Lead partner: UMU

Description of the organization

UMU is a public university that has more than 32.000 students, with a teaching staff of about 2.600 spread over 5 campuses, offering top quality degrees and innovative research, in the South of Spain. EU programs represent an important source of funding, having participated in around 300 projects since 2007. In addition, UMU has an International Research Project Office (Operum) that offers support to proposal preparation, management and control of international projects. Moreover, UMU acts as an essential social driving force in the Mediterranean basin through its Campus Mare Nostrum (CMN) of international excellence.The multidisciplinary UMU team (lead by Antonio Skarmeta) is composed by several research groups with experience in ICT, microbial biotechnology, marine ecosystems, fisheries, water and algae ecology, fish immunology and aquaculture or physiology, immunology, cancer, molecular genomics and marine biotechnology. The team has participated in several EU and national projects related with ICT, blue biotechnology and blue bioeconomy and governance (e.g. ThinkInAzul, DIGIPESCA, TAPAS,MeDAID,ENTROPY, DEMETER or WATERMED4.0).

Competences and involvement in 2B-BLUE

• UMU will be coordinating the project and the WP3 with ENEA
• help to improve the impact of the project dissemination to NIB;
• facilitating the experimentation of solutions to improve innovation and operational policies and research and innovation strategies;
• coordinating the BBH in Spain and applying and testing innovative ICT tools, biotechnological solutions and instruments in Demonstration Sites and Transformative Labs;
• amplify the impact of the emerging solutions, through its network of scientific and technological knowledge transfer, with the companies of the sector in Spain and the BBt community;
• to transfer scientific and technological knowledge from academia to industry;
• to carry out a pilot in the region of Murcia boosting the Spanish Blue Biotechnology Hub with the intention of attracting the main social, academic, economic, political and environmental actors of Sapin and the Mediterranean.

Team members

Antonio F. Skarmeta Gómez, PhD, computer science
He is a professor of the Department of Information and Communications Engineering in UMU He is the author of more than 300 articles in international journals and has been a principal researcher in more than 64 European projects. His research focus, among other things, on optimization and decision analysis, intelligent cooperative systems, remote control and telematics, or sensor processing and data fusion. Further information.

Jesús E. Argente García, PhD
He has a PhD in socio-ecological systems related to the blue economy and the influence of its digitalisation. He is a marine biologist and works in a multidisciplinary research group in the Department of Information and Communication Engineering at the University of Murcia. His main activity focuses on how to improve environmental governance processes in blue economy sectors to improve stakeholder participation and management of natural resources (marine and coastal) through the development, application and use of ICT.

Ana Fernández Martínez. Biology & Science communication.
She is a marine biologist and entrepreneur specialized in science communication and dissemination. She left her research career to set up several science outreach projects, which has provided her with extensive experience in working with both private and public institutions related to science and research. She currently works in a multidisciplinary research group in the Department of Information and Communication Engineering at the University of Murcia.

Humberto Martínez Barberá, PhD Computer Engineering
he is a Naval and Oceanic Engineer Professor in the Faculty of Computer Science. His research work has been related to the development of frameworks for robot programming, decision making in dynamic environments, and development of navigation systems for autonomous systems. These techniques have been applied to the development of underwater robots with and without umbilical (ROVs and AUVs), complemented with the development of hydrodynamic analysis techniques as well as the calculation of marine structures. Further information.

José Ángel López Jiménez, Ph.D. in Biology
He is a Biologist with a Ph.D. in Biology at the University of Murcia Spain. His research includes metabolism of fats and fatty acids as trophic and environmental markers. His training is multidisciplinary in zoology, physiology, botany and applied science. Further information.

Prof. Antonio Sánchez-Amat
P.I. of the research group “Microbial Biotechnology” in the University of Murcia (Spain). The research of the group focuses in the study of the Molecular Biology of marine microorganisms, particularly Gram-negative bacteria and phage. Some specific topic of studies are: analysis of bacterial resistance to phage using diverse types of mechanisms including CRISPR-Cas systems; synthesis of antimicrobial amino acid oxidases with quinone cofactors, and mechanisms of post-translational modification of proteins. Researcher ID:  L-2695-2014 Further information.

