Maria Vila Costa
934006170 - int 437777
maria.vila@idaea.csic.es
ORCID:
0000-0003-1730-8418
Research group: Global Change and Genomic Biogeochemistry
Genomics biogeochemistry of organic pollutants. I’m interested on studying the interactions between organic pollutants and microorganisms in the oceans. I study the biogeochemical cycle of some families of organic pollutants and their influence on microbial activities and diversities in the coastal marine environment and the open ocean.
H2-BR
Biohydrogen production and bioremediation
H2-BR aims to develop efficient microbial electrocatalytic cells (MEC) for the simultaneous production of hydrogen, compound with the highest specific energy density of any known fuel, and the bioremediation of marine waters and sediments affected by organic pollutants. This is a multidisciplinary project, where cutting-edge technology will be combined for the nanotechnological development of high-performance electrolyzers with molecular techniques for the characterization of microbial communities and analytical techniques for evaluating the efficiency of bioremediation.
Funding: Proyectos de Transición Ecológica y Digital 2021, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. TED2021-132070B-C22
Start Date: 01/01/2023 – End Date: 31/12/2024
Project Leader: Maria Vila Costa , Jordi Dachs Marginet
Researchers: Naiara Berrojalbiz Castrillejo
Funding: National Project
MIQAS
Microbiomes as integrative indicators of the impact of organic pollutants in water quality
MIQAS will explore global indicators of chemical pollution by using microbial bioindicators as new efficient methods of assessing water quality and organic pollution impacts.
Funding: Convocatoria 2021 - «Proyectos de Generación de Conocimiento», Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. PID2021-128084OB-I00
Start Date: 01/09/2022 – End Date: 31/08/2025
Project Leader: Maria Vila Costa , Benjamí Piña Capó
Support: Núria Trilla Prieto , Mapis Losada Carrillo , Claudia Sanz Lanzas , Naiara Berrojalbiz Castrillejo , Marta Casado Belloso
Funding: National Project
Bac4Zink
Biorecovery of Zn using microbial electrolysis cells from Cu wastes
The Copper (Cu) industry sector has been in the need of exploiting low Cu quality deposits with high impurities as most of the existing mines are near to an end-exploitation, which offers the opportunity to be used as well as secondary sources of raw and critical materials. This is the case of Zinc (Zn). Zn is a base-metal in the Europe´s strategy to shift away from today’s fossil fuels system towards clean energy technologies1 . By 2050, Europe will require new demand equivalent to 11% of Zn today’s consumption for manufacturing of electric vehicles, electricity networks, solar panels, and hydrogen. Recycling provides between 40% and 55% of Europe’s Zn supply. However, in the wake of supply disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Europe’s lack of resilience for its growing metals such as Zn, needs have become a strategic concern. To meet demand, it is crucial that attention shifts to secondary sources of Zn as the by-products generated during Cu primary production which is a target of this project.
Sinergia-Innovación Project 2023
Start Date: 15/07/2022 – End Date: 14/07/2023
Project Leader: Maria Vila Costa , Patricia Córdoba Sola
Funding: National Project
Linkages
Understanding the role of dissolved organic carbon in modulating marine microbiome
Marine microbiomes are the main engines driving the main global biogeochemical cycles, today under threat by global change. Our understanding on the role played by dissolved organic carbon, both biogenic and specially anthropogenic, modulating microbiome functioning, has been hampered by limited analytical techniques.
This project aims to apply meta-omic approaches to disentangle the linkage between chemical, functional and taxonomical diversities in the upper ocean.