TREC Expedition Barcelona 2024

TREC is a scientific journey through European coastlines to explore the biodiversity and molecular adaptability of microbial communities as well as key selected organisms. This event marks the stop of the international, highly collaborative scientific expedition TRaversing European Coastlines in Barcelona, and celebrates this unique initiative with the scientific community.

The TREC project is an initiative of the EMBL in cooperation with Tara Ocean Foundation and EMBRC, hosted by the ICM-CSIC in Barcelona, and aims to strengthen scientific understanding of the two major ecosystems on our planet – ocean and land. TREC brings outstanding research, unique technology and outreach to the coasts of Europe with sampling vehicles, a schooner, and state-of-the-art mobile labs, enabling scientists to co-create and collaborate across borders.

Take this opportunity to discover TREC Expedition and join the scientific session "Planet in Focus: Dialogues on Ecosystems and Global Health", in which diverse speakers will address the topic of planetary wellbeing from different perspectives.

AGENDA

12:00 - Welcoming Ceremony

Welcome speech by Valentí Sallarès (ICM Director) and James Sharpe (Head of EMBL Barcelona)

Addresses by TREC representatives and collaborators

Paola Bertucci – Head of EMBL Scientific Expeditions

André Abreu – Head for International Affairs, Tara Ocean Foundation

Ibon Cancio – Director, EMBRC – ES ERIC

Addresses by stakeholders and collaborators

Ignacio Baanante Balastegui – Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, EMBL Delegate

Olivier Ramadour – French Consul in Barcelona

Rosario Allué – Directorate General of Maritime Policy and Sustainable Fisheries, Department of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda, Government of Catalonia
Pep Hurtado - Strategic office for the city’s coastal areas, Barcelona City Council

13:30 - Reception and networking opportunity

15:00 - Planet in Focus: Dialogues on Ecosystems and Global Health

Chaired by Ramiro Logares, ICM-CSIC

Introduction by chair and keynote

Colomban de Vargas, Research Director CNRS - The Onset of Planetary Biology

15:30 – Session 1

Pep Gasol, ICM-CSIC - Microbes: sentinels of planetary health

Arendt Detlev, EMBL - Planetary Biology across scales: correlating cellular variation in selected model species with environmental gradients

Maria Vila-Costa, IDAEA-CSIC - Plastics, Pollutants and Marine Bacteria: a biogeochemical perspective

Coffee break

17:00 – Session 2

Estela Romero, CREAF - Healthy food, healthy rivers, healthy oceans: the impact of diets and agro-food scenarios on freshwaters and coastal waters

Ricard Solé, IBE (CSIC-UPF) - Tackling ecosystem tipping points with emergent bioengineering

Josep Maria Anto, ISGlobal - Planetary Health: Protecting Human Health in the Anthropocene Epoch

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Visits to the ICM, the EMBL Advanced Mobile Lab and Tara schooner are available the 26th of March. Check the public engagement program here.