Wetsus' New Research Areas
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Academic
Wetsus Announces Three New Research Topics: Antibiotics, Proteins, Co2 Gradient Energy
On the occasion of the annual congress of water technology centre Wetsus, scientific director Cees Buisman announced three new research topics: prevention of the spreading of antibiotics via waste water, recovery of proteins from waste water and energy generation from co2 gradients.
The annual Wetsus congress took place in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands on 6 -7 October.
One of the speakers was Director Hero Prins of European knowledge and innovation centre Climate-KIC and he brought the good news that his centre had approved Wetsus's request to join as an affiliate partner.
Award for research on desalination
The annual Marcel Mulder prize went to Wetsus researcher Dries Parmentier. He won the prize for his important contribution to the development of ionic liquids desalination technology.
Wetsus theme coordinator Michel Saakes won a special prize for being an inspirer as scientist and innovator.
European centre of excellent
Scientific director Cees Buisman ( top photo ) revealed that Wetsus will change its name as off 1 January. The new full name will be Wetsus European centre of excellence. The new name reflects the ambition of Wetsus to become the water technology hub for Europe and to support the research agenda of the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT).
At the congress it was announced that Wetsus is leading initiatives for four research consortia that meet the European Union's Horizon 2020 research agenda.
Combat antibiotics
In regard of the three new research topics Buisman explained the urgency to combat antibiotic resistant bacteria as they pose a threat to human health. "There is a growing number of resistant organisms that can share their antibiotic resistance genes with environmental organisms. As a result diseases become more difficult to treat if the antibiotics do not work properly anymore", he said.
Buisman mentioned two aspects. "Firstly there is the presence of antibiotics as a chemical substance in waste water. This ends up as a micro- pollutant in surface water. Secondly there is the presence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. We have started a research project on both aspects."
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