New European projects on the horizon, to better protect animal and human health
ANSES is involved in five new projects that have been selected by the EU's Horizon Europe research programme. Some of them started in the first half of 2022, while others will begin this autumn.
PARC
The Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC) is being coordinated by ANSES. Bringing together 200 partners from 28 European countries, it was launched on 1 May 2022 and will run for a period of seven years. Its aims are to advance research, share knowledge and improve skills in chemical risk assessment.
SPIDVAC
Run by the German Friedrich Loeffler Institute, SPIDVAC (Improved control of priority animal diseases: Novel vaccines and companion diagnostic tests for African horse sickness, peste-des-petits-ruminants virus and foot-and-mouth disease) is being co-coordinated by ANSES. It started on 1 July 2022 with a planned duration of three and a half years. Its objective is to create and improve vaccines against three animal diseases that constitute a major threat to farms and could potentially arrive in Europe in the near future. These are African horse sickness, foot-and-mouth disease, which affects ruminants, and peste-des-petits-ruminants, which contaminates sheep and goats. The project has 13 partners.
BROILERNET
The BROILERNET (Practice and Science Broiler Production Innovation Network) project aims to create a network of researchers and stakeholders from the poultry sector in order to improve farming practices. The project has three main focuses: the environment, animal welfare, and animal health. ANSES will primarily be involved in the part dedicated to animal welfare. The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences is coordinating this project, which has 25 partners. It was launched on 27 September 2022 and will run for four years.
HOLiFOOD
The HOLiFOOD (Holistic approach for tackling food systems risks in a changing global environment) research programme has 17 partners, including ANSES. It is being coordinated by Wageningen University & Research (Netherlands) and will run for four years. Its aim is to improve the analysis of chemical and microbiological food safety risks, whether established or emerging. The project will take into account the environment in which foods are produced. Economic, societal and environmental aspects, including issues of climate change and sustainable development, will also be considered. The idea is to develop new detection methods as well as a data and knowledge sharing platform involving authorities, producers, and citizens.
ISIDORe
The aim of the Integrated Services for Infectious Disease Outbreak Research (ISIDORe) project is to pool the research infrastructure of European agencies. It intends to provide the project’s members with cutting-edge facilities, experimental models and diagnostic tools enabling them to study infectious diseases and emerging pathogens likely to cause outbreaks. The project has 154 partners and will run for three years. ANSES is involved as a member of the European VetBioNet network on animal health research. The Agency will supply in vitro and in vivo models as well as diagnostic tools.