Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto

FCUP – Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto – currently hosts 15 different research and I&D centers. CIIMAR – Interdisciplinary Center of Marine and Environmental Research – is a research and training institution established in 2000 and hosted by the University of Porto. The work developed at CIIMAR focuses on three main research lines: Global Changes and Ecosystem Services, Aquaculture and Seafood Quality and Marine Biotechnology. CIIMAR aims to promote innovative technological development and the sustainable management and exploitation of marine resources, and to support public policies in the area of Marine and Environmental Sciences.

FCUP/CIIMAR is properly equipped for the cultivation of fungi. It also has a fully equipped chemistry laboratory with state-of-the-art tools including Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and different High-Resolution Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) equipments. In addition, FCUP/CIIMAR has expertise on ecotoxicological studies, on the production of bioactive compounds with pharmaceutical and other applications, on the risk assessment of toxin occurrence and the development of emergent biotechnological tools.

Project roles

FCUP/CIIMAR will participate in all WPs of the Agritox project. They will be collaborating in the toxicity detection “alert” system configuration considering environmental factors in Portugal and providing links with industries for piloting and validating the alert system in the country.

In addition to collaborating in the preparation and coordination of the project (WP1) and on dissemination actions (WP2), FCUP/CIIMAR will be involved in the creation of Regional Working Groups in Portugal (WP3). In WP4, they will review the current state of levels of emerging and masked mycotoxins not covered by monitoring programs and the occurrence and geographical and seasonal variation of emergent toxins in Europe. In WP5, FCUP/CIIMAR will collaborate in the toxicity detection alert system configuration sampling fish feed and macroalgae for potentially mycotoxinogenic fungi. In WP6, FCUP/CIIMAR will be intermediates with Portuguese companies to carry out the pilot in their region.