Contaminant of emerging concern (CECs) such as antibiotics, pathogens and antimicrobial resistant (AMR) bacteria in water bodies associated to intensive fish and inland animal farming, represent a great threat to the environment and human health. AMROCE aims at reducing antibiotic pollution and spread of AMR bacteria in the entire water cycle through a platform of novel antibiotic-free antimicrobial products. AMROCE will develop antimicrobial/antibiofilm fish cage nets and wastewater filtration membranes through polymer and surface nano-engineering. Marine-derived antimicrobial agents and antibiofilm enzymes will be nano-formulated as alternative to antibiotics for fish and animal feed supplement. Human and environmental nanosafety during the manufacturing and use of the novel nanotechnology-embedded products will be continuously evaluated to anticipate nanosafety issues.
Project structure
The duration of AMROCE project will be 36 months and the activities will be distributed in five Work Packages (WPs). WP1 is dedicated to the development of nano-formulations assembling marine/algae-derived antimicrobial lipids and Antimicrobial lipids and peptides (AMP) with Quorum Quenching Enzymes (QQE), as stable additives for fish and animal feed with antibiofilm and bactericidal efficacies that prevent from bacterial infections. In WP2, bulk engineered or coated fish cage nets (FCN) and water filtration membranes (WFM) containing stable metal oxide nanoparticles (MeO NPs) with antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities will be generated. WP3 will identify the parameters related to the safety of the nano-formulation process for both workers and users, considering not only the existing regulation, but also the gaps existing in the legislation and norms. In WP4 the cost effectiveness and sustainability will be studied applying Life cycle assessment and costing (LCA/LCC) approaches to optimise the costs as well as the environmental and social impact of the novel technologies and products. WP5 is dedicated to project management, communication and dissemination activities.
