A recombinant protein, developed by researchers at the CSIC's Barcelona Institute of Molecular Biology, degrades gluten more effectively than current alternatives. It degrades the toxic peptides in the stomach before they reach the intestine, thus preventing the characteristic symptoms of coeliac disease. It can be administered orally and can be used as an agent or food additive, or as a food supplement for a low-gluten diet. 

The extensive use of fertilizers and pesticides to sustain agricultural production has a significant environmental impact, highlighting the need for more eco-friendly alternatives. One promising approach is to promote the use of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, which naturally colonize plant roots and establish beneficial symbiotic relationships.

There is an increasing commercial demand for plant varieties resistant to climate change and diseases, more productive with fewer inputs... There is also a growing interest for recovering native varieties, whose conservation contributes to the maintenance of biodiversity. The CSIC in Galicia works to recover varieties of interest.

30 years of R+D CSIC The cost of sequencing genomes is a million times less than it was just over two decades ago. The data is impressive. If in the year 1998, the sequencing of a single piece of the Arabidopsis plant genome was a milestone, now the situation has changed radically. We speak with some of the early researchers in this field.

The Institute of Microelectronics of Barcelona (IMB-CNM-CSIC) participates in a project to improve the monitoring of fermentation and aging of Catalan wine farms through sensors and chips. The sensorization of wineries seeks to improve the economic performance of farms and better cope with the effects of climate change in the coming decades.

CSIC and the Universitat Politècnica de València have developed a new generation of plant vaccines based on RNA molecules. Highly specific, they can be applied in a non-transgenic way. Their main use is the control of diseases caused by viruses, as an alternative to traditional pesticides.

The CSIC and the Universitat Politècnica de València have developed a new generation of treatments based on highly specific microRNAs. These treatments can be applied to plants in a non-transgenic way to control the expression of genes of interest. It serves as an alternative to current treatments relying on traditional agrochemicals.

A CSIC team has developed a process to manufacture activated carbon filters from rice straw and wood shavings. The process makes it possible to obtain more efficient filters than conventional ones for the elimination of emerging organic pollutants in water. Companies interested in licensing the patent are being sought.