The ERA-NET Cofund BlueBio will act to unlock the potential of aquatic bio-resources to create jobs, economic growth and provide food, nutrition and bio-based products and services. Thus, paving the way for a sustainable and competitive Blue Bioeconomy in Europe. The goal is to identify new and improve existing ways of bringing bio-based products and services to the market and find new ways of creating value in the Blue bioeconomy. The objectives of BlueBio are to establish a coordinated R&D funding scheme that will strengthen Europe’s position in this complex economic field in a global market. This will primarily be achieved by engaging funding agencies to implement a co-funded call focusing on Blue Knowledge and technological developments to respond to needs and gaps for R&I. The consortium has committed budgets making a strong co-funded call leveraging well the Commission's requests. BlueBio builds upon the networks, achievements and strategies obtained in the COFASP and ERA-MBT ERA-NETs and JPI Oceans, and will leverage the JPI Oceans role as a coordination platform. The consortium aims to implement 2-4 additional calls, developed through stakeholder engagement, and identifying new funding initiatives. BlueBio will implement a range of related activities which can add value to the cofounded projects and better address the impact of R&I projects. BlueBio will enhance valorisation from the actors in the Blue Bioeconomy sector, identify and address R&I needs of industry and society. Communications activities will support BlueBio and the funded projects to realise tangible impacts. Emphasis will be placed on the creation of pre-commercial outputs aimed at accelerating commercialisation and competitive deployment. BlueBio's directions and legacy will be informed by strategic forward-looking processes involving all stakeholders in identifying needs and gaps along the value chains.

Endocrine disruptors (EDs) are defined as exogenous chemicals that alter functions of the endocrine system, thereby causing adverse health effects in an organism or its progeny. Historically, the field of ED research has focused on reproductive endocrinology and related hormones, which is reflected in the regulatory test methods assessing endocrine effects of xenobiotics. However, recent evidence links increased incidence of metabolic syndrome (a cluster of metabolic risk factors including abdominal obesity, dyslipidemia, elevated blood pressure, and elevated fasting glucose) to EDs, increasing the incidence of atherosclerosis and type 2 diabetes. Despite these findings, adequate testing methods for metabolic effects of EDs are lacking. The project “Metabolic effects of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: novel testing METhods and adverse outcome pathways” (EDCMET) brings together experts in various research fields, including systems toxicologists, experimental biologists with a thorough understanding of the molecular mechanisms of metabolic disease and comprehensive in vitro and in vivo methodological skills and ultimately, epidemiologists linking environmental exposure to adverse metabolic outcomes. This proposal focuses on developing novel test methods and models to assess the metabolic effects of EDs. Combined in silico methods, in vitro and in vivo methods are developed with an emphasis on liver and adipose tissue and endocrine pathways related to their metabolism. In addition, epidemiological and field monitoring data is used to gain information regarding the exposure to chemicals and ED-related metabolic effects. The interdisciplinary approach and complementary expertise of the participants will identify novel mechanisms of action, and in collaboration with the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC) providing an interface between the programme and European regulatory agencies, novel validated test methods for regulatory purposes will be generated.