Global pollution caused by non-biodegradable plastics requires sustainable and environmentally friendly materials as an alternative for all applications.
On the other hand, the resistance of pathogenic microorganisms requires the development of materials that can accurately detect and act against these pathogens. To address both problems, the European Union has granted almost half a million euros to fund the NET4MAT research project, “Building knowledge and tools for the sustainable microbial fighting through sensing and responsive polysaccharide-based materials”, through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) program.
ET4MAT, led by the University of Aveiro (Portugal), will bring together experts with complementary skills, forming an interdisciplinary and intersectoral consortium between academia, research institutes, and industry. With a duration of 4 years, this ambitious project is structured through a consortium of 10 entities from different countries, including Portugal, Ireland, Denmark, France, Norway, Israel, and Spain, creating an interdisciplinary and intersectoral network between academia, research institutes, and industry across various European countries.
This consortium involves researchers who, by sharing their knowledge, will optimize the best strategies to develop polysaccharide materials with microbial detection and response capabilities, achieving a disruptive breakthrough toward the on-demand development of biodegradable antimicrobial plastics. The School of Agricultural Engineering of the University of Valladolid (ETSIIAA) will participate as a host institution through Professor Mario Martínez Martínez (Department of Agricultural and Forestry Engineering), the principal investigator of the project at the University of Valladolid. In the image below, Mario Martínez is shown alongside other members of the research team, such as Professor Manuel Gómez Pallarés, Ramón y Cajal researcher Laura Román, and predoctoral researchers Florencia Parle, Diogo Salvati, Jose Carlos Orellana, Rafael Liñan, and Sara Berguices.
This project adds to the European project TRANSCOLAB PLUS (Interreg Spain-Portugal), a Consolidation Research project, and another Knowledge Generation project funded by the State Research Agency (AEI), as well as a regional project funded by the Junta de Castilla y León, which are currently being developed by the group.
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