We keep a balanced research perspective in terms of basic and applied research developing projects with public and private funding. With are proud of our international network of collaborators, from academic researchers to industrial partners. Within a wide conceptual framework of ‘microbial interactions and community ecology’ we are interested in anthropogenic ecosystems established in industrial processes, especially in microbial community assembly and evolution in wine fermentations and in the biological reactors of wastewater treatment plants.

List of research projects in the last 5 years:

• Title: Top-down enrichment and bottom-up reconstruction of synthetic microbial consortia to improve the performance and predictability of industrial processes. (Acronym: INDUSYNCON). October 2023 – October 2027. PIs: Ignacio Belda and Antonio Santos. 

Funding entities: Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) - Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO)

• Title (in Spanish): Monitorización de la microbiota presente  en sistemas avanzados de depuración de  aguas residuales: las bacterias  Comammox. (PR44/21‐29908). June 2022-June-2023. PI: Lucía Arregui.

Funding Entities: Universidad Complutense, Banco Santander. 

• Title (in Spanish): Estudio de los mecanismos moleculares y procesos metabólicos en levaduras de origen enológico para el control de la acidez en vinos. (Acronym:  LowpH-Wine). September 2020 – August 2023. PIs: Domingo Marquina, Ignacio Belda, Antonio Santos.

Funding entities: Spanish Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI, CIEN Label) & the LowpH-Wine industrial consortium (Bodegas Pago de Carraovejas, Bodegas Roda, Bodegas Barbadillo, Hoyada de los Lobos, Agrovin, Atens, Fernitagro, Vitis Navarra)

• Title: A systems biology perspective on wine fermentation: from microbial ecology to wine ecosystem modelling. (Acronym: Wineteractions). June 2020 – June 2023. PI: Ignacio Belda. 

Funding entities: Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) - Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO)

• Title (in Spanish): Ecología microbiana del vino: modelos de sucesión de poblaciones y redes de interacción para la predicción de la calidad sensorial del vino. (Acronym: WiNetworks). January 2020 – December 2021. PI: Ignacio Belda.

Funding entities: Madri+d Foundation, Madrid Region Government & Rey Juan Carlos University

• Title (in Spanish): Evolución aromática del vino tinto en tinas de madera. Oxigenación y condicionantes microbiológicos. (Acronym: BESTAGEING). April 2018 – March 2021. PI: Antonio Santos.

Funding entities: Spanish Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI, Eureka Label) & Bodegas Pago de Carraovejas

• Title (in Spanish): Poblaciones e interacciones microbianas en biorreactores MBR: desarrollo de herramientas biológicas para el control del bioensuciamiento en sistemas de depuración. December 2016 - December 2020. PIs: Antonio Santos and Susana Serrano.

Funding entity: Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO)

• Title (in Spanish): Solución global para mejorar la producción vitivinícola frente al cambio climático basada en robótica, en tecnología IT y en estrategias biotecnológicas y de manejo del viñedo (Acronym: GLOBALVITI). August 2016 - August 2020. PI: Antonio Santos.

Funding entities: Spanish Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) & Bodegas Pago de Carraovejas 

• Title (in Spanish): Sistema de monitorización real-time de la microbiota del viñedo y los procesos fermentativos en bodega basado en secuenciación masiva de ADN (Acronym: SMART-microseq). March 2018 – April 2020. PI: Antonio Santos.

Funding entities: Spanish Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI); Biome Makers Spain