Project of the month CIIMAR´s monthly Newsletter All Aboard

April 2014
Waves
CIIMAR´s monthly Newsletter
vol. 5 Issue 3
All Aboard
OCEANUS - University of Porto Ocean Network
In the 80s and 90s the UPorto has seen the creation of several units of research and education
related to marine science and technology, dispersed across different faculties and Research
Institutes. Given this diversity, the UPorto asked Professor João Coimbra (CIIMAR) to coordinate
the preparatory work that led to the creation of the University of Porto Ocean Network
(OCEANUS) as management structure. The aim is to promote synergies between different
research and teaching groups, looking for a better link between them and a location near the
sea.
OCEANUS is led by Augusto Barata da Rocha (FEUP/INEGI)) and the Steering Committee also
includes Joaquim Gois (FEUP), Maria Inês da Silva Amorim (FLUP/CITCEM), Maria Luisa Bastos
(FCUP/CIIMAR), Paulo Vaz Pires (ICBAS/CIIMAR), Vitor Vasconcelos (FCUP/CIIMAR) and Vladimiro
Miranda (FEUP/INESC). A Scientific Committee was also created, gathering members from the
different Faculties and Institutes as well as external elements.
This network integrates the future Leixões Cruise Terminal, which will have a marina and a new
building, in addition to provide support services to the marina, will be the new headquarters of
CIIMAR with a laboratory area and a multifunctional aquatic organisms bioterium.
The project also includes the creation of an area of business incubation, occupying existing facilities at the northern area of the Port Administration of
Douro and Leixões (APDL), which will be the target of a restructuring project.
OCEANUS will function as a multidisciplinary network of Marine Science and Technology and will promote technological entrepreneurship, provision of
common services and activities to support research, scientific and technological dissemination and articulation with the civil society. In this sense
OCEANUS will benefit from exceptional conditions for experiments in marine science and technology, material testing, equipment and operations in real
sea conditions.
It is intended that this new OCEANUS network will facilitate the working relationships between the various groups, respecting their specificity and retain
their autonomy, and will have an aggregating function, creating scale and bringing together the areas of scientific excellence of the UPorto in the area of
the sea.
Agnès Marhadour
Support Office of the Scientific Committee
Project of the month
Structure of the HIV genome: novel frameworks for clinical diagnosis and anti-retroviral therapeutics
Almost all people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) will develop acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) if not
treated. Nearly 30 million people have died from AIDS-related causes since the beginning of the epidemic. The pathogenesis of the HIV is
determined both by the primary sequence of its RNA genome and the ability to fold back on itself to form secondary structures.
Unfortunately, the precise role of RNA secondary structures in HIV replication and pathogenesis remains poorly understood. This project
has three main objectives that in common have the study of HIV RNA structures: 1) to decipher the molecular details of RNA structure
conservation across all HIV lineages and their association with drug resistance mutations; 2) to develop a molecular system for
identification of HIV-1 and HIV-2 in a clinical context using patterns of structural conservation and 3) to provide software for
improvement of antiviral RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutic approaches. These objectives will be achieved by integrating innovative
advances in computational and biochemical experiments. In summary, we will show that a better comprehension of HIV RNA structures
can have multiple practical applications in the field of clinical diagnosis and antiretroviral drug development.
Funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) and Coordenação Nacional para a Infecção VIH/sida (CNSida)
Project VIH/SAU/0011/2011 |Principal investigator: Filipe Pereira
Filipe Pereira
Waves April 2014, Vol 5 Issue 3 | [email protected]
CIIMAR | Rua dos Bragas 289, 4050-123 Porto, Portugal tel: +351 223 401 800 | www.ciimar.up.pt
Paper of the month
(IN)Formation BOGA
Statistics of Animals Used in EU Research
The European Commission (EC) presented (on 5th Dec 2013) its 7th
Report on the Statistics on the number of Animals used for
Experimental and other Scientific Purposes in the Member States of the
European Union. This report covers animal use in 2011. Its goal “is to
indicate whether important changes have occurred in relation to the
use of different species.”
