Projects

Climate change is likely to influence the spread of pathogens in the sea: At higher water temperatures, bacteria that are harmful to humans could also appear en masse and pose a biological threat. The new joint project PrimePrevention, coordinated by the Alfred Wegener Institute, has set itself the goal of developing tools to enable society to adapt to such dangers and avoid or minimise their effects. The aim of the research consortium is to ultimately provide technology- and data-based recommendations for early warning systems and information chains to minimise the impact of marine biological hazards. To achieve this, it is essential to be aware of potential biological hazards in the sea. The research team will integrate the latest technology for the identification of marine microorganisms with the latest molecular genetic analysis methods in environmental monitoring, which are also used in medical diagnostics and forensics. PrimePrevention uses a selection of complementary methods to analyse the composition of marine eukaryotic microorganisms from various environmental samples: next generation sequencing, molecular sensor technology and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The team is also developing modular, distributed measurement systems of varying complexity and temporal and spatial coverage for intelligent, precise measurements in the field. In this way, the scientists want to ensure that the monitoring network can be operated economically in the future. To ensure that information about potential environmental hazards reaches the population when needed, there will be close cooperation with civil society, politicians, authorities and other stakeholders and an information system will be developed for the public.