Angel Pérez-Ruzafa, Full Professor, Marine Ecology
Full professor in Ecology at the University of Murcia. Research on coastal lagoon ecology, societal benefits and ecosystem services in marine ecosystems, biological indicators and marine protected areas. Scientific assessor in environmental management and research projects with European, Spanish and Regional admins. Further information.

María Ángeles Esteban Abad, PhD in Biology
She is the director of the Department of Cell Biology and Histology, University of Murcia. Maria does research in Cell Biology, Immunology and Biotechnology and is the head of the team Immunobiology for Aquaculture. Their current projects are related to farmed fish immunology. Editor in chief of the journal FISHES. Further information.

Alfonsa García Ayala, Professor, Cell Biologist
She is a Professor at the Cell Biology and Histology Department of the University of Murcia. Her research includes marine biotechnology. In addition, she is interested in organizing training activities at 2B-Blue. Further information.

Marina Aboal Sanjurjo, Professor
She does research in Phycology and Limnology. Their current projects are ‘Cyanotoxins in phytoplanktonic and phytobenthic communities benthic communities in Water Treatment Plants’, ‘Phylogeny, taxonomy and ecology of freshwater red algae’ and ‘Flora, taxonomy and ecology of coastal benthic diatoms’ Further information.

Francisco Guardiola PhD. Senior Lecturer
He works in Immunobiology for Aquaculture Group Department of Cell Biology and Histology Further information.

Arnaldo Marín, PhD Ecology researcher
He has developed and led a research group focused on environmental impact of marine contaminants and their interaction with climate change. He has published numerous articles focused on environmental impact of marine aquaculture, eutrophication, climate change and restoration of coastal ecosystems. Further information.

María Semitiel-García, PhD Economics
She is an economist with an MA at the University of Manchester (UK) and a PhD in Economics at the University of Sheffield (UK). Her research includes environmental governance, network analysis, socio-ecological systems and sustainable human development. She conducts her research in multidisciplinary teams. Further information.

Alberto Cuesta, PhD, Biological Sciences
He currently works at the Department of Cell Biology and Histology, University of Murcia. He focuses in fish studies related to Immunology, Virology and Toxicology. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0906-7995. Scopus Author ID: 7006672084 Further information.

Patricia Elío Lucas
Member of the research group “Microbial Biotechnology” in the University of Murcia (Spain). Scientific background has included: isolation of bacteria and phages from marine environment, genetic manipulation of marine bacteria to study their properties and secondary metabolites, antimicrobial compounds from marine bacteria. Current research interest on bacterial defense mechanisms from genetic invaders, including CRISPR-Cas systems, and the usage of phages as biocontrol agents. Researcher ID: K-5861-2014. Further information.

Jose F. López-Olmeda, PhD in Biology
He is a biologist specialized in Fish Physiology and works as a senior researcher at the University of Murcia in Spain. His research is focused on biological rhythms in fish, the effects of environmental factors on physiology and their application to improve fish aquaculture. His current project is mainly focused on the effects of photoperiod and feeding on rhythms of lipid metabolism in the European sea bass. Orcid and Researcher ID information. Further information.

Victoriano Garre, PhD, genetics
His research activity is focus on issues related to the regulation of gene expression in fungi. They are using massive sequencing strategies to identify endogenous small RNAs involved in regulatory mechanisms. He studies the production of biodiesel using microorganisms, having demonstrated the direct transformation of mycelial lipids, without previous extraction, into high quality biodiesel that meets European and American standards. Besides, he studies the use of fungi in the wastewater treatment and resource recovery. Further information.

Francisco Esteban Nicolás Molina, PhD, genetics
He has a large experience on fungal genetics, particularly on regulation of the gene expression and RNAi. His research includes generation of strains to produce high-valued lipids and biofuels as well as the use of fungi in the wastewater treatment and resource recovery. Further information.

Eusebio Navarro, PhD, genetics
He has always worked with filamentous fungi studying processes of regulation of gene expression. His research has focused on the study of light-regulated processes and wastewater treatment using fungi. Further information.

Amelia Casanovas Muñoz, oceanographer

 Amelia is an oceanographer and entrepreneur specialised in marine education and diving education. Since 2016, she has worked on different research projects related to the marine governance of protected areas and the digitalisation of artisanal fishing. She currently works in a multidisciplinary research group at the Department of Information and Communication Engineering at the University of Murcia.