This new international project is lead by scientists at the faculty of Veterinary Science in the University of Santiago de Compostella, Lugo Campus. The international consortium is led by the Farmatox research group of the Faculty. This program, which has three million euros of European funding through the Interreg Atlantic Area funding mechanism will last three years. It aims to advance the development of a marine toxin warning network that will increase consumer safety, as well as establish some possible indicator of risks related to climate change .
The international consortium consists of members of the Marine Institute (Galway), National University of Ireland (Galway, Ireland), Queens University (Belfast, Northern Ireland), CEFAS (Weymouth, UK) , the Atomic Energy Center (Paris, France), Ifremer (Nantes, France), CIIMAR-Univ Puerto (Portugal), AZTI Foundation (Bilbao, Spain), Intecmar of the Xunta de Galicia (Spain), and of the Regulatory Council of the Mexilón de Galicia (Spain).
The participants he
ld a kick-off meeting in late November 2017 with members of the Farmatox research group of the USC, led by the professor of the Department of Pharmacology Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology, Luis Miguel Botana.
Alertox Net is the third research project funded by the Farmatox research group, through the Interreg Regional Cooperation Program. This new program will allow continuity to the actions already developed in the framework of the two previous projects: Atlantox and Pharmatlantic. These international programs enabled the development of new methods for the detection of emerging marine toxins, as well as the subsequent development and creation of medicines and drugs from marine products. The research work carried out by the research group Farmatox of the USC under the projects Atlantox, and afterwards by Pharmatlantic, resulted in a dozen patent grants.
The scientific work carried out also contributed to focus on the new risks arising from climate change and human action, factors that cause may favour the emergence of novel and emerging toxins.