Imperial College London (UK)
Imperial College London (ICL) is a renowned university with a worldwide reputation for teaching and research across engineering, medicine, science and business. Consistently ranked within the top three universities in the UK and Europe, and the top ten worldwide, ICL attracts students and academics from across the world. In 2020/2021, Eurofins Foundation renewed its support to this institution with two research grants.
The Waring Lab Research team addresses the role of microbes in reforestation and ecosystem recovery with a large-scale tree-planting experiment on the Yucatán Peninsula, led by Plant for the Planet Mexico. This Mexico-based project aims to improve outcomes in large-scale reforestation projects, which capture CO2 from the atmosphere and lock it into wood.
Through the support of the Eurofins Foundation, Imperial College London has hired and trained a PhD student to conduct onsite measurements to quantify tree survival and growth in the newly established forests in the Yucatán peninsula.
The multi-year project is in its earliest stages, and data collection is not yet complete. However, ICL has already generated a spatially explicit forest sampling design, conducted necessary safety assessments and permit applications for international fieldwork, and coordinated with local scientists to identify areas of greatest research need, where their studies can fill significant knowledge gaps about the regrowth of degraded forests. Together, these activities lay the groundwork for a successful first field season. The research team led by Bonnie Waring will link tree seedling growth and survival to soil microbial communities.
Eurofins Foundation also supported research on Defining the AMR Burden of Antimicrobial Manufacturing Waste in Puducherry and Chennai (India) (AMRWATCH), a significant concern for public health authorities globally. This collaborative project investigates how environmental pollution from pharmaceutical manufacturing could be driving the evolution of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the environment.
The project facilitates knowledge exchanges between academics in the UK and India and key stakeholders that develop or purchase antibiotic ingredients. It aims to raise awareness of the importance of balancing the low cost of antibiotics with maintaining environmental performance and the sustainability of manufacturing methods, while highlighting opportunities for risk-reducing investments to tackle the proliferation of AMR.
The Eurofins Foundation grant has helped to prolong the project's Research Assistant's time, leading to dissemination activities and communication between UK researchers and Indian partners with local stakeholders.
It has also permitted data collection and analysis, as well as a literature review on antibiotic characteristics, use and production, and the physicochemical properties of 46 APIs and their fate in the environment.
Thanks to the grant, the research team has also been able to characterise the two case study catchments, investigate the role of manufacturing plants and other sources, such as AMR hotspots, and establish the Source, Pathway, and Receptor (SPR) linkages, all essential parts of the AMRWATCH programme of work.
In 2021/2022, the Eurofins Foundation renewed its support for this project.
The Foundation's donation increased the time of the project's Research Assistant, thus helping to:
- Support the method development for quantification of APIs and AMR in the environment;
- Complete the work related to system analysis and conceptual models and finalising the protocols for the main sampling campaign;
- Organise knowledge exchange activities between UK and India, including the training of visiting researchers from Pondicherry University and Banaras Hindu University at Imperial College London;
- Update the website on a regular basis to reach a wider audience and raise awareness about the importance of antibiotic manufacturing waste for the proliferation of AMR in the environment and humans;
- Carry out research on stakeholders related to antibiotic supply chain
In 2022/2023, the Eurofins Foundation is contributing to the research project’s final phase.
These projects contribute to the following United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals
