Objective
Many of the world’s most precious artworks are made of stone and their irreversible disappearing due to biological attack is a worldwide concern. Cyanobacteria colonize outdoor surfaces and develop biofilms, which, in turn, causes aesthetic, chemical and physical decay. The fragile character of the stone heritage material is further exacerbated by the unpredictable nature of environmental changes impacts, posing challenges for conservation management. Although there have been EU projects and scientific papers on cyanobacteria, the role and behavior of these microorganisms within the biofilm matrix and their complex interactions with the external environment is still unknown. ESENCYA provides an innovative, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research to investigate perception of environmental changing in cyanobacteria within the biofilm matrix for sorting out time-spatial relationships and to elucidate microorganism-matrix, inter-organism, biofilm-atmosphere and biofilm-stone interactions.
The project spans sophisticated microscopic techniques, biofilm matrix and gene expression analysis, damage assessment and data modeling techniques in world leading research institutions in microbial biofilm in USA and in cultural heritage microbiology in Italy. The research will be approached from two complementary angles: i) Lab-scale study to examine the sensory machinery of cyanobacterial biofilms by analyzing the cell’s capacity to sense different chemical and physical properties of the biofilm matrix, to integrate the incoming signals and to respond to them, triggering specific biodecay activities; ii) real heritage case studies to investigate the ecological landscape of cyanobacteria within subaerial biofilms.
The outcomes will generate valuable new knowledge to model and predict surface biodeterioration in the face of environmental changes. This project represents an opportunity for Europe to keep its world leadership in research and conservation of cultural heritage.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics RNA transcriptomes
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IOF
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
20122 Milano
Italy
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.