Enzymes could make many chemical conversions more efficient, more sustainable and more affordable - and marine microbes produce an abundant variety of these biological catalysts, say EU-funded researchers who set out to find new ones for use in industry. A vast collection, new knowledge, four patents and a start-up are the result.
The global bioeconomy is growing, but it must overcome hurdles including avoiding competition with land used for food production. An EU- and industry-funded project is exploring using contaminated and waste land for biocrops.
From literature and theatre to social media and sport, an EU project has investigated the production of gender equalities and inequalities in different forms of culture across Europe.
An EU-funded project is integrating research resources and providing services to support access to specific mouse models for scientific investigation of the genetic foundations of human health and disease. The aim is to boost the translation of this knowledge into better treatments for patients.
The EU-funded CORE project is helping to develop safer, more effective medicines by improving the processes pharmaceutical companies use to separate mirror-image pharmaceutical molecules, which will boost the industry's efficiency and competitiveness.
What do you do with unwanted catch - avoid it, discard it or land it? Discarding it is now banned under the EU's common fisheries policy. Two EU-funded projects explored options and strategies in a bid to support industry with this move towards greater sustainability – such as technology enabling vessels to fish more selectively.
An EU-funded project is improving the methodology and the tools required for rapid response to emergencies at nuclear power plants. Combined with a reference database of accident scenarios and a common methodology, these tools will enable emergency centres to better protect citizens.
Thawing Arctic coastlines due to climate change will not only affect the people living there, it will also have global ramifications. The EU-funded NUNATARYUK project is analysing the consequences of Arctic permafrost warming to help policymakers and local communities develop adaptation and mitigation strategies.
Rising temperatures and melting ice in the Arctic will have local and global consequences. But adapting to such changes requires tracking them first. EU-funded researchers are merging Arctic observation systems into a unified network. The results will help determine what is happening and what we can do about it.
Exploration and production of oil and gas are entering ever more extreme environments. An EU-funded project is examining the best ways to respond to accidental oil spills in the icy waters of the Arctic.
