Research activities of the Biochemistry and Biodiversity unit include: analysis and identification of microorganisms and antimicrobial resistance, with the prevention and treatment of diseases in mari/aquaculture microorganisms, microbiology in aquaculture and fisheries, acute and/or (eco) toxicity tests of environmental or human health related contaminants and biodiversity identification in water and terrestrial systems.
The acquisition of equipment through O-ZIP would provide new research opportunities, as well as the possibility to enhance knowledge and competitiveness in the field of biodiversity and biochemistry, through the implementation of new research techniques. New research possibilities will contribute to the prevention and therapy of diseases in aquaculture.
The Unit will also enable the development of environmental biology, molecular biology or biomedicine use of aquatic model organisms for various toxicological evaluations, acute and/or (eco)toxicity tests of environmental or human health related contaminants, synthetic drugs/opiates and antibiotics identification in water systems and susceptibility testing of microorganisms, biodiversity conservation strategies, antibiotics identification and susceptibility testing of microorganisms in water systems.
In order to ensure its maximum performance, it will be primarily dedicated to the highly specific and sensitive determination of polar organic contaminants in environmental matrices. Furthermore, it will be essential in order to maintain the achieved research momentum in the field of environmental risk assessment, in particular in unravelling the environmental fate and ecotoxicological significance of different classes of emerging polar contaminants.
Expected research work with O-ZIP implementation will include: improvements that represent the basis for the structural elucidation of unknowns, essential for a comprehensive assessment of environmental samples as well as for the study of the transformation patterns of environmental contaminants. Finally, these improvements would provide an important prerequisite for a comprehensive characterization of organic pollutants in the environment and a basin-specific prioritization of the most critical contaminants.
