Project description
New process for sustainable electrochemical biosensing platforms
The advancement of sensor technologies has been revolutionary across various sectors and research fields, enabling better monitoring and sensing critical to many processes and maintenance tasks. These technologies have continued to improve and have become essential in several fields, offering promising solutions to current challenges, such as the need for on-site, easy-to-read sensing for screening food, air, drinking water, or the environment. The ERC-funded GRADINK project will develop and scale up a manufacturing process to create eco-friendly, versatile, and sensitive electrochemical biosensing platforms, addressing current limitations in the construction of electrochemical biosensor electrodes.
Objective
The parasitic witchweeds, such as Striga hermonthica and Striga asiatica, pose an enormous threat for production of cereal crops, such as sorghum, millet and maize, in the African continent, threatening the livelihood of millions of people, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Striga seeds lay dormant in the soil until their germination is triggered by strigolactones (SLs), signaling compounds exuded by roots of plants, including maize. Maize exudes at least six different SLs from its roots into the rhizosphere, two of which were structurally identified as zealactone and zeapyranolactone.
In work on maize strigolactone biosynthesis that was part of the ERC Advanced grant CHEMCOMRHIZO we demonstrated that there is natural variation in the germination stimulant composition in the root exudate of maize varieties and that this results in a degree of Striga resistance. We have elucidated the entire biosynthetic pathway of all SLs in maize and we showed that the difference in strigolactone composition is the result of a difference in the expression of one of the genes in the pathway. The line with the strongest reduction in the expression of this gene, a North-American cultivar, displays almost full Striga resistance compared with a susceptible control. In collaboration with the CGIAR institute CIMMYT, we propose to create knock-out lines in this gene in two elite African maize varieties to deliver the proof-of-concept that this Striga resistance can be introduced into Africa.
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.
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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.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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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.
HORIZON-ERC-POC - HORIZON ERC Proof of Concept Grants
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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) ERC-2022-POC2
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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.
1012WX Amsterdam
Netherlands
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.