International projects

aa MOMARE PROJECT / STIC AMSUD PROGRAM, 2010-2011 [link] > The MERE project-team is animating a STIC AMSUD project MOMARE (Modelamiento Matematico por Manejo de Recursos Naturales) that has just been accepted. This project from 2010 to 2011 aims at developing a scientific network (Chile, Peru, Argentina, France), consisting of applied mathematicians, around several case studies of estimation and management of renewable resources. It will permit to share different approaches for modeling renewable resources dynamics and proposing algorithms for identification and control.

qqq TREASURE EuroMediterranean network [link] (Treatment and Sustainable Reuse of Effluents in Semi-arid Climates) > The network was created at the initiative of MERE and includes research teams from Santiago de Compostela (Spain), Milano (Italy), Sfax and Tunis (Tunisia), Tlemcen (Algeria), Rabat (Morocco), Louvain La Neuve (Belgium), Marseille and Montpellier (France). It regularly organizes scientific seminars, schools, workshops and conferences for about 10 to 40 participants at least twice a year alternatively in Northern and southern partners countries. The network is supported by a consortium of National institutions of participating countries like INRIA, INRA for the northern Europe countries, the CNRST (Morocco), the Research Branch of Algeria and Tunisia, for Southern involved countries. It is also supported by the European IRSES project COADVISE currently coordinated by INRIA. The specific annual resources of the network allow the organization of the activities described hereabove at the level of about 100 k € / year in addition to specific financial resources and staff of the various teams. It is to be noticed that there is also 5 PhD theses currently in progress. The totality of the mobilized resources is difficult to quantify in financial terms but it is probably (including salaries) around € 0.5 million / year. Links: MERE team-project, LBE-INRA (Narbonne, France), CBS (Sfax, Tunisia), LAMSIN (Tunis, Tunisia), Université de Tlemcen (Tlemcen, Algeria), UCL (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium), POLIMI (Milano, Italy).

European projects

qqq CAFE PROJECT / Large Scale Collaborative European Project [link] 2008-2012 > MERE is member of the Large Scale Collaborative European Project, called "CAFE" (Computer-Aided Food processes for control Engineering), coordinated by Denis Dochain, Université Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. This project aims at developing an integrated solution for the robust monitoring and control of food processes. INRA is an important partner through the participation of four labs and one Experimental Unit (UMR GMPA, Grignon, UMA ASB and SPO, Montpellier, LBE, Narbonne and UE Pech Rouge, Gruissan).The objective of the CAFE project is to provide new paradigms for the smart control of food processes, on the basis of four typical processes in the areas of bioconversion, separation, preservation and structuring. The novelty of the project lies in the capacity of combining PAT (Process Analytical Technology) and sensing devices with models and simulation environment with the following objectives: (1) to extract as much as possible information from the process/plant in the form of precise estimations of unmeasured variables defining, in particular, product quality, and of physical parameters changing as the process dynamics does or difficult to know beforehand; (2) to save and encode in a reliable and usable way, basically via physical/deterministic models; (3) to develop control methods to keep uniform quality and production, despite the variability in the raw material and/or to respond to sudden changes in the demand. MERE is involved in the wine making optimization part of the project, part of the PhD thesis of José Fernandez.

National projects

qqq DISCO PROJECT / ANR SYSCOMM PROGRAM 2009-2011 [link] > Multi-scale modelling bioDIversity Structure COupling in biofilms: The objectives are to generate new insights in

The consortium is composed of: the team MERE; the Cemagref LISC (Laboratoire d’Ingénierie pour les Systèmes Complexes, Clermont) and HBAN (Hydrosystèmes et Bioprocédés d’ANtony); the INRA LBE (Laboratoire de Biotechnologies de l’Environnment), Narbonne; the UMR LPTMC (Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée), Univ. P. et M. Curie, Paris, and will hire two postdoctoral fellows and one engineer.

aa MODECOL PROJECT / ANR SYSCOMM PROGRAMM 2009-2011 [link] > MERE is Co-Principal Investigator of the ANR project "Using mathematical MODeling to improve ECOLogical services of prairial ecosystems". The project involves four INRIA project-teams (MERE, ALEA, MAESTRO and TOSCA) with the UMR Ecobio (Rennes, France), the University of La Rochelle and the Universi- ties of Houston and Berkeley. The aim of the MERE project-team is to propose individual-based models for terrestrial prairial plant communities’ dynamics in the context of water purifying from nitrate and pesticides .

qqq VITELBIO PROJECT / ARC INRIA, 2009-2010 [link] > VITELBIO stands for VIrtual TELluric BIOreactors and is co-sponsored by INRIA (ARC) and INRA (AAP), in collaboration with UMR Eco&Sol and ITK company. The scientific challenge is to study and identify models of small networks of virtual interconnected bioreactors as a simplified representation of the microbial activity in soils. The focus is made on input/output representations of particular functions of the microbial communities : carbon sequestration, availability of nutrients for plant roots... The project gathers ten teams and aims at developing a user-friendly software and experiments on a network of four interconnected chemostats.

qqq BIOINH PROJECT / AGROPOLIS FOUNDATION 2009-2010 > The project BioInh (Modelling and optimization of bio-conversion of plant materials in inhomogeneous media) proposed by the UMR IATE (Ingénierie des Agropolymères et Technologies Emergentes, Montpellier) and the team MERE is founded by the Agropolis foundation (Montpellier) for two years since 2009. The project aims at studying inhomogeneity effects in enzymatic reactors with the help of models of cascade of reactors. The presence of inhibition in the growth function may lead to instabilities and drive the system toward several possible equilibria, one of them only being interesting in terms of yield and productivity. Experiments are planned for the coming year, and the final objective is to derive control strategies for driving the system toward the best equilibrium. The project hires A. Saddoud in a postdoctoral position for two years, and R. Lortie (NRC Biotechnology Research Institute, Montréal, Québec) as a regular visitor.

qqq DIMIMOS > This fundamental research project aims at better understanding of functional microbial soil ecosystems with respect to the turnover of soil organic matter (SOM). More specially, we aim at evaluating the role of the microbial diversity in transforming SOM, in order to better manage the carbon in its biochemical global cycle within agro-ecosystems. This project must deliver new insights for managing agricultural productivity (allow better agricultural practices) while maintaining a high quality of soil over the long term.

qqq E-MICRAM PROJECT / RNSC PROGRAM (appel à idé´es) 2010 > The E-MICRAM project (Emergence of properties of reconstituted microbial ecosystems) proposed jointly by BIOEMCO (Laboratoire de Biogéochimie et écologie des milieux continentaux, Paris), the UMR Eco& Sols (Montpellier) and the team MERE has been selected as a young project of the national network of complex systems for one year. The objective of the project is to conduct experiments and modelling of microbial ecosystems composed of several species in interaction, each of them being well studied alone, and to study gradually how interactions are responsible of the properties of the overall ecosystem.