Project description
Searching for new antibiotics in seagrass meadows
The fight against multidrug-resistant bacteria is running out of options, and the search for new antibiotics has become essential. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the SeaRhi project aims to investigate seagrass meadows for answers. These aquatic environments are home to unique microorganisms whose antimicrobial metabolites remain unexplored. SeaRhi will map the seagrass microbiome, collect microbial strains, determine their bioactive metabolites, and screen them against drug-resistant pathogens. These microbes can be studied in their natural habitat through in situ technologies, tracing the molecules that they release. The project’s ultimate goal is to boost our understanding of the seagrass and to find new antibiotics for human health.
Objective
Today the drug discovery pipelines are lacking of novel compounds to combat challenging infections caused by multidrug resistant bacteria (MDR). According to the World Health Organization, maintaining an intensive academic effort towards the discovery and development of new antimicrobials is urgently needed. Bioprospecting for new antibiotics sourced from untapped environments, such as marine ecosystems, is of vital importance. As such, seagrass meadows represent an emblematic marine ecosystem and a niche for understudied marine microorganisms. While much is known about the rhizosphere microbiomes of terrestrial plants, little is known about the seagrass ones.
This project raises two questions: What is the seagrass microbiome and its antimicrobial metabolites? and, are these molecules naturally produced and secreted in the rhizosphere? Taking advantage of the host institutions expertise within natural products chemistry, microbiology, biochemistry and genomics the four objectives of SeaRhi are: (1) to create a microbial strain collection of microorganisms associated with the seagrass rhizosphere, (2) to discover new microbial metabolites and characterize their biosynthesis (3) to systematically evaluate their antimicrobial properties against MDR bacteria, and (4) to determine if the (anti)microbial metabolites are produced in the ecosystem.
SeaRhi will address technical challenges using innovative strategies to study marine microorganisms directly in their ecological niche by developing cutting-edge in situ devices to isolate marine microorganisms and collect the molecules they produced and released in environmental conditions. Thanks to an interdisciplinary ecosystem-focused strategy and the integration of knowledge between the fields of engineering, microbiology, marine natural product chemistry and (meta)genomic, SeaRhi will provide a better understanding of the seagrass ecosystem while discovering new antibacterial microbial metabolites.
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 biological sciences biochemistry
- natural sciences biological sciences marine biology
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology bacteriology
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology ecosystems
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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.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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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-MSCA-2024-PF-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.
2800 KONGENS LYNGBY
Denmark
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.