Work Packages

The goals of the AquaHealth project will be addressed to in seven workpackages.

WP1: Management. WP1 will ensure professional management of all administrative, strategic, and internal communication aspects of the project, including data management.

WP2: Microalgae and microbiomes resources. WP2 will sample, cultivate and taxonomically characterize microalgae and microalgae microbiomes for systems-scale ‘omics analyses in WP3 and functional screening activities in WP4.

WP3: Advancing the omics toolbox. WP3 covers the in depth understanding of microbial consortia function at the systems level using (meta)-genomic, -transcriptomic and -proteomic approaches to select samples from WP2 to be prioritized in WP4. This includes sequence mining activities for targets of interest based on sequence homology and motifs.

WP4: Functional screening of microalgae and microbial communities. WP4 will deploy functional assays in HTS and UHTS format to derive a set of promising candidates of interest (e.g. antibiofilm proteins/enzymes and antiviral candidates) and characterize them to select the most promising candidates for further work in WP5.

WP5: Processing, Scale up & Testing. WP5 includes the up-scaled production and isolation of 1-2 selected high-value molecules, their full functional characterization and evaluation as potential product candidates.

WP6: Prospective technology assessment. In WP6, economic, environmental and social impacts of novel product candidates and their production processes will be assessed.

WP7: Communication & Dissemination. WP7 will ensure that project concept, progress and results are communicated and disseminated to relevant stakeholders, including the wider public, and prepared for further development and exploitation beyond the scope of this project, in collaboration with members of the project’s industrial reference group.