The solution to achieve climate neutrality might lie within cells
Oeiras, 11 October 2024
ITQB NOVA is the coordinator of a new Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Staff Exchanges project, receiving > 1M€ to help avert the pending climate catastrophe. The inspiration? Nature itself. The research project brings together 11 partners from 9 countries from the private sector and academia to link basic scientific discovery to the development of prototypes to tackle water pollution and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
Rising concentrations of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels have become a major environmental challenge, contributing to global warming, air pollution and ocean acidification. Experts say that the urgent action towards the reduction of CO2 levels requires a dual strategy that includes the capture and/or chemical conversion of gas emissions, and the development of alternative green energy sources, such as hydrogen. In parallel, new solutions are also needed to cope with fresh water scarcity that is also exacerbated by global warming.
A consortium led by ITQB NOVA PIs Smilja Todorovic and Ricardo Louro will explore the hypothesis that living organisms have what it takes to deal with these burning issues. The Metalloenzymes and Cells for Green Environmental Alternatives (McGEA) project proposes to bring specialized proteins that accelerate chemical reactions, called enzymes, outside of cells to perform processes of high environmental impact.
For this, researchers are focusing on a special type of enzymes that need metals to function. Smilja Todorovic, PI at ITQB NOVA, explains: “Metalloenzymes have an untapped potential that can be explored for solving the contemporary intertwined environmental challenges of atmospheric and water pollution. Importantly, they rely on inexpensive earth-abundant metals for their activity.” But to begin solving these problems, enzymes need to be active and stable under working conditions that are typically different from the natural cellular environment. The McGEA research team is set to understand crucial aspects of these enzymes in order to rationally improve their stability, activity and applications.
Researchers at ITQB NOVA will study the properties and stability of metalloenzymes, as well as their behavior in complex constructs. “We will jointly perform research to advance CO2 capture and biological hydrogen production, and to develop a proof of concept for wastewater monitoring and remediation, employing either isolated metalloenzymes or their surface display by living cells”, advances Ricardo Louro, PI at ITQB NOVA.
This groundbreaking work relies on a strong interdisciplinary and intersectoral team, engaging 6 research groups from EU and 2 from overseas, as well as 3 EU companies. These, in addition to ITQB NOVA, include CNRS France, TUB Germany, TUD the Netherlands, UniFi Italy, DTU Denmark, CONICET Argentina, UNM USA, ZymVol Spain, Giotto Italy and ChiralVisionthe Netherlands. The MSCA Staff Exchanges Programme will fund international and inter-sectoral exchanges of staff members involved in these research and innovation activities. This will allow for the development of a diverse portfolio of skills needed to tackle burning issues that threaten to irreversibly harm the environment and society.
