17/09/2021
Martina Pierdomenico, researcher at the Institute of anthropic impacts and sustainability in the marine environment (Ias) of the National Research Council of Italy, has been chosen to represent Italy in the first "Mediterranean Science Team", an international organization aimed at making visible science done in Mediterranean countries, and highlighting the contribution of scientists and institutions in Mediterranean countries.
The official presentation of the team will be organized on September 24th withim the framework of the European Researchers' Night: on the MEDNIGHT event - which will take place at Casa Mediterráneo, Alicante, on September 24 at 12:00 p.m.- the 11 selected scientists will receive a football jersey with the MEDNIGHT coat of arms, symbolizing their belonging to a pioneering team in the league of science. The gala will be attended by former President of Spain José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero as the guest of honor, as well as other figures in the world of science and politics who want to show their support for this pioneering program.
The members selected represent nine countries of the Mediterranean basin: Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia, France and Italy, which make this 2021 All-Mediterranean Science Team a first step toward creating a Mediterranean identity with science as the common nexus.
The 2021 All-Mediterranean Science Team is formed of eight women and three men, experts in topics of most interest to MEDNIGHT: sciences for the future, technology, health, climate change, anthropology and marine sciences.
Martina Pierdomenico (Cnr-Ias) was elected for her studies of marine litter, carried out with images from underwater robots, which has found the largest concentration of deep-sea rubbish ever recorded. Plastics, cars, cookers and even a Christmas tree are among the objects found in the Strait of Messina, at a depth of 1000 metres.
Others members of the first All-Mediterranean Science Team are:
- Iris Charalambidou (Cyprus, University of Nicosia) and Salih Gücel (Cyprus, Near East University): these two biologists conducted a pioneering study that showed the flourishing flora and fauna of what is known as the Green Line in Cyprus
- Alain Aspect (France, Institut d'Optique in Paris): physicist, his work is a fundamental basis in the field of quantum computation.
- Avelino Corma (Spain, Universitat Politècnica de València and CSIC): he works on the molecular design of solid material catalysts.
- Abla Mehio Sibai (Lebanon, American University of Beirut): she promotes healthy ageing making advances in ageing science available to everyone, especially to people who have suffered the consequences of socio-political conflicts .
- Habiba Bouhamed Chaabouni (Tunisia, Tunis University): a pioneer in the studying of epidemiological studies on consanguinity in northern Tunisia.
- Katerina Harvati (Grecia, currently researcher at Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen in Germany): paleoanthropologist awarded for her work on the Apidima human fossils from Greece, ranked among the most important scientific discoveries of the decade.
- Nurcan Tunçba? (Turkey, Middle East Technical University): working on computational systems biology, bioinformatics, network-based medicine, network modelling, multi-omics data integration, single-cell and large-scale omics data analysis, and the discovery of latent cancer driver mutations.
- Guillermina López-Bendito (Spain, Institute of Neurosciences of Alicante): she investigates the development of the brain structure and connections that allow us to see, hear and feel what we touch.
- Francisco Mojica (Spain, University of Alicante), mainly known for having made the discovery of the CRISPR repeat sequences in microbes from the Salinas of Santa Pola. Hist studies will make it possible in the near future to provide cures for a multitude of diseases that are currently beyond our reach.
- Nagwa Abdel Meguid (Egypt, Egyptian National Research Centre): she has been leading a research laboratory on children with special needs for more than twenty years, her work covers a broad field that gathers studies from different disciplines, such as genetics, psychiatry and behavioural neuroscience.
Per informazioni:
Martina Pierdomenico
CNR - Biblioteca
martina.pierdomenico@ias.cnr.it
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