Noah's Ark Project

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Institute of Natural Resources and Agrobiology, Council for Scientific Research -- IRNAS-CSIC (Spain)

The Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiologia of Seville (IRNAS) has focused on studies on monuments since the early seventies. Biodeterioration of building material has been a research topic for the last 24 years. The Department of Biogeochemistry studies the deterioration of building materials due to microorganisms, and specifically deals with the colonization and attack of stone minerals by bacteria, fungi, algae, lichens, mosses and vascular plants. The laboratory is equipped with modern instruments including scanning electron, epifluorescence, and optical microscopes. MIDI and BIOLOG systems for bacteria identification. Molecular biology tools are also available. In addition, IRNAS has powerful analytical tools for studying organic and inorganic materials. Microanalytical devices include gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, Curie-point pyrolysis, thermal desorption, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, atomic absorption, X-ray diffraction, differential thermal analysis, porosimeter, etc. These instruments have been used in some previous EC projects concerning the study of organic compounds present in particulate matter and aerosols.

Key Person:

Cesareo Saiz-Jimenez

is currently Research Professor at the Spanish Council for Scientific Research and head of the Department of Biogeochemistry, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiologia, C.S.I.C., Apartado 1052, 41080 Sevilla, Spain.
In recent years, he has been involved in more than 25 projects, including European Commission, European Parliament, EUROCARE, N.A.T.O., Spanish Ministry of Education, and Third World Cooperation projects. Since 1987 he has been funded by the European Commission, participating in the S.T.E.P., Environment, and Environment and Climate programmes. He is or has been coordinator of many National projects, as well as European Commission and European Parliament projects.
He has been Associate Editor, European Cultural Heritage, Newsletter on Research and is currently member of the editorial board of Aerobiologia, International Journal of Aerobiology, International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation, and Annals of Microbiology.
He has written more than 200 papers for international journals, congresses and workshops. In 1995, he edited a volume on "The Deterioration of Monuments", published by Elsevier, Amsterdam, and in February 2003, a volume on "Molecular Biology and Cultural Heritage", printed by Balkema, Lisse, The Netherlands.

Participants

Leonila Laiz Trobajo
Juan Miguel Gonzalez Grau

Role in the project

IRNAS will take the responsibility for the scientific coordination of the biodeterioration group, edition of reports, contacts with the project coordinator, etc. In addition, it will study the effects of different biological crusts (or biofilm) in response to major environmental disturbances, and work on the prediction of biodeterioration processes.

Contact Information

Internet Address

http://www.irnase.csic.es

Address

Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiologia de Sevilla
Avenida de Reina Mercedes, 10
41012 Seville
Spain

Phone: +34 95 4624909
Fax: +34 95 4624002