Project description
The power of microbes for global challenges
Microbes are essential to life, yet their vast diversity remains underappreciated despite their critical role in health, ecosystems, and industries like agriculture and food safety. Accurate microbial identification is key to addressing global challenges such as climate change, epidemics and food security. While matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry has revolutionised microbial detection in clinical microbiology, its use has been limited. Enter the EU-funded MALDIBANK project advancing a homonymous global, cloud-based database designed to expand the application of MALDI-TOF technology. By compiling 100 000 reference spectra and leveraging deep learning, it offers a comprehensive tool for microbial identification, surveillance and research, empowering scientists to tackle antimicrobial resistance, environmental monitoring and more.
Objective
MALDIBANK: A Comprehensive Solution to Microbial Challenges
In an era marked by pressing environmental and health challenges, including climate change, biodiversity loss, global epidemics, and food security, understanding and leveraging the power of microbes is critical. Microbes, fundamental to the biosphere, impact everything from ecosystem dynamics to human health. However, their vast diversity remains largely underestimated. To harness this potential, precise identification of microorganisms is crucial, especially given their varied implications across different sectors. Over the past 15 years, MALDI-TOF (Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight) mass spectrometry (MS) has revolutionized microbial identification in fields such as clinical microbiology, food safety, environmental monitoring, and sustainable agriculture. Despite its transformative potential, MALDI-TOF MS technology has been underutilized outside clinical microbiology. MALDIBANK emerges as a groundbreaking initiative to extend the reach of this technology, providing innovative solutions for understanding and utilizing microbial diversity for global problem-solving.
MALDIBANK is conceptualized as a global, cloud-based, open MALDI spectra databank for the identification of microorganisms, combining a vast spectrum database with advanced algorithmic tools. This databank will facilitate processing, characterization, epidemiological surveillance, and more, embodying Open Science and FAIR data principles. It aims to become a new reference in microbial identification, drawing parallels with the impact of GenBank in genomics. By integrating 100,000 reference spectra with rich metadata and employing deep learning models, MALDIBANK will enhance microbial characterization and support areas like antimicrobial resistance prediction and environmental monitoring. It will serve as a dynamic resource for the global scientific community, enabling the exploration of microbial capabilities an
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.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgenetics
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdatabases
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiology
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Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinator
4710-057 BRAGA
Portugal
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Participants (22)
OX4 2JY Oxford
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75005 Paris
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69117 Heidelberg
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46010 Valencia
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35001 Las Palmas De Gran Canaria
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1050 Elsene
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75007 Paris
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75724 Paris
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1586 RIGA
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4704 553 Braga
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601 77 Brno
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11635 Athina
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4450 208 Matosinhos
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2780-156 Oeiras
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1000 029 Lisboa
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75006 Paris
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10124 Torino
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1011 JV AMSTERDAM
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4280 HANNUT
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
18016 Granada
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
69280 Marcy-l'Etoile
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4150 356 Porto
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
Partners (1)
Partner organisations contribute to the implementation of the action, but do not sign the Grant Agreement.
1206 Geneve
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