Currently there are no portable test or biosensors validated for air, soil or water quality control for pathogens, Chemicals of Emerging Concern (CECs) and Persistent Mobile Chemicals (PMCs), so such devices are much awaited by all stakeholders to ensure successful control and prevention of contamination and infections. Mobiles consortium will develop an interdisciplinary framework of expertise, and tools for monitoring, detection, and consequently mitigation of pollution from pathogens, CECs, PMCs, thus benefiting human and environmental health. Mobiles consortium will work to achieve the following objectives: Develop electronic biosensors for monitoring organic chemicals (pesticides, hormones) and antimicrobial resistance bacteria and pathogens in water, soil and air; Develop organism-based biosensor for detection of organic and inorganic pollution in water and soil; Study environmental performance of developed organisms and devices; Metagenomics analysis of organisms leaving in polluted areas in order to enable searches for diverse functionalities across multiple gene clusters Perform safety tests (e.g., EFSA) to assess the impact of developed organisms on the natural environment. Organism-based biosensor will consist on genetically modified chemiluminescent bacteria able to detect antibiotics, heavy metals, and pesticides in water; genetically modified plants that will change colour when in the soil is present arsenic; and marine diatoms that will be used to detect bioplastic degradation in marine and aquatic environments. Developed devices and organisms will be implemented by using flexible technologies, which can guarantee an easy adaptation to other biotic and abiotic pollutants. Devices and organisms, after proper validation and approval, could be used by consumers, inspection services and industry operators, as well as environmental emergency responders to monitor and detect PMCs, CECs and pathogens in water, air and soil

Globally, one-third of food production is wasted, leading to significant loss of resources and greenhouse gas emissions. Creating new, sustainable solutions to the problem of food waste is a pivotal goal of the EU. PURE-WAY aims to tackle this issue by fostering crosssectoral and multi-actor collaboration to devise new circular zero-waste solutions for fruit and vegetable waste. Together, we will develop cutting-edge biotechnologies: industrially applicable green solvents for extracting high added-value bioactive compounds; computational modeling-driven smart fermentation; and a next-generation eco-friendly composting system using specifically engineered synthetic microbial consortia. Through these innovative approaches, PURE-WAY will transform fruit and vegetable waste into functional foods with health benefits (2 functional beverages and natural cosmetics product), bio-based chemicals for eco-friendly solvents, and biofertilizers. The resulting technological advancements will help address key food system challenges, natural cosmetics, providing safe, nutritious, healthy and affordable food, and supporting sustainable agriculture practices. The project integrates 11 partners from 8 countries, including 6 from Europe, 1 from South America and 1 from North America, merging 6 academic and 5 non-academic partners to facilitate 70 secondments (224 months), 13 between academic to academic (50 months) and 57 secondments (174 months) between academic to non-academic representatives. By fostering knowledge and markedly cross-disciplinary skill exchanges, PURE-WAY will substantially enhance research and innovation capacities through reaching well-defined objectives. This holistic approach will decisively contribute to creating a sustainable, circular food economy, aligning with EU policies and global sustainability goals.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are synthetic chemicals widely used for more than 60 years to make plastics, firefighting foams, and lubricants, and help create stain-resistant, waterproof, and nonstick products. However, they ended up in the environment and now can be found in the soil, water, sediment, accumulated in human bodies and represent a worldwide challenge. The Serbian national chemicals legislation recognizes these chemicals, but none of the existing scientific or governmental institutions analyze these compounds. In addition, a solution to the challenge of remediation is not in sight. Based on a number of publications in peer-reviewed journals, a number of international projects, and a number of students, the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Chemistry (UBFC) is one of the leading scientific institutions in Serbia. This project aims to enhance networking activities between UBFC and two top-class counterparts, who are leaders in PFAS analysis (CSIC from Spain) and innovative (bio)remediation of emerging pollutants (BRGM from France). In addition, this project will focus on strengthening the research management capacities and administrative skills of the Grant Office from UBFC. This will be conducted through the development of a scientific strategy for dealing with PFAS (WP1), knowledge transfer in the field of analysis and (bio)remediation of emerging pollutants (WP2), networking and promoting joint research integrating creativity and developing new approaches for PFAS remediation (WP3), capacity building of the UBFC Grant Office (WP4), and through dissemination, exploitation and communication (WP5). The expected impact of PFASTwin is to enhance the reputation, research and administrative profile, and networking channels of UBFC and improve its capability to compete successfully for national, EU, and international research funding while simultaneously benefiting partner institutions through new contacts, skills, and collaborations.

The objective of FoodEnTwin is to create a networking collaboration among the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Chemistry (UBFC) and its Center of Research Excellence for Molecular Food Sciences (CoE MFS) and four high renowned institutes from Sweden, Austria and Belgium providing a unique opportunity for UBFC and its partners to increase their scientific excellence and visibility, technology innovation capacity and enable frontier research at the crossroad of food, agriculture, nutrition and environmental sciences by the infusion of –omics technologies (proteomics, lipidomics, transcriptomics, and metalomics). The project will focus on the key target actions of twinning of research activities through networking, training and lecturing program resulting in a roadmap for a future collaboration, organization of three public Summers Schools type, internal and external expert driven Technology Workshops and Academia-Industry meetings, and finally bringing the European Food Chemistry conference (EuroFoodChem) in 2021 to the UBFC in Serbia to increase the UBFC, the Serbian and the European visibility in the fields of food sciences. The scientific topic addresses the major challenge of how environmental pollution affects food we eat at the molecular level and therefore the project will also have a significant societal impact. Dissemination will take care of this aspect by bringing the networking ideas to a broad public, from experts, the science community and industry stakeholder organization, to the interested, non-professional crowd, making society more aware of the impact environment has on the food we eat and the importance of new approaches in food, nutrition and environmental sciences.