food, nutrition, income and livelihoods for millions of people around the globe. Intensive fish farming is often associated with pathogen outbreaks and therefore high amounts of veterinary drugs are used worldwide.
Ongoing project
As in many other environments, mostly application of antimicrobials triggers the development of (multi)resistant microbiota. This process might be fostered by co-selection as a consequence of the additional use of antiparasitics. Usage of antimicrobials in aquaculture does not only affect the cultured fish species, but – to a so far unknown extent – also aquatic ecosystems connected to fish farms including microbiota from water and sediment as well as its eukaryotes. Effects include increases in the number of (multi)resistant microbes, as well as complete shifts in microbial community structure and function. This dysbiosis might have pronounced consequences for the functioning of aquatic ecosystems.
Thus in the frame of this project we want to study consequences of antimicrobial/-parastic application in aquaculture for the cultured fish species as well as for the aquatic environments. To consider the variability of aquaculture practices worldwide four showcases representing typical systems from the tropics, the Mediterranean and the temperate zone will be studied including freshwater and marine environments. For one showcase a targeted mitigation approach to reduce the impact on aquatic ecosystems will be tested.
Project partners
- Michael Schloter, Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen – German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Germany (Coordinator)
- Gisle Vestergaard, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
- Timothy M. Vogel, Ecole Centrale de Lyon / Université de Lyon, France
- Lior Guttman, Israel Oceanographic & Limnological Research, Israel
- Susanne Rath, University of Campinas, Brazil
Call
This project will deliver an energy efficient new integrated prototype system for water purification, composed of three different components.
Ongoing project
The components are:
- The first-to-be realised ultra-stable silicon carbide (SiC) UltraFiltration/NanoFiltration (UF/NF) membrane
- An innovative nano-enabled Thermocatalytic energy efficient Packed-Bed Reactor (TPBR)
- A nano-enabled antimicrobial MicroFiltration (MF) membrane.
The TPBR beads are obtained by recycling SiC membranes scraps deriving from the ordinary production process and will be coated with thermocatalytic perovskite-nano powders allowing full abatement of CECs and of AMR pathogens at mild temperatures without need of chemicals and light sources. The MF membrane is coated with antibacterial titania-silica-core shell nanoparticles for inactivating AMRbacteria, while removing suspended solids. The UF/NF membrane separates the clean permeate stream, ready to be recycled or reused from the toxic concentrate, which is purified by the TPBR, thus preventing discharge of CECs and pathogens in rivers and oceans.
The new system is compact, amenable to scale-up, and ease to integrate in mariculture, aquaculture, tannery, hospital, and other industrial wastewaters treatment facilities, providing safe and efficient operation. The integration of the three components allows the optimization of each system unit both alone and in combination, boosting the efficiency of the process and ensuring high water quality and safety, by enabling a water and SiC recycling multi-circular model.
Project partners
- Giuliana Magnacca, Torino University, Italy (Coordinator)
- Victor Candelario, LiqTech International A/S, Denmark
- Vittorio Boffa, Aalborg University, Denmark
- Francesca Deganello, Italian National Research Council (CNR) – Institute for the Study of Nanostructured Materials (ISMN), Italy
- Mariana Ornelas, CeNTI – Centre for Nanotechnology and Smart Materials, Portugal
Call
New approaches are needed to reduce the emission of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). Some sources contribute strongly to suchemissions, which has driven the focus of PRESAGE on innovative decentralized wastewater treatment (WWT), based on anaerobic andaerobic compact systems.Ongoing project
An integrated analysis of the behaviour of organic micropollutants (OMPs), antibiotic resistant microorganisms and genes (ARMs/ARGs) and pathogens (viruses and bacteria) will be carried out. This will allow better understanding the relation betweenthe operational parameters of reactors, the microbiological evolution in the system, the removal of OMPs and pathogens, and thedevelopment of ARMs and ARGs. The contribution of such a complex mixture on the final effluent ecotoxicity will be assessed.The technologies will be validated at 4 demosites treating black and grey water, and effluents from hospitals and an antibiotic industry, inclose collaboration with the industrial sector. This high readiness level anticipates a good impact of project results on wastewater innovation. Experts in the field of advanced WWT, microbiology and ecotoxicology will strongly cooperate and participate in a mobility plan focusing oncomplementary skills.
