The goal of B4EST is to increase forest survival, health, resilience and productivity under climate change and natural disturbances, while maintaining genetic diversity and key ecological functions, and fostering a competitive EU bio-based economy. B4EST will provide forest tree breeders, forest managers and owners, and policy makers with: 1) better scientific knowledge on adaptation profiles and sustainable productivity, and added value of raw materials in important European tree species for forestry, 2) new and flexible adaptive tree breeding strategies, 3) tree genotypes of highly adaptive and economical value, 4) decision-support tools for the choice and use of Forest Reproductive Material (FRM) while balancing production, resilience and genetic diversity, including case studies developed with industrial partners, 5) integrative performance models to guide FRM deployment at stand and landscape level, 6) economic analyses of risks/benefits/costs, and 6) policy recommendations. B4EST will capitalise on the resources developed by past and current EU projects to produce -together with tree breeders, forest managers and owners, and the industry- operational solutions to better adapt forests to climate change and reinforce the competitiveness of the EU forest-based sector. To cover the geographical, economic and societal needs of forestry in the EU, B4EST will work with 8 (six native, two non-native) conifers and broadleaves with advanced breeding programmes (Norway spruce, Scots pine, maritime pine, poplars, Douglas-fir, eucalypts) or that are case studies of pest-threatened forests (ash) or valuable non-wood products (stone pine). Our approach will result in a high degree of data and knowledge integration, involving multiple and new target traits and their trade-offs; genomic information; temporal and spatial assessments in a wide range of environments; stakeholder demands; and forest owner and manager risk perception and acceptability of new breeding strategies.

BIORIMA stands for Biomaterial Risk Management. BIORIMA aims to develop an integrated risk management (IRM) framework for nano-biomaterials (NBM) used in Advanced Therapeutic Medicinal Products (ATMP) and Medical Devices (MD). The BIORIMA RM framework is a structure upon which the validated tools and methods for materials, exposure, hazard and risk identification/assessment and management are allocated plus a rationale for selecting and using them to manage and reduce the risk for specific NBM used in ATMP and MD. Specifically, the IRM framework will consist of: (i) Risk Management strategies and systems, based on validated methodologies, tools, and guidance, for monitoring and reducing the risks together with methods for evaluating them; (ii) Validated methodologies and tools to identify the potential Exposure and Hazard posed by NBM to humans and the environment; (iii) A strategy for Intelligent Testing (ITS) and Tiered Risk Assessment for NBM used in ATMP and MD. BIORIMA workplan consists of 7 workpackages covering the major themes: Materials, Exposure, Hazard and Risk. BIORIMA will generate methods and tools for these themes for use in risk evaluation and reduction. The BIORIMA toolbox will consist of validated methods/tools for materials synthesis; reference materials bank; methods for human/environment exposure assessment and monitoring; (eco)-toxicology testing protocols; methods for prevention of accidental risks – massive release or explosion – A tiered risk assessment method for humans/environment; An intelligent testing strategy for NBM and risk reduction measures, including the safer-by-design approach. BIORIMA will deliver a web-based Decision Support System to help users, especially SME, evaluate the risk/benefit profile of their NBM products and help to shorten the time to market for NBM products.

