Summaries
The electronic skin devices obtained in this project will be potentially applicable in the areas of health and well-being, as well as in robotics: prosthetic replacements with equal, if not better, sensory perception than human skin; biomedical monitoring systems for patient comfort; or smart robots that can hold a cup without breaking it and also detect if its surface is too hot.
The main aim of the project is to reprogramme carbon metabolism in microalgae as a tool for CO2 capture. This will help us to increase the biotechnological applicability of these microorganisms. The aim is to make progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and their effects on global warming and climate change in a sustainable way by making the most of the use of photosynthetic organisms.
It aims to obtain quick and reliable information on which fungicides are working—and which are not—in the control of botrytis and powdery mildew diseases in strawberries. Both diseases are prevalent during the growing season and cause a decrease in production, which leads to significant economic losses. It is essential to have a quick action plan to deal with the problem as soon as possible in order to contribute to a more sustainable and productive agriculture.
Providing means to store energy efficiently and cleanly is one of the challenges facing our society. This project aims to develop advanced materials that offer effective alternatives to those currently used to design energy storage devices.
The aim of the project is to better diagnose ocean currents in order to increase the safety of human activities at sea and to reduce CO2 emissions from maritime transport.
The development and application of the proposed biocidal systems for water disinfection—versatile, stable and environmentally friendly, as well as potentially more efficient and “cleaner” than current ones—will improve the quality of life in poor countries and remote places, as well as in developed areas and large urban agglomerations.
Rheumatoid arthritis is one of the most common autoimmune diseases in developed countries, with a prevalence of 0.3–1.2%. It is characterised by chronic inflammation in the joints as a result of an influx of large numbers of immune system cells into the joints. The aim is to develop new therapeutic tools that, through the specific blocking of cell movement, improve inflammation in patients with this disease.
The project combines chemistry, microbiology and cultural heritage. It aims to fuse complex molecules with metal nanoparticles to obtain a selection of hybrid materials with high antimicrobial activity and demonstrate how they can act as biocides to aid the preservation of cultural heritage. That is, to use them to kill bacteria and fungi that contaminate paper, leather and stone surfaces on ancient objects such as books, clothes and statues.
The aim is to develop an ultrasensitive and specific sensor for the detection of proteins related to the onset of breast cancer tumour development with a simple blood test. This technology for rapid and early detection of cancer does not yet exist and will undoubtedly have a high impact on patient survival. Subsequently, it will be extrapolated to other types of tumours.
It proposes the development of a temperature sensor for use in space missions, which require high accuracy and stability in very demanding environments. In turn, the technology developed will be applicable in other scientific and technological fields that require high stability measurements.
The ultimate goal is to develop new tools that can amplify genetic material in an increasingly efficient way to meet the new challenges faced by genomic sequencing technologies. These will be useful in fields as diverse as archaeology, forensic medicine, personalised medicine, etc.
New quantum technologies promise to revolutionise our information society. For example, computers will be able to perform calculations that are currently impossible and there will be ways to produce cryptographic keys that no one will be able to hack. This project aims to explore ways to further improve such technologies by using physical systems and phenomena that have not been considered until now.
Development of a clean technology for the production of eco-fuels to meet the growing energy demand. It aims to obtain new materials for the sustainable production of synthesis gas using concentrated solar radiation as the only source of energy, while minimising the emission of greenhouse gases and other pollutants.
It studies the changes that oil undergoes in the conditions in which it is usually stored. The information obtained will be used to create a mathematical model to predict the oil’s shelf life, something that is increasingly necessary to ensure that its optimal nutritional and sensory properties reach the consumer. In the Spanish food industry, virgin olive oil is a strategic sector that benefits greatly from improvements in quality control, which have a clear economic impact.
The field of electron cryomicroscopy is undergoing a revolution that has allowed us to start analysing macromolecular structures at very high resolution. Knowing the three-dimensional shape of a macromolecular structure at this level of detail, as well as its dynamics and interactions with ligands, will radically help pharmaceutical companies to design new drugs with therapeutic applications, significantly reducing production costs and development times.