The IIM gathers more than €1M from the State Plan - Knowledge Generation

Vigo/Santiago de Compostela, Wednesday, November 23, 2022. The Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) has started 13 new investigations in Galicia financed by the State Research Agency (AEI) through the call for R&D projects within the framework of the program "Generation of Knowledge and Scientific and Technological Strengthening of the R+D+i System".

In this way, the Mariñas Research Institute will start 6 projects with which it has raised a total of €1,145,000. In total, the CSIC in Galicia has raised more than 2 million euros to develop these investigations, which are starting and will end in 2026.

IIM projects

The Biosystems and Bioprocess Engineering group leads the project "Optimization of sustainable wine fermentations through innovative approaches: model-based design" financed with more than 120,000 euros and with Eva Balsa Canto as principal investigator. Its objective is to provide new tools to the wine industry to design sustainable processes to obtain higher quality wines, and simultaneously expand knowledge about the genetic bases of the metabolic properties of yeasts.

In addition, the group participates in the coordinated project "Advanced Components for Industrial Digital Twins (a-CIDiT)" through the subproject "Data-based models and model updating for twins" , with funding of around 95,000 euros and with Luis Taboada Antelo and Carlos Vilas Fernández as main researchers. The research seeks to propose a conceptual framework for the construction of digital twins in industrial systems; develop methods and algorithms for data-based and physics-based modeling of the system and tools for online model updating, simulation and optimization of large-scale processes taking into account uncertainty, data reconciliation, and production planning. These methods will be implemented and tested in four case studies: wood panel manufacturing; sterilization of packaged foods; wind turbine farms and a network of pilot plants on a laboratory scale.

The Oceanic Processes in Global Change group leads the project "Ecosystem metabolism of a coastal upwelling region: integration of the pelagic and benthic domains" , whose main researcher is Carmen González Castro and whose funding is around 250,000 euros. Taking into account the impacts that coastal regions face in an ocean change, the research aims to study the net metabolism of a coastal upwelling region, the Muros-Noia estuary, which in turn constitutes a coastal system with low anthropogenic impact. The aim is to obtain and provide data that informs about the proper functioning of marine ecosystems, following the provisions of Sustainable Development Goal 14.

The Immunology and Genomics group leads the project "Bivalves, microbiona and diseases" , whose main researcher is Antonio Figueras Huerta and whose funding is around 200,000 euros. The immune response of the clam and the cockle will be studied to determine how they react to external stimuli and pathogens, trying to explain the differences in resistance to diseases compared to mussels. The microbiome associated with these species will also be studied.

The Ecology and Marine Resources group leads the project "Genomic ecology for the improvement of fisheries management" , whose main researchers are Francisco Saborido Rey and Laura Casas Castaño. With funding of more than 300,000 euros, it will apply high-performance genomic tools to solve some of the current challenges of fishing assessment, a necessary process to ensure fishing practices that guarantee sustainable exploitation. Among them, the hybridization between phylogenetically close species, and the divergence of populations - which is the opposite evolutionary process - that can lead to reproductive isolation altering demographic units. These objectives will be addressed using two biological study systems: the redfish species in Flemish Cap and the maragota in European waters, including the Galician estuaries.

The Aquatic Biotechnology Laboratory group leads “A hologenomic approach to elucidate pigmentation disorders in captive-bred flatfish species” . The research, financed with around 180,000 euros, has Josep Rotllant Moragas as its principal investigator. Pigmentary malformations are considered one of the most important factors affecting the economic viability of flatfish aquaculture. Therefore, the main objective of the project is to explore whether the skin and gut microbiota could regulate pigmentation and, consequently, alter the pigmentation pattern of the skin of the host organism, taking into account its genetic background.

Other CSIC projects in Galicia

In addition to the IIM-CSIC, the CSIC Galicia has obtained more than 2 million through various projects.

The projects of the Oceanographic Center of A Coruña, belonging to the IEO

"Energy Dissipation in Ocean Models and Connectivity" is the project that begins at the IEO-CSIC Oceanographic Center of A Coruña. Its main researcher is Manuel Ruiz Villareal and it is part of a project coordinated by the Institute of Marine Sciences. With funding of around 130,000 euros, the project represents a joint effort of two groups with complementary skills at ICM and IEO A Coruña to solve a common problem: explore possible improvements in currently used hydrodynamic models and evaluate the impact of these improvements in Lagrangian applications, with special attention to the problem of connectivity between populations of small pelagic fish and larval dispersal. Another task is to evaluate how these new implementations impact the evaluation of the transport properties of oceanic flows.

