Project description
Fighting hidden threats in water
Microbial contamination in rivers, reservoirs, and fish farms poses a threat to public health and food security. Harmful cyanobacteria cost European water suppliers more than EUR 150 million each year, in addition to billions of euro worth of losses caused by bacterial outbreaks in aquaculture. Current monitoring systems fail to detect problems early enough. The ERC-funded PROTEGE project is developing a sensor that can spot harmful microorganisms in real time. Built from ultra-sensitive porous conducting foams, the device exploits advanced electrophysiology to detect contamination instantly. With industrial partners and a state laboratory on board, PROTEGE aims to deliver a working prototype for water suppliers and aquaculture producers, a step toward cleaner, safer, and more sustainable water.
Objective
The unpredictable contamination of microbial communities in aquatic environments is a global concern for drinking water suppliers and aquaculture producers. Drinking water treatment expenditures, mainly caused by excessive proliferation of harmful cyanobacteria can cost over €150 million/year in European countries. The scenario aggravates when considering the debilitating attacks from pathogenic bacteria in aquaculture cages, generating global economic losses of over $25 billion. In both industrial sectors, the mitigation costs scales with microbial detection delay.
Existent monitoring solutions for water quality mostly rely on time-consuming and operator-dependent measurements of nitrogen and phosphorus fractions, temperature and dissolved oxygen or in using chlorophyll a as a proxy. Yet, these approaches fail to deliver effective and real-time detection of microbial contamination.
Within the ERC-funded GREEN project we have identified a promising commercial application which by means of ultrasensitive electrophysiology allows unprecedent real-time detection of harmful microorganisms in aquatic environments. An international patent has been filed and two research articles published. In addition, two distinct industrial partners and a state laboratory are committed to support and actively participate in PROTEGE.
The breakthrough has been realised by the development of ultra-sensitive porous conducting polyurethane foams which exploits the large electrode area, maximizing the double-layer capacitance and concomitant microbial detection sensitivity. The main aim of PROTEGE is to demonstrate a working prototype in the industrial partners facilities, capable of real-time detection of cyanobacteria in water-supply reservoirs and pathogenic bacteria in aquaculture cages, and to develop a business and exploitation plan for technology commercialization of a market-oriented prototype with real-time telemetry data.
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.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
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.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries fisheries
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology bacteriology
- natural sciences chemical sciences polymer sciences polyurethane
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering sensors
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)
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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-2025-POC
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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.
3004-531 Coimbra
Portugal
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.