Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)

The Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) is the largest public research organization in Spa in, and it is distinguished by its multidisciplinary nature. Three subgroups are involved in the Kill•Spill project combining expertise in microbial biotechnology, molecular and biochemical analysis of catabolic pathway and the development and application of analytical (meta-) genomic, (meta-) proteomic and (meta-) metabolomic platforms.
Main tasks in the project

  • Development and validation of biosensors for alkanes; test their suitability to detect hydrocarbons in seawater (WP2).
  • Construction and validation of biosensors for aromatic hydrocarbons (WP2 and WP8)
  •  Molecular traps for identification of evolved variants of TodS sensor to expand the range of effectors recognized by this sensor regulator (WP2)
  • In vitro expression technology for enhanced performance of environmental biosensors (WP2).
  • Reprogramming host cells into biochemically components vehicles for in situ monitoring of aromatic hydrocarbons (WP2)
  • Analytical (meta-) proteomic and (meta-) metabolomic platforms for assessment bio-stimulation and/or bio-augmentation processes in biodegradation settings.
Fernando Rojo - Contact this person by email

Prof. Fernando Rojo is Research Professor at the National Center for Biotechnology (CNB), which belongs to the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) and is located in Madrid. His research interests include the characterization of global regulatory networks in Pseudomonas involved in coordinating and optimizing metabolism, and their effect on the expression of biodegradation pathways for hydrocarbons. Our aim is to identify the components of these regulatory networks, the signals to which they respond, and the molecular mechanisms by which they regulate gene expression.

Renata Moreno - Contact this person by email

Dr. Renata Moreno is a Postdoctoral researcher at the National Center for Biotechnology (CNB), which belongs to the Spanish Research Council (CSIC). Her current research focuses on the characterization of the Pseudomonas putida global regulatory protein Crc and the sRNAs that control its availability; this regulatory protein coordinates and optimizes metabolism in response to the available carbon sources.

Manuel Ferrer - Contact this person by email

Dr. Ferrer is Senior Research Scientist at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in the Institute of Catalysis. He is leading the “Systems Biotechnology Group” whose research activities are directed towards the understanding of biological systems moving from simple to complex scenarios; this has led variously to studies on the use of enzymes in catalysis, studies on the diversity and evolution of protein catalysts, and studies on the (meta) genomic, proteomic, metabolic, and biochemical reconstruction of microbial communities in large number of environmental samples, including contaminated and non contaminated soil samples, freshwater and (deep) sea water samples, as well as human gut microbiota.