MBG projects in Pontevedra

The group of Genetics, Improvement and Biochemistry of Brassicas leads the project "Secondary metabolites in Brassicaceae: implications for genetic improvement and defense against stress" , funded with 266,000 euros, with Elena Cartea González and Pilar Soengas Fernández as main researchers. It is a multidisciplinary proposal that brings together researchers from three CSIC centers (MBG in Pontevedra, IAS in Córdoba and ICA in Madrid) and from the universities of Santiago de Compostela and Córdoba. It delves into the resistance mechanisms that can intervene in the plant-insect and plant-pathogen relationship in brassicas (kale, cabbage, turnip greens and turnip greens) in order to obtain more resistant varieties. It also seeks to obtain improved varieties, either for yield, resistance to biotic stresses and quality, and to obtain new foods and derived products based on extracts derived from brassicas for their inclusion in the market. The anticancer effect of isothiocyanate compounds, derived from brassicas, will be evaluated against cancer and breast cell lines.

The Maize Genetics and Improvement group leads a coordinated project “ Genetic improvement of maize resistance and defense mechanisms against biotic stresses” . It is financed with around 160,000 euros and its main researchers are Rosa Ana Malvar Pintos and Ana María Butrón Gómez. Its objective is to advance in the search for solutions to three of the main biotic problems that affect maize in our growing conditions: borers, grain contamination with fumonisins and the attack of the main warehouse pest. This seeks to generate basic knowledge that helps in the development of varieties with greater resistance and/or tolerance to these stresses, either by themselves or by interactions with beneficial microorganisms.

The Crop Biochemistry and Physiology group leads the project "Clarifying the relationships between biochemical composition and resistance to biotic stresses in different climatic scenarios: Impact on alternative uses of corn." Funded with more than 100,000 euros, its main researchers are Rogelio Santiago Carabelos (MBG) and Carlos Souto Otero (UVIGO). In the research, the role of the cell wall in the resistance to biotic stresses of the maize crop will be explored, designing new selection programs that propose modifications in its content and composition. In a novel way, the effect of water deficit on these resistance mechanisms will be tested in a context of climate change. Attention will also be paid to the clarification of the possible positive or negative interactions between components of the cell wall and alternative uses of the corn crop, evaluating in this case interferences in the silage and feeding of cattle and the potential in bioethanol production through the saccharification evaluation. Finally, it is planned to implement new technologies for phenotyping and pest monitoring using "drones" as a new tool within an integrated pest control system.

INCIPIT projects

"Beyond the wire fences: A comparative archeology of Franco's concentration camps" is one of the three projects that began at the Incipit. Led by Alfredo González Ruibal and Laura Muñoz Encinar with funding of more than 54,000 euros, it will analyze Franco's repression and violence during the Civil War and the dictatorship through the materiality of concentration camps. Through a holistic approach, which combines archeology and forensic anthropology with historical research, the broad spectrum of repression will be examined around three main axes: landscape, material culture, and memory.

Xosé-Lois Armada and Pau Sureda are the main researchers of "Metal production and circulation in the Late Bronze - Iron Age transition (11th-6th centuries BC): interactions between Atlantic Iberia and the western Mediterranean", with funding that around 100,000 euros. Its objective is to contribute to the understanding of the circulation of metals (copper, tin and lead) in Atlantic Iberia and the western Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age - Iron Age transition (IX-VI cs. BC), paying special attention to the interactions that these traffics generate between the aforementioned geographical areas. For this, it consists of three work packages: documentation and archaeometric characterization of materials; experimental archaeometallurgy and studies of metallic paleocontamination in peat bogs.

“Recognizing human activity outside the Iron Age forts of the Iberian Northwest through non-invasive methodologies (HINTERLAND)” is another project that INCIPIT initiates within the framework of this call. Funded with around 80,000 euros, its main researchers are César Parcero Oubiña, David González Álvarez. Its main objective is to expand knowledge about the societies that built and inhabited the forts in the Northwest of the peninsula, through the application of remote sensing and non-invasive prospecting methods to detect evidence of human activity on the outskirts of the forts. It is intended to recognize the scope of human activity beyond the limits of these walls, trying to identify remains of different types: structures linked to agricultural, livestock or forestry productive practices; structures linked to domestic occupation; environments for social aggregation or symbolic activities.