A project from research to reuse wastes as natural herbicides and in biomedicine

Researchers from the Biodiversity and Environment Institute and from the School of Pharmacy and Nutrition of the University of Navarra will investigate the possible properties of some household and pruning wastes as antimicrobial, antitumor and natural herbicide agents. This research will be developed in the framework of the "Program for the promotion of partnership in actions of research and development+i between Autonomous Communities" of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan funded by the European Union-NextGenerationEU.

"The project is not aimed at reducing the production of domestic plant waste and waste from industrial activities or agricultural work, but to expand its reuse in fields that transcend composting, such as its employment as natural herbicides or in biomedical fields," says Nieves Goicoechea, researcher at Biodiversity and Environment Institute and professor at School of Sciences at the University of Navarra.

The project, requested in partnership with the group of research Applied Agrochemistry and Environment (GIAAMA) of the Miguel Hernández University of Elche, and which is titled degree scroll "Valorization of domestic vegetable and pruning waste in sanitary and agricultural areas", will receive an economic endowment of 67,000 € and will be developed over two years.

"Our goal is to give the project a living-lab character in which the participation of the university community is encouraged. For this reason, it is planned to install different collection points for material at campus of the University of Navarra," says Dr. Goicoechea.

The main work team is formed by Nieves Goicoechea, researcher at Biodiversity and Environment Institute, Drs. Carmen Sanmartín and Daniel Plano from the School of Pharmacy and Nutrition, and Mónica Oyarzun, technician at the School of Sciences. In addition, other professionals and volunteers are expected to participate in the project: the pharmacist Silvia Estarriaga who will develop her doctoral thesis ; the Nigerian doctor Damilola Grace Olanipon (scholarship Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri); two students of the double Degree Biology-Environmental Sciences will carry out their Final Projects Degree; and four students will participate as volunteers in the selective collection of waste at various points of campus in Pamplona.

The Biodiversity and Environment Institute of the University of Navarra is a research center that aims to respond, based on scientific evidence, to the main environmental challenges facing the planet. The Institute is formed by more than fifty researchers working in four main areas: management of ecosystems, anthropogenic impacts, global change and biodiversity, and science communication.

Image: EnriqueCobos / From left to right: Emilio Goicoechea (2nd of Degree in Human Nutrition) and volunteer; Valery Elsner (2nd of Degree in CAAC) and volunteer; Mónica Oyarzun (technician of the Dept. of Environmental Biology); Dr. Nieves Goicoechea (Dept. Environmental Biology and principal investigator); Dr. Carmen Sanmartín (Dept. of Technology and Pharmaceutics. Technology and Chemistry Pharmaceuticals. Researcher); Dr Daniel Plano (Dept. Technology and Chemistry Pharmaceuticals. researcher); Céline Guynot de Boismenu, 2nd of Degree in CAAC and volunteer; Tomás Madrigal, 2nd of Degree in Pharmacy and volunteer; and graduate Silvia Estarriaga, PhD student.