Catalonia will experiment with viruses such as dengue in a new high-security laboratory.
IRTA will have a new infrastructure to research animal-based diseases that affect humans and will focus on the study of insect-based foods.
BarcelonaTwenty years ago, apple varieties were neither red nor crisp because they weren't adapted to the heat of the Lleida plain, and the meat exported from Catalonia to Asia could only stay fresh for about 60 days. Research has been proposing solutions to both agri-food problems, in these cases through genetic editing and technological sophistication, respectively. Currently, the underlying concern is the climate crisis, which not only requires us to rethink and adapt crops and livestock farms, but also pushes business leaders, administrations, and scientists to seek new food sources and strengthen surveillance of zoonotic (animal-derived) diseases that can impact human health. The Institute of Agri-Food Research and Technology (IRTA) wants to take action to get ahead of the curve and has announced that it will build a high-security laboratory for experimentation with viruses and pathogens.
This is one of the new developments announced by the Regional Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food, Òscar Ordeig, and the Director General of IRTA, Josep Usall, at the event held this Thursday to mark the 40th anniversary of the launch of this public agri-food research center. This new experimental infrastructure, which the Generalitat describes as "strategic for the global health of Catalonia" and which expands and sophisticates an existing one, will be located on the grounds of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), in the facilities of the Animal Health Research Center (IRTA-CReSA), and will have a surface area of approximately 0.2"The other laboratory we have is very focused on livestock diseases. With this larger building, we want to work with diseases that can reach people from insects or animals," Usall explains.
Work to construct this building, intended to contain microorganisms, will begin at the end of the year, as the idea is for it to be operational by 2028. In fact, it will receive a large portion of IRTA's €70 million budget: the planned investment is between €22 and €25 million. Now, what is a biosafety level 3 experimental unit? They are a type of sterile, sealed, and protected bunker—they have negative pressure relative to the atmosphere, contaminated air is filtered, there are access controls, and personal protective equipment is required—where researchers can safely study and manipulate viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites that can otherwise cause... The goal: to understand their behavior, search for drugs or vaccines to counteract them, and react more quickly in an emergency. For this reason, the building will be open to other centers.
Five years ago, the world was turned upside down by COVID-19, but there are many examples of zoonotic microorganisms, and they are increasingly present in Catalonia, such as dengue, malaria, chikungunya, and West Nile fever. Specifically, this facility will have five high-biocontainment laboratories that will allow for studies. in vitro of any infectious agent in cellular systems and organ replicas from stem cells (organoids) and in vivo in small mammals such as rodents and ferrets. The head of the Animal Health program at IRTA-CReSA, Natàlia Majó, explained that they will work with pathogens with pandemic potential, virulent agents capable of jumping species such as coronaviruses, and those that are increasingly present due to climate change and globalization and that are transmitted through vectors.
The unit will have four stables to raise research animals, and two of these laboratories will share an insectary unique in Catalonia with climate chambers to work with mosquitoes or ticks and anticipate their behavior with changes in temperature, for example. "We have been working in this field for 25 years, but this building is part of the country's preparation to take care of global health," says Majó. Usall agreed: "This new infrastructure aspires to be the hub of biosecurity of Catalonia".
"Export knowledge and technology"
Under the slogan "Let's do science to feed the future," Ordeig and Usall also highlighted the commitment of the Generalitat (Catalan government) and IRTA to intensify cutting-edge research at the Center for Innovation in Alternative Proteins (CiPA). For example, in the use of insects, algae, and microalgae as a food source (currently for farm and domestic animals), the fermentation of microorganisms, and the use of plant products. "We understand that the commitment to agri-food must be broad: animals are the greatest source of protein we have, but insects are a very rich possibility," notes the center's general director. Regarding algae, he emphasized that a production center is already operating in Ràpita: "We have little experience in this sector, but we do have the conditions [to exploit it]."
Among the new developments for IRTA over the next decade, authorities have highlighted the deployment of the Digital Agrolabs network (farms, fruit chambers, and farms) to boost the digitalization of the agricultural and livestock sector, especially for the pork sector, as well as the biogas pilot tests for the Monells and Mas Bové processing plants. Furthermore, Usall praised the research carried out by the thousand scientists working at the twenty affiliated centers in genetic editing and the microbiome, arguing that it is generating knowledge "that will be key in the coming years."
"Catalonia not only has to export products, but also knowledge and technology," stated Ordeig, who added that the Government's objective is to catapult IRTA to the forefront of national and European agri-food research. The minister assured that "the necessary investments will be mobilized" to achieve this and that the need to strengthen public-private collaboration is undeniable. "The future of the Catalan economy is at stake," he said.