PRESAGE impacts society and economy, boosting the water industry and protecting the environment from effluent discharges containing CECs. In the proposed treatment strategy a minimum global impact is targeted, preferentially promoting the onsite water reuse.
Project partners
- Francisco Omil, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (USC), Spain (Coordinator)
- Marcelo Zaiat, University of São Paulo (USP), Brasil
- Henrik Rasmus Andersen, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
- Eric Pinelli, CNRS/Institut National polytechnique de Toulouse (INP Toulouse), France
- Thomas Ulrich Berendonk, TU Dresden, Germany
- Luis Melo, Faculty of Engineering of Univ Porto (UP), Portugal
Call
This project will assess the occurrence, fate and behaviour of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and pathogens, and develop machine-learning methods to model their transfer and behaviour and build a decision support system (DSS) for predicting risks and propose mitigation strategies.
Ongoing project
FOREWARN will be focussed on CECs such as antibiotics and pathogens such as antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB), antibiotic resistance genes (ARG) and emerging viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2. The project will consider 2 types of case studies: 1) In-silico case studies will be selected from previous results, and dataset obtained in past or ongoing EU projects. Data will be used to develop the models and algorithms to feed and develop the DSS system to better understanding the sources, transport, degradation of CECs and pathogens and modelling their behaviour. 2) The adaptive DSS system will be refined and tested under real environmental conditions (6 months) to achieve TRL5 in real environment case studies.
Project partners
- Esteban Abad, CSIC, Spain (Coordinator)
- Leena Maunula, University of Helsinki, Finland
- Sandra Martin-Latil, ANSES, France
- Spyros Pournaras, Attikon University Hospital, Greece
- Kevin McGuinness, Dublin City University, Ireland
Call
This project will develop an integral technology, based on a multi-barrier approach, to treat the effluents of wastewater treatment plants(WWTPs) to maximise the reduction of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs).
Ongoing project
A membrane nanofiltration (NF) technology will be applied to reduce CECs in its permeate stream by at least 90 % while retaining thenutrients. A residual disinfection using chlorine dioxide produced electrochemically will be added to the stream used for crops irrigation (route A). The CECs in the polluted concentrate (retentate) stream will be reduced by at least 80 % by light driven electro-chemicaloxidation. When discharged into the aquatic system (route B), it will contribute to the quality improvement of the surface water body.
A prototype treatment plant will be set-up and evaluated for irrigation in long-term tests with the help of agricultural test pots. A review investigation of CECs spread will be performed at four regional showcases in Europe and Africa. It will include a detailed assessment of the individual situation and surrounding condition. Transfer concepts will be developed to transfer the results of thetreatment technology to other regions, especially in low- and middle-income countries.
Project partners
- Jan Gäbler, Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST, Germany (Coordinator)
- Rebecca Schwantes, SolarSpring GmbH, Germany
- Paola Verlicchi, University of Ferrara, Italy
- Pawel Krzeminski, Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Norway
- Vítor Vilar, Faculty of Engineering University of Porto, Portugal
- Marta Carvalho, AdP – Águas de Portugal, Serviços Ambientais, S.A., Portugal
- Gideon Wolfaardt, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
- Manuel Andrés Rodrigo, University of Castilla La Mancha, Spain
Call
The project aims to study bacteria, antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and antibiotic residues in groundwater, surface water, wastewater, marine water environments in the North Sea and the Atlantic including ports, and aquaculture facilities.
Ongoing project
Samples will be collected from sites with high and low suspected loads of antibiotic residues. Culture-based and sequencing-based methods will be used to identify ARGs. Transfer of ARG-containing plasmids will be analyzed using indicator bacteria Escherichia coli, Vibrio spp., and Shewanella algae as recipients. LC-MS/MS will be used to quantify the levels of different antibiotics in the collected samples. We hypothesize that local water microbiota, antibiotic residues, and recipient species will affect the type of plasmids transferred. The effects of the acquired plasmids on the physiology of our bacterial models will be analyzed in experimental lab systems, and their influence on fitness and virulence in a live host will be studied by host interactions in a shrimp (Artemia) model. The project will determine common ARG plasmids circulating in European waters and their inherent properties as a fundament to understand and prevent their dissemination.
