The production of edible insects is often presented as a solution to the current environmental and food security challenge of feeding a growing human population, but faces major technical and cultural limitations. While cultural limitations can be overcome by convincing people about the importance of shifting our diets to a more sustainable one, many technical limitations can be overcome by using existing methods and theory from the biological sciences. In this regard, it is critical to understand how a variety of biotic and abiotic conditions affect the quantity, nutritional quality, safety and sustainability of insect production. It is currently recognised that the gut microbiome plays a fundamental role in driving the viability of animal food production, with the EU recently investing 1.4 billion € into exploring this relationship further in vertebrate systems. However, I argue there is almost certainly also a strong association between microbiomes and the production of insects as a food resource, hence the focus of my application. Using wild crickets of the commonly farmed species Acheta domesticus, this project aims to decipher the relationship between the environment, microbiome composition, and the nutritional quality (essential nutrients) of edible insects as human food. The knowledge gained from wild animals will be contrasted to controlled experimental results to dissect the production conditions that best reflect the findings from the field. This project will provide key insights about the best quality wild populations in Europe and the corresponding optimal laboratory/industry rearing conditions that maximise edible cricket production and quality.

Chemical pesticides pose significant threats to human health and biodiversity, causing millions of poisonings and deaths annually, along with a potential 40% decline in insect species. To mitigate these hazards, the European Commission has committed to reduce the use of chemical pesticides by 50% by 2030. Biopesticides, such as pyrethrins, offer a safe and effective alternative towards this direction. Pyrethrins are natural, biodegradable compounds with potent insecticidal properties produced by Tanacetum cinerariifolium plant (Dalmatian chrysanthemum). As they are safe for humans, and rapidly degrade into non-toxic byproducts, they are approved already for organic agriculture. However, pyrethrin industrial production occurs via plant cultivation and extraction, therefore, faces restrictions due to limited availability of land, labor-intensive cultivation, and environmental factors. Scaling up production is challenging, and total chemical synthesis is unsustainable. Biotechnological production of pyrethrins using baker’s yeast offers a sustainable solution. To achieve this, in BioPesTY, I will develop a yeast strain engineered to produce pyrethrins in a scalable and sustainable manner. Using a multidisciplinary approach engaging biochemistry, transcriptomics, and synthetic biology principles, I will identify the only missing step of pyrethrin biosynthesis, and I will reconstruct the whole pathway in yest, able to convert simple sugar into human-safe biopesticides. In BioPesTY I will enrich my current knowledge on plant biochemistry, with the training I will receive in the host lab on metabolic and yeast genetic engineering, and synthetic biology, to acquire unique expertise that will prompt me to develop my own scientific niche. During BioPesTY I will be trained also in fundraising, research management, communication, teaching and academic leadership. These skills will be instrumental in launching my future independent internationally competitive research career.

Numerous industrial and scientific processes are conducted under vacuum conditions for improved cleanliness and control. Monitoring the vacuum level is crucial to ensure consistent process results. Ionization gauges represent the state-of-the-art for measuring residual gas pressure at high and ultrahigh vacuum levels. Here we propose to establish an alternative pressure gauge based on measuring the gas friction experienced by a nanomechanical membrane resonator with ultralow intrinsic damping. This approach promises more compact, durable, and accurate gauges that cover a wider pressure range than conventional ionization gauges.

Trees outside forests make up more than one quarter of the tree cover in Africa, but there is currently a lack of efficient and reliable monitoring systems for trees outside forests. Previous research suggests that most forest and landscape restoration (FLR) is occurring outside of contiguous forests, particularly in agroforestry systems. This implies that tree on fields, in particular those of smallholder farmers, as well as trees in restoration and plantation areas cannot be effectively and rapidly monitored. The ERC project TOFDRY has developed methods and tools that can fulfil these tasks, but the project outputs are not harmonized and not operational. The TREEMAP project aims at moving research into practical and needed application in Africa that facilitate the use of tree level biomass maps with end-users, such as governmental authorities or NGOs. TREEMAP will conduct a user needs assessment, and harmonize TOFDRY methods to develop operational products at two scales: (1) local/regional scale tree-level biomass maps using sub-meter resolution imagery, (2) annual high resolution biomass maps at national scale based on PlanetScope images, with a focus on dynamics in farmlands and restoration/plantation areas. Finally, TREEMAP will disseminate and distribute demo-products to end-users. TREEMAP will partner with AUDA-NEPAD, who is setting up in-country institutional arrangements to enable multi-sector use of the biomass maps. TREEMAP products will generate visibility on and verification of FLR efforts that can attract climate finance. Tree-level biomass maps contribute to Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventories, the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) reporting, and potential participation in carbon markets. Placing highly accurate, user friendly, regularly updated, analysis ready products in the hands of non-experts in Africa allows widespread participation in FLR monitoring and carbon markets.

The period of Greek colonisation between 900 and 500 BC was one of the most formative periods of classical antiquity. Historical and archaeological research has greatly informed our understanding of this era, but the exact nature and demographic impact of the colonisation process remains unclear. The THAIS project will shed new light on this process by combining existing archaeological evidence with new ancient DNA data based on the analysis of human skeletal remains from four archaeological sites in Southern Italy, one of the focal points of Greek colonisation. Using archaeological and molecular lines of evidence, the project will address the following objectives: 1) reconstruct the genetic ancestry and kinship structures of the local Italic population in southern Italy; 2) investigate the origins of the Greek colonists at two colonial sites (Metaponto and Siris); 3) assess nature and demographic impact of the Greek colonisation by investigating possible admixture processes and sex-biased migration, and 4) investigate the genetic legacies and lasting health impact of the Greek colonisation in Southern Italy. The THAIS project will be the first to use ancient DNA analysis to study the impact of the Greek colonisation and together with archaeological lines of evidence will provide new information on the colonisation process and the interactions between the colonists and the indigenous Italic population at a key moment in Mediterranean history.