Project description
Unlocking nature's extremes for a sustainable future
Microorganisms that live in extreme environments, also known as extremophiles, are a largely untapped resource for valuable enzymes and bioactive compounds. Their unique adaptations to harsh conditions, make them exciting sources for new products. However, studying extremophiles is often challenging and expensive, with limited success. The EU-funded XTREAM project aims to overcome these barriers by developing efficient and sustainable tools to explore extremophiles in environments such as hot springs, acidic waters or the Arctic. By bringing together experts in various fields, XTREAM will accelerate the discovery of novel enzymes drugs, and even microorganisms, facilitating their industrial applications. XTREAM promises to unlock groundbreaking bio-based solutions, driving innovation and sustainability in the bioeconomy.
Objective
Microorganisms thriving in extreme environments are a largely untapped reservoir of enzymes, chemicals, and pharmaceutical compounds. Their unique metabolic pathways and regulatory mechanisms enable them to survive under harsh conditions and represent invaluable resources to produce innovative bio-products, offering solutions to address challenges that conventional model organisms cannot. However, extremophile microorganisms remain remarkably underutilized as providers of bio-based solutions. Sampling extreme environments, screening, identifying and isolating the pertinent microbes is cumbersome, costly and imposes a significant environmental footprint, resulting in low yields, elevated costs, and extended times to market. Developing innovative methodologies is imperative to surmount these barriers in the study of extremophile microbiomes, and to leverage their capabilities for ecological and economic benefits. XTREAM will unlock the potential of aquatic extremophiles for the discovery of enzymes, drugs, metabolites and chemicals by interdisciplinarily developing innovative tools to facilitate rapid, efficient and sustainable exploration of extreme microbiomes, heralding a new era in the industrial application of extremophiles. The expected results of XTREAM include discovering microbes, enzymes, resistance genes and biosynthetic clusters, with a hybrid workflow of in silico and microfluidics-based discovery, resulting in the commercialization of e.g. ≥200 enzymes for biocatalysis and biorefining, 3 new solutions for antifouling, increasing the revenue of our industrial partners by ca. 10%. XTREAM assembles 5 leading European SMEs, 4 academic teams and 4 RTOs that have pioneered approaches in functional metagenomics, extremophiles, microfluidics, microbial ecology, and synthetic biology. Diverse XTREAM partners (from synthetic biology to ingredients) at different stages in the research-to-market process provides a unique opportunity for broad value creation.
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 physical sciences classical mechanics fluid mechanics microfluidics
- natural sciences biological sciences synthetic biology
- natural sciences chemical sciences catalysis biocatalysis
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins enzymes
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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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HORIZON.2.6 - Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
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-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
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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) HORIZON-CL6-2024-CIRCBIO-01
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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.
5838 BERGEN
Norway
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.