The Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) awarded the Bioeconomy Prize at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) last Sunday, 19 September in Salamanca, Spain. Alba Serrano Garcia and Patricia Marco Gaya, students at the ‘Colegio Santa Maria’ in Vila-Real, Spain, received the prize for their project on fossils resistance to climate change.
Alba Serrano Garcia and Patricia Marco Gaya studied the Triops cancriformis eggs and their resistance to high temperatures. The young scientists examined the fossils’ structure to explain why it resisted extreme climate conditions and kept its appearance intact for over 200 million years.
In order to analyse the chemical composition of the fossils, the two students used two different methods, thermal analysis up to 1000°C and the microscope electron scanning of the fossil. The young biologists now propose to use the fossils’ shell composition material as a new material to enable resistance to climate change for current products.
The European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) celebrated Europe’s most talented young scientists last Sunday at the University of Salamanca. About 158 contestants and 114 projects competed for a range of prizes selected by a jury panel of 25 renowned engineers and scientists. Among the many categories of EUCYS, a Bioeconomy Prize is given to the most promising project in the field of bio-based research. Since 2016 the BBI JU has awarded this prize to young scientists designing the most relevant biotechnology for the production and the conversion of biomass into non-food value-added products.
The awarded project shall use raw materials of biological origin in a sustainable, renewable, and innovative way, whilst also promoting scientific research and raising environmental awareness. The winners will visit the BBI JU Programme Office and EU institutions in Brussels, as well as some of the BBI JU-funded projects.
The next EUCYS contest will take place in Leiden, Netherlands, in 2022.
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