Descrizione del progetto
L’allevamento di massa degli insetti richiede scienziati formati per gestire focolai di agenti patogeni
Fin dalla prima Rivoluzione agricola, circa 12 000 anni fa, le persone si sono dedicate alla coltivazione delle piante e all’allevamento degli animali a beneficio dell’uomo. L’insorgenza di agenti patogeni e malattie nelle specie gestite presenta rischi di perdite economiche per gli agricoltori e di diffusione delle malattie per gli esseri umani. Il morbo della «mucca pazza» e l’influenza aviaria sono un paio di esempi recenti. Mentre nel mondo ci si rivolge all’allevamento su larga scala degli insetti come un’alternativa alla carne e come percorso verso un controllo delle infestazioni e una gestione dei rifiuti più ecologici, vi è una lacuna profonda nella comprensione della patologia degli insetti e degli ecosistemi creati dall’allevamento degli insetti su larga scala. INSECT DOCTORS sta formando giovani ricercatori nelle tecnologie e nelle scienze pertinenti per gestire le interazioni insetto-microbo nell’allevamento di massa degli insetti.
Obiettivo
Mass rearing of insects is a rapidly expanding industry due to improved mechanisation and increasing interest in the use of insects for a variety of purposes, such as sterile insect techniques, food and feed, waste management, and biocontrol of insect pest species. However, expertise is urgently needed to address emerging problems with infectious disease outbreaks in mass reared insects. Therefore, we propose the INSECT DOCTORS joint doctoral programme to build a durable European framework to educate experts in insect pathology in order to overcome the shortage in properly educated experts in Europe, and beyond. The research of INSECT DOCTORS will expand our understanding of emerging pathogens and will provide necessary tools for disease management in industrial insect rearing. The complementary expertise of the participating institutes and companies leads to an ambitious and exciting programme, providing interdisciplinary training and research in pertinent areas of insect pathology (bacteriology, mycology, virology) and entomology (immunology, physiology). In an overarching training program, novel advanced courses will provide students with technical, scientific and transferable skills. This interdisciplinary approach, crucial to provide insight in the complexity of insect-microbe interactions in a range of farmed insects, can only be achieved by joining forces between European universities. Furthermore, this joint doctoral programme aims to build durable partnerships for doctoral training in insect pathology, thereby overcoming national and interdisciplinary boundaries in doctoral research. By requiring equal excellence from all participants in this training programme we will contribute to high level PhD education across Europe. In short: INSECT DOCTORS will provide the durable framework, the people, the scientific knowledge and the tools to assist the upcoming insect industry to diagnose and mitigate infectious diseases in their mass reared insects cultures.
Campo scientifico
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-ITN - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (ITN)Coordinatore
6708 PB Wageningen
Paesi Bassi