The plant microbiome in pest control – call closed October 8, 2024
The potential of the plant microbiome in soil management
The Horizon Europe call “Harnessing the multifunctional potential of soil biodiversity for health cropping systems” supports the Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe”, where expected key outcomes are enhanced soil and crop health, reduced dependence on external inputs, improved knowledge of soil biodiversity, expanded integrated pest management practices, and accelerated adoption of practices that promote soil and plant health.
Sustainable farming practices, the reduction of pesticide use and an emphasis on biodiversity will ultimately lead to an increased agricultural sustainability and contribute to climate change mitigation. The establishment of living labs is encouraged, facilitating the transition of novel agricultural techniques to real life applications.
How can microfluidics help with your Mission Soil project?
- Enable high-throughput screening to detect soil contamination like pesticides, heavy metals, pharmaceutical residues.
- Develop on-chip systems for microbiome composition analysis (bacteria and fungi)
- Develop microbiome-based plant protection
- Learn more about how the MIC contributes to soil health research in our project EDAPHOS.
Deadline for application: 8th October 2024
What we can do as an SME partner for plant microbiome analysis:
The participation of SMEs is highly encouraged in Horizon Europe projects, since they are highly competent to bring new innovations to the market. In our case, we specialize in microfluidic technologies, and can develop a perfusion system to identify the bacterial or fungal strains present in the soil, as a marker of soil biodiversity, but we can also develop plant and soil protection solutions based on the native plant microbiome (phytomicrobiome).
Specifically, at the MIC we can develop:
- Innovative instruments tailored to your application
- Lab-on-chip for high-throughput fungicide and pesticide screening
- Bacterial strain isolation and identification
- Offer guidance on proposal writing and dissemination and facilitate bringing innovations to the market.
Scope of the Mission Soil call
- Investigate soil biodiversity’s role in soil structure, nutrient cycling, water management, and pest control.
- Explore interactions between soil organisms, crops, and the environment to boost plant health and productivity.
- Develop and test innovative, site-specific soil management practices.
- Establish demonstration sites to validate and promote soil biodiversity benefits.
- Assess the socio-economic and environmental impact of proposed solutions.
- Create capacity-building materials and organize knowledge-sharing activities.
The MIC and European joint projects
We have extensive experience with European joint research proposals and have been an SME partner in over 50 granted projects to date. We will be glad to participate in your project! Besides Mission Soil, we are particularly interested in the following calls but remain open to any collaboration:
- Mission Cancer: Accessible and affordable tests to advance early detection of heritable cancers in European regions
- Mission Soil: Soil health, pollinators, and key ecosystem functions
- EIC Pathfinder: Solar-to-X devices for the decentralized prosumption of renewable fuels, chemicals, and materials as a climate change mitigation pathway
You are interested in other calls? Download our MIC European calls calendar:
The MIC already brings its expertise in microfluidics to Horizon Europe:
H2020-NMBP-TR-IND-2020
Microfluidic platform to study the interaction of cancer cells with lymphatic tissue
HORIZON-MISS-2022-SOIL-01
Development of soil remediation techniques and soil analysis using microfluidics