B cells are one of the main players of immunity, responsible for the production of immunoglobulins (Igs). In 2011, I was granted an ERC Starting grant to undertake the phenotypical and functional characterization of teleost B lymphocytes based on the hypothesis that they do not behave as mammalian B2 cells (conventional B cells) but closely resemble mammalian innate B1 lymphocytes involved in extrafollicular T-independent (TI) responses. Since then, my laboratory has gathered considerable evidences that strengthen this hypothesis. These studies were mostly carried out in central lymphoid compartments, but did not address how teleost B1-like cells regulate the delicate balance between immunity and tolerance at mucosal interfaces, in species lacking follicular structures. In this new project, I want to pursue my studies on B lymphocyte functionality, focusing on how teleost mucosal B cells are regulated, still under the assumption that fish B lymphocytes resemble better a B1 model. We will study how fish B cells differentiate to antibody secreting cells (ASCs) and establish extrafollicular long-term memory, taking into account novel results in mammals that have challenged traditional paradigms and revealed that long-term immunological memory can be established through TI IgM B1-like responses. Furthermore, we will also study the role of IgD in the gills, as previous studies from my group suggest that this Ig plays a key role in the regulation of immunity in this specific mucosa, as it seems to do in humans in areas such as the upper respiratory tract. Addressing how fish B cells mount a protective mucosal immune response in the absence of T cell help from organized follicles could provide new mechanistic insights into IgM and IgD responses emerging in humans. From a practical view, our work will contribute to understand why satisfactory mucosal vaccination is still an unreached goal for most diseases in both mammals and fish, despite their strong demand.

Gov4Nano will design and establish a well-positioned and broadly supported Nano Risk Governance Council (NRGC). Organizing, connecting and engaging are key activities in Gov4Nano and its creation of a sustainable NRGC. Gov4Nano will develop an operational trans disciplinary Nano Risk Governance Model (NRGM) for nanotechnologies, building on an established governance framework developed by the International Risk Governance Council (IRGC). Engaging stakeholders (including regulators) to proactively address nano-specific safety and seek dialogue for joint activities. NRGC and its precursor project Gov4Nano will engage, in order to support these activities, with the broad variety of stakeholders across all relevant nano-disciplines (chemical, biocides, food and feed, pharma and medical devices and materials development) and draft a review on our knowledge progress over the last decade whilst initiating dialog. To boost the quality of the dialog it will create a platform for dialogues between stakeholders in a “trusted environment” inclusive of civil society. The NRGC core business is to coordinate, guide and harmonize in order to overcome the fragmentation of current knowledge, information and needs over various sectors and disciplines (workers, consumers/patients, environmental safety) and to prepare the transfer of this knowledge. To that end, the NRGC will be equipped with a self-sustainable NanoSafety Governance Portal (NSGP) consolidating state-of-the-art and progressive nanosafety governance tools including ones for dialogues and measuring risk perception. Major efforts will be towards requirements for data harmonization and data curation to be defined and laid down in guidance on obtaining harmonized and standardized quality-scored data collections promoting a big data approach for nano-toxicology. Research activities will be initiated for regulatory sound knowledge in support of harmonized (OECD) guidance for characterization and testing of nanomaterials.

AGENT aims to transform genebanks (GB) from living archives into bio-digital resources centres, equipped to meet the needs of a changing world. Fifteen GB and four genebank genomic centers will create a network to work exemplarily on barley and wheat for (i) establishing a European (global) crop genomic diversity atlas, (ii) activating currently inaccessible legacy phenotypic data, (iii) implementing a novel concept of concerted accumulation of phenologic and agronomic data for individual GenRes collections to establish training population datasets for the genome-wide prediction of untested GenRes accessions. Phenotyping will take into account diverse environmental conditions (climate, soil, geography, pathogens) provided by the diversity of eco-geographic locations of the participating GB and their partners. These activities will be supported by a bioinformatics network that will implement FAIR data principles, standards, protocols, and data formats enabling data storage, access, use, and re-use, extending the existing EURISCO GenRes portal for new data types. AGENT will use existing solutions established by ongoing European projects and international initiatives, but also develop new tools for novel functionality of data access, visualisation, and use, which will be connected and implemented via plugin or web-services, allowing their incorporation in EURISCO and other data portals, and their easy application to other crop GenRes, based on data already available at EURISCO or provided by AGENT partner GB. A coordinated testing network is another unique layer of AGENT, directly involving stakeholders (e.g. farmer cooperatives, breeding companies, NGOs) in monitoring, mentoring, capacity building and training in the development of workflows and tools. Thus, AGENT project results will be directly disseminated to GB, researchers, breeders, policy makers and the general public and raise awareness of the general as well as the specific societal importance of GenRes.