AgroSERV Kick-off meeting in Prague

On October 17, the Horizon EU-funded AgroSERV project, coordinated by AnaEE ERIC and CNRS, kicked off in Prague. This project gathers 12 research infrastructure partners  and 61 additional partners as service providers from a broad spectrum, ranging from life science and environmental research infrastructures up to the social sciences. At the kick-off meeting, Euro-BioImaging Bio-Hub Section Director, Antje Keppler, and Coordinator, Ilari Pulli, presented the set of technologies and tools Euro-BioImaging will make available via our specialised Nodes to support agroecological research projects within the AgroSERV project.

Euro-BioImaging’s contribution to AgroSERV

In this project, Euro-BioImaging ERIC is participating in multiple Work Packages and is leading Work Package 16. Work Package 16 will provide access to biological and biomedical imaging technologies, thus supporting research and innovation in view of achieving a sustainable and resilient agriculture and supporting agroecological transition. Currently, nine Nodes are participating in the AgroSERV project, making imaging approaches for plant, marine and soil microbiome research available to users.

Within AgroSERV project, Euro-BioImaging will:

• Provide access to high imaging technologies thus improving services to research on plant stress, plant breeding and crop productivity

• Support microscale imaging studies of the microbial communities 

• Provide access to imaging techniques that can help to resolve the molecular interactions, cellular pathways, and the mechanisms in whole organisms underlying plant resilience under stress conditions.

• Provide access to imaging technologies for the study of plant biology under different climate conditions and the study of host pathogen interactions, to combat new pests and diseases.

Funding for access to these services at participating Euro-BioImaging Nodes will be available through open calls, which will launch in late 2023. Participating Euro-BioImaging Nodes are:

Austria BioImaging/CMI, Advanced Light Microscopy and Medical Imaging Node Brno CZ, EMBL Node, French BioImaging Node, Digital Imaging Multimodal Platform Neuromed, Molecular Imaging Italian Node, Wageningen Imaging and Spectroscopy Hub, Portuguese Platform of BioImaging PPBI, Swedish National Microscopy Infrastructure.

Some examples of plant imaging expertise at Euro-BioImaging Nodes:

• Plant imaging at DIMP Neuromed Node

• Toppled microscope at Advanced Light & Electron Microscope Prague

• Adapting instruments for plant biology at Austrian BioImaging/CMI

AgroSERV key points

The AgroSERV project as a whole aims at a higher level of integration of multi-RI services by engaging a variety of users and stakeholders in a co-creation process, generating new services. Through this and the achieved research outputs, AgroSERV will support the development of new agroecological practices by fostering trans-disciplinarity and integrating the socio-economic dimension.

Total project funding: 15 M Euros

Number of partners: 73

Project duration: 5 years

Project coordinator: AnaEE ERIC and CNRS