Objective
"MicroDegrade aims to reveal bottlenecks of degradation, and to identify superior bioremediation strategies for a most notorious environmental pollution of our time: chemical micropollutants at low (sub-ug/L) concentrations. Finding out why micropollutants occur in ground and surface water despite the presence of bacterial degraders has become an elusive goal for microbiologists, environmental scientists and geochemists. Competing paradigms claim that either (i) mass transfer limitations (bioavailability, cell uptake) or (ii) physiological limitations (enzyme down-regulation) prevent complete biodegradation at contaminant threshold concentrations. To design strategies for remediation, insight is warranted which bottlenecks of degradation prevail. ""Do molecules - once inside an organism - get out into solution again? Or is mass transfer so limiting that organisms are desperate for supply?"" Pillaring on our recent advances with compound-specific isotope analysis at sub-ug/L concentrations, MicroDegrade will be able to provide a revolutionary angle on this dilemma. Isotope fractionation will give the first direct answers to these questions for degradation of two prominent pollutants at low bacterial growth and low concentrations - 2,6-dichlorobenzamide (BAM), a highly recalcitrant, ubiquitous pesticide metabolite with Aminbacter MSH1; and toluene, an abundant groundwater pollutant with Geobacter metallireducens. The approach pillars on three consecutive aims: (1) investigate if, and at what concentrations mass transfer becomes limiting in chemostat cultures; (2) understand analogous limitations in concentrations gradients of an aquifer model; (3) derive superior bioremediation strategies. The objectives of MicroDegrade have the potential to change our view on drivers behind thresholds values and bottlenecks of degradation, to offer a new angle on competitive strategies of microorganisms at low concentrations, and to identify superior future bioremediation strategies."
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: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- engineering and technology environmental biotechnology bioremediation
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences environmental sciences pollution
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins enzymes
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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.
ERC-2013-CoG
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.
Host institution
85764 Neuherberg
Germany
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.