Project description
Profiling individual bacterial cells could help us increase methane production
When microorganisms feed on organic materials in the absence of oxygen or air, their digestive processes (called anaerobic digestion) produce biogas, which is mostly methane. Harnessing microbes to make fuels for us from our organic waste supports our transition away from fossil fuels to cleaner forms of energy and fewer emissions. However, bacteria need some help to make fuels in the quantities that result in cost-effective processes worthy of investment. The EU-funded UnrAD project is using high-tech single-cell genetics approaches to characterise different members of the bacterial community. Finding specialisations and interactions relevant to methane production could help us help them boost yield.
Objective
Anaerobic digestion, a technology able to use waste residuals to produce clean renewable energy in form of methane, is a powerful tool to revert the unequivocal environmental deterioration and represent one of the clearest examples of how research and innovation can turn undesirable residual like waste into an ecological and economical asset. Recent advances made feasible the process at ambient temperature, feasibility that might increase the net production since does not need heat supplementation. Among the different trace metals involved in the anaerobic degradation processes, cobalt has been shown one of the most important since it acts as a cofactor for enzymes involved in the metabolic pathways of the methanogenesis from acetate. Therefore an adequate balance of cobalt could improve the anaerobic biological response, enhancing the rate and yield of methane. High throughput single-cell transcriptomic and third generation sequencing provide an unprecedented opportunity to understand the mechanisms inducing this enhanced yield. The first allows trancriptome analysis at the level of individual cells giving the possibility to understand the interplay of transcripts within single organisms, the specialization of different members from the community or the heterogeneity in term of transcriptomic status of every species while the second enable the possibility recover full length transcripts increasing resolution. The overall objective of UnrAD is to employ these two cutting-edge technologies combined to study the role of temperature and cobalt supplementation in anaerobic digestion and identify specializations and interactions among the different bacterial community members. The findings from this project would lead to a more efficient anaerobic digestion and will be beneficial for the to the industries in the field and the whole society.
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 bioreactors
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels renewable energy
- natural sciences chemical sciences organic chemistry aliphatic compounds
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
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.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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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.
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.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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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.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
28006 MADRID
Spain
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.