Project partners
- Åsa Sjöling, Karolinska institutet, Sweden (Coordinator)
- Marc Heyndrickx, ILVO, Belgium
- Olav Vadstein, NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
- María del Mar Tavío Pérez, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
- Kartik Baruah, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden
Call
The project aims to improve the quality assessment of aquaculture practices and products by exploring the fate of antibiotic and microbial contaminants across the water cycle.
Ongoing project
Contamination levels will be assessed from sources (effluents, river outflows) to end points (aquaculture plants) and final food products (e.g., fish fillets), along with the antibiotic resistome and pathogenic signature in farm surrounding aquatic environments in open (i.e., mariculture) and recirculating aquaculture systems (i.e., RAS). For mariculture only, the assessment of the same contaminants will be also performed in benthic biota beneath fish cages; moreover, in order to take into account possible seasonal variations, we will perform analyses at contrasting seasons (e.g., summer, generally characterized by a higher anthropogenic pressure, and winter, with a lower anthropogenic pressure). Novel early-warning tools for the rapid detection of antibiotic residues (flow cytometry-based), antibiotic-resistance genes (high-throughput sequencing-based), and microbial pathogens (sensor-based) in environmental and biological samples will be optimized.
ARENA will contribute to elucidate the significance of antibiotic-related issues, finally providing a cross-disciplinary approach for risk assessment and future operative efforts to mitigate the magnification of antibiotic resistance and pathogenicity in aquaculture settings.
Project partners
- Gian Marco Luna, National Research Council – CNR, Italy (Coordinator)
- Frank Delvigne, University of Liège, Belgium
- Patrick Wagner, KU Leuven, Belgium
- Michael J. Schoening, University of Applied Sciences Aachen, Germany
- Sara Rodriguez-Mozaz, Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Spain
Call
PHARMASEA integrates international expertise to answer key research questions on fate and biological effects of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), well recognized contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) for marine ecosystems.
Ongoing project
The project will allow in-depth studies on APIs distribution, effects and risks in four European coastal areas, targeting (1) occurrence, uptake and trophic transfer along regional marine food webs; (2) bioaccumulation/excretion kinetics, potential ecotoxicological effects from molecular to individual levels, and characterization of modes-of-action in model and selected marine species; (3) development of specific risk assessment procedures for APIs.
The communication and connection with industries, private and public stakeholders as well as citizen engagement are important aims to promote public awareness, pre-normative research and implementation into European Directives. The project is expected to have a major impact enhancing the scientific knowledge and awareness on interactions between human and environmental health. The results could influence prescribing and disposal practices of domestic medicines and increase market opportunities and competitiveness of European pharma industries investing on environmental sustainability of their products.
Project partners
- Francesco Regoli, Polytechnic University of Marche, Italy (Coordinator)
- Thomas Braunbeck, University of Heidelberg, Germany
- Daniela Maria Pampanin, University of Stavang, Norway
- Purificación López Mahía, Universidade da Coruña (UDC), Spain
- Víctor M. León, Spanish Institute of Oceanography, Spain
Call
Clean water is a key challenge in the 21th century, identified in the UN sustainable development goals. In close collaboration with industry and stakeholders, this project aims at developing new types of sustainable water treatment techniques that is, cheap, easy tomaintain and can be applied in settings/countries where clean water is a challenge.
Ongoing project
By using non-critical and non-toxic materials to mitigate contaminants of emerging concern and pathogens, including antibiotic resistant bacteria, it helps avoid their further spread. We will develop a potentially cost-effective water cleaning concept, amenable for decentralized use, that will be validated on a small pilot scale comprising a series of modules: 1) An enzymatic step including nanoporous materials bearing enzymes andchelating functions to retain hazardous metals, 2) enzyme-mimetic nanomaterials, 3) nanoporous adsorbents, and finally 4) a photocatalytic step that ensures zero-discharge of contaminants.
Laboratory scale research will be implemented in reactor modules in collaboration with industrial partners. The evaluation of different combinations of modules will be an integral part of the project. Industrial partners will provide engineering solutions that allow testing of new materials/technologies. Associated partners will evaluate the technology and spread results, to various industries as well as stakeholders in the developing world.
Project partners
- Lars Österlund, Uppsala University, Sweden (Coordinator)
- Jiří Henych, Institute of Inorganic Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic
- Pavel Janoš, University of J.E. Purkyne, Czech Republic
- Chantal Guillard, CNRS/IRCELYON, France
- Stephane Parola, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France
- Gulaim Seisenbaeva, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden
Call