The percentage of rodents and rabbits used had stayed constant since
1996, hang about 80% of the total animals. Use of cold-blooded animals
(fish, amphibians and reptiles) is around 12%. Use of reptiles and
amphibians has decreased from 2008, but use of fish has increased
nearly 30%.
Most of the animals used are from breeding centres in EU. Nearly 60%
of the animals were used in studying human and animal diseases. The
bulk of these were used for diseases other than human cardiovascular,
human nervous and mental disorders and human cancers.
Slightly less than 11.5 million animals were used for research in 2011,
approximately 500,000 animals fewer than used in 2008 (date of 6th
Report). Speakingofresearch.com hypothesizes that this decrease
reflects the effects of the poor economic conditions across the EU and
decreased funding for biomedical research.
Together we will have more and better research in BOGA-CIIMAR!!
[LabAnimal Europe, Volume 14 Nº1, February 2014]
Olga Martínez
Events
► 1 – 27 Exhibition | “Viagem ao Mar Profundo” | CMIA Matosinhos,
free entrance
► 1 – 30 Exhibition | “Desertos: A vida no Limite” | CMIA Vila do
Conde, free entrance
► 1 Activity | Dia Mundial das Aves | CMIA Matosinhos, free entrance
► 8 Mini Course| “On one day at the Lab” for secondary school
students” | CIIMAR, 10.00 – 5.30 pm
► 14 Workshop | “Requisitos de patenteabilidade” | CIIMAR 2.30 –
5.30 pm
► 27 Activity | Save the Frogs Days | CMIA Vila do Conde, 8.45 am
Evidence for meta-population structure of Sardina
pilchardus in the Atlantic Iberian waters from otolith
elemental signatures of a strong cohort
A.T. Correia , P. Hamer, B. Carocinho, A. Silva. Fisheries Research.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2013.09.016
The European sardine is one of the most important clupeoid fish
captured by the Portuguese and Spanish purse-seine fleets in the
Atlantic waters of the Iberian Peninsula. Despite the importance of
this species, and substantial decrease in catches over the last two
decades, knowledge about sardine movements and connectivity
between their juvenile recruitment areas and the adult fishing
grounds is scarce. In this study otolith elemental fingerprints (both
whole and core) of juvenile recruits (ages 0+ and 1+) and adults (age
3+) collected along the Portuguese coast (North, Central and South
regions) were used to demonstrate regional population structure.
The whole and otolith core analyses represented the entire lifehistory prior to capture and the larval/recruitment phases (first 2
months of life), respectively. Molar ratios of Sr/Ca, Mg/Ca, Mn/Ca
and Ba/Ca provided location-specific elemental signatures, although
otolith elemental compositions were not temporally stable within a
year-class, particularly for Mg/Ca and Ba/Ca. Classification accuracy
rates obtained from quadratic discriminant function analysis of core
and whole otolith chemistry data of adults were relatively high (63%
and 79% mean accuracy percentages, respectively). The results
support the hypothesis of meta-population structure of the sardine
stock in the Atlanto-Iberian waters. However, because there was
evidence of some mixing among adult aggregations, and adult
aggregations were largely derived from a common northern juvenile
recruitment area they cannot be classified as entirely separate stock
units for fisheries management purposes. The maximum likelihood
analysis suggested for the 2004 cohort that replenishment of adult
populations of sardine along the Portuguese coast was mostly
derived from a single northern recruitment area
► 28 Lecture | The Group of “Medicinal Chemistry: drug discovery and
drug design”- achievements and perspectives” | CIIMAR, 14.30 pm, free
entrance
Alberto Correia
► 29 Workshop | Experiências laboratoriais com a água | CMIA
Matosinhos, free entrance
► 5 – 9 of May Course | 6th Edition of the Laboratory Animal Sciences
– Aquatic Species Course (CAL-AQUA) | CIIMAR
“Deus ao mar o perigo e o abismo deu,
Mas nele é que espelhou o céu.”
