1. Innovative solutions for valorization of desalination brineAna Rotter, Baruch Rinkevich, Irem Deniz, Maggie M. Reddy, Mariana Girão, Maria F. Carvalho, Nina Gunde-Cimerman, Cene Gostinčar, Mercedes Cueto, Ernesta Grigalionyte-Bembič, 2025, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: Desalination is becoming increasingly important to meet the growing demand for freshwater. However, a major drawback of this technology is the production of hypersaline brine. This by-product contains salts and contaminants that have been removed during the desalination process, including antiscalants, cleaning agents, heavy metals, and organic compounds. Instead of disposing of this brine and causing environmental harm, new strategies should be developed to transform brine from a burden into an opportunity with environmental and economic benefits. Brine can harbor halotolerant and halophilic microorganisms, making it a valuable resource for studying microbial diversity, adaptations and exploring untapped biotechnological opportunities in pharmaceutical, industrial, and ecological fields. We propose two strategies of innovation: (i) using brine to cultivate micro- and macro-organisms, both of which can create circular economy models tailored to global and local needs. (ii) In addition, the amount of brine generated by desalination plants can be reduced by integrating or coupling them with biodesalination modules. These modules would harness halotolerant and halophilic organisms to retain and assimilate salts, reducing the environmental impact of desalination.
Ključne besede: desalination, brine, environmental impact, circular economy, biotechnology
Objavljeno v DiRROS: 08.09.2025; Ogledov: 590; Prenosov: 301
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2. A new tool for faster construction of marine biotechnology collaborative networksAna Rotter, Susana P. Gaudêncio, Katja Klun, Jan-Niklas Macher, Olivier Thomas, Irem Deniz, Christine Edwards, Ernesta Grigalionyte-Bembič, Z. Ljubešić, Johan Robbens, Giovanna Cristina Varese, Marlen I. Vasquez, 2021, drugi znanstveni članki Povzetek: The increasing and rapid development in technologies, infrastructures, computational power, data availability and information flow has enabled rapid scientific advances. These entail transdisciplinary collaborations that maximize sharing of data and knowledge and, consequently, results, and possible technology transfer. However, in emerging scientific fields it is sometimes difficult to provide all necessary expertise within existing collaborative circles. This is especially true for marine biotechnology that directly addresses global societal challenges. This article describes the creation of a platform dedicated to facilitating the formation of short or mid-term collaborative networks in marine biotechnology. This online platform (https://www.ocean4biotech.eu/map/) enables experts (researchers and members of the marine biotechnology community in general) to have the possibility to showcase their expertise with the aim of being integrated into new collaborations/consortia on the one hand, or to use it as a search tool to complement the expertise in planned/running collaborations, on the other. The platform was created within the Ocean4Biotech (European transdisciplinary networking platform for marine biotechnology) Action, funded under the framework of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST). To build the platform, an inquiry was developed to identify experts in marine biotechnology and its adjunct fields, to define their expertise, to highlight their infrastructures and facilities and to pinpoint the main bottlenecks in this field. The inquiry was open to all experts in the broad field of marine biotechnology, including non-members of the consortium. The inquiry (https://ee.kobotoolbox.org/single/UKVsBNtD) remains open for insertion of additional expertise and the resulting interactive map can be used as a display and search tool for establishing new collaborations.
Objavljeno v DiRROS: 06.08.2024; Ogledov: 1174; Prenosov: 910
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