Objectives
MIBIREM will adapt and streamline microbiome science to the needs of applications, to exploit microbiomes for bioremediation, creating and applying a TOOLBOX to identify, analyse, cultivate and upscale microbiomes, while ensuring safety and policy alignment.
The main idea underlying MIBIREM is to look at three levels as shown on the graphic: the top one is based on microbiomes in general. This is the main source of the tools and methods developed and applied in MIBIREM. The next level comes from the environmental application area ‘bioremediation’ which leads to additional tools or adaptations of general microbiome tools. Together, these form the content of the ‘MIBIREM TOOLBOX’ which includes all services, resources and protocols needed to bring bioremediation microbiomes into applications and is the main result to create long-lasting impact. Finally, three use-cases have been chosen that determine the in-detail focus of MIBIREM and as test-cases for the TOOLBOX. Post-project, the ambition is to adapt the TOOLBOX first for bioremediation of other contaminants, then for related applications like wastewater treatment.
Six scientific & technical objectives address this:
Objective 1: Make sample taking & treatment, site selection & access, and data management easy and comparable through harmonised methods and protocols.
Objective 2: Get access to highly active degraders in the microbiome by identifying, analysing, isolating and cultivating them.
Objective 3: Facilitate public access to bioremediation bacteria and microbiomes, and their genomic information and metadata by sequencing and publicly depositing them.
Objective 4: Support decisions, if and how to apply bioremediation through an IT modelling tool that integrates microbiological, chemical, hydrological and physical data and processes.
Objective 5: Bring microbiomes into application by analysing at large scale their degradation potential and safety, scale-up production and processes, and finally perform field tests.
Objective 6: Ensure that the MIBIREM TOOLBOX – the microbiome and bioremediation tools developed and applied in MIBIREM – fulfils regulatory requirements and addresses market needs.
