Santiago de Compostela / Vigo, 4 February 2025. The Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) is starting work in Galicia on 16 new research projects funded by the State Research Agency (AEI) through the call for R&D&I projects under the “Knowledge Generation and Scientific and Technological Strengthening of the R&D&I System” programme (2023).
The call funds research projects aimed at promoting the generation of scientific knowledge and high-quality research, as well as advancing the search for solutions to societal challenges. It may also fund actions for the training of predoctoral research staff through doctoral theses associated with research projects.
The 8 IIM projects
The Eco-physiology, Biomarkers and Sustainable Management of Bivalves group leads a project on tools for resilient mussel farming and the interaction between climate change and new management trends. The Microbiology and Technology of Marine Products group leads a project on new molecular tools to control and identify known and emerging human pathogens present in mussels.
The Organic Geochemistry Laboratory leads research on the impact of mesoscale activity on biogeochemical processes in the Greenland Sea. The Immunology and Genomics group leads a project on identifying metabolic alterations linked to infection and disease resistance in fish, focusing on turbot and gilthead seabream.
The Organic Geochemistry and Marine Biogeochemistry groups lead a project on the environmental impacts of coastal groundwater discharge on shellfish beds in the Galician rías. Other IIM projects focus on marine-food exosomes as bioactives for brain health, advanced quantitative microbiological risk-assessment models for Listeria monocytogenes biofilms in ready-to-eat foods, and carbon dioxide fluxes, acidification and ocean health in repeated oceanographic campaigns in the Atlantic.
The 5 MBG projects
At MBG, projects address data-driven mechanistic modelling and optimisation in systems biology; functional genomics and breeding in common bean; the restoration of ecological fire regimes as a solution to extreme fires in Mediterranean systems; the role of circadian rhythms in plant defence against biotic stress; and the function of signalling sugars in crop resilience.
The 2 INCIPIT projects
INCIPIT participates in research on astronomy in culture, heritage sciences and remote sensing, as well as in a project on modelling megalithic space, palaeoenvironment, navigation and visibility in monumental landscapes, focused on the Barbanza megalithic necropolis in Galicia.
The IEO A Coruña Oceanographic Centre project
The A Coruña Oceanographic Centre leads a project on microbial and metazoan food-web compartments through intermediate trophic levels, studying the impact of seasonal variability and habitat.