F. Pessoa
Waves April 2014, Vol 5 Issue 3 | [email protected]
CIIMAR | Rua dos Bragas 289, 4050-123 Porto, Portugal tel: +351 223 401 800 | www.ciimar.up.pt
Open Calls
Open Positions
► Transnational Cooperation in Science & Technology between
► Research grant (2 positions)
Argentina and Portugal (2014-2015)
The Cooperation Programme promotes bilateral cooperation
between the two countries through the exchange of
researchers/scientists and joint R&D projects.
The Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva
(MINCYT) of Argentina and the Fundação para a Ciência e a
Tecnologia (FCT) of Ministério da Educação e Ciência of Portugal are
the nodal agencies to implement the programme in Argentina and
Portugal.
The call is open in all scientific domains. However, Marine Sciences
is considered a priority area.
Deadline: 30th April 2014
More
information
about
the
submission
process:
http://www.fct.pt/apoios/cooptrans/argentina/index.phtml.en
Susana Moreira
CIIMAR is now opening a call for the attribution of two research grants
position within the framework of the project “CyanoPrimer ”.
Location: CIIMAR
Duration: 3 months
th
th
Application Dates: 9 to 24 April, 2014
► Post-Doctoral Grant
A competition is open for the attribution of 1 Science and Technology
Management Grant in the framework of the SR&TD Integrated Program
“MARVALOR – Building research and innovation capacity for improved
management and valorization of marine resources”, project
“AQUAIMPROV – Sustainable Aquaculture and Animal Welfare”.
Location: CIIMAR
Duration: 6 months
th
Application Dates: 21 April to 6 May, 2014
► Research grant
CIIMAR is now opening a call for the attribution of one research grant
positions within the framework of the project” “NITROTOXInterferência dos Metais e dos PAHs nos Processos de Remoção
Biológica de Nitrato: Desnitrificação vs Anammox”.
Oceanographic campaign
CIIMAR researcher studies the Trinity Islands in Brazil
Rui Caldeira, a CIIMAR researcher working in the coastal and ocean
dynamics laboratory (COD) is part of a team recently awarded with
a grant from the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and
Technological Development (CNPJ:94877586000110) to study the
biological impact of oceanographic phenomena induced by the
presence of the 'Victória-Trindade' islands.
The international research
team is led by Paulo Calil,
Professor at the ‘Federal
University of Rio Grande do
Sul (FURG)’, and includes
other
Brazilian,
French,
American, as well as a
Japanese researcher.
The study combines the use of ocean circulation models with data
from in situ campaigns, using high precision sensors in order to
detect the turbulent systems that induce the injection of nutrients
and consequently eutrophication, which frequently occurs around
islands. Oceanographic cruises (including the participation of the
Portuguese researcher), will use the Oceanographic Research
Vessel of the University of São Paulo (R/V Professor Wladimir
Besnard).
Rui Caldeira
Location: CIIMAR
Duration: 4 months
th
th
Application Dates: 24 April until 9 May, 2014
► Science and Technology Management Grant
CIIMAR (Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental
Research) opens a call to award one fellowship grant for management
of science and technology (BGCT), within the framework of the
international project SEABIOPLAS.
Location: CIIMAR
Duration: 6 months
Application Dates: 29th April until 13th May 2014
http://www.ciimar.up.pt/openpositions.php
Waves - CIIMAR Newsletter
Coordinator: J. Saiote
Editors: A., Lobo da Cunha, L.F.C. Castro, A.
Marhadour and J. Saiote
Contributors: Alberto Correia; Agnès Marhadour;
Filipe Pereira; Olga Martínez; Rui Caldeira; Susana
Moreira
Design: J. Saiote
Waves April 2014, Vol 5 Issue 3 | [email protected]
CIIMAR | Rua dos Bragas 289, 4050-123 Porto, Portugal tel: +351 223 401 800 | www.ciimar.up.pt