Kick-off Meeting of the Genesys project

Last September 19th the Kick-off Meeting of the Life Genesys project took place in Cornellá

Project partners during the KoM

The LIFE GENESYS project will develop a pioneering purification system to remove antibiotics and resistant bacteria from hospital effluents.

The European project team will design and implement at the Hospital Universitari Parc Taulí an innovative and unique wastewater treatment system in Spain.
LIFE GENESYS will enable the development of a preventive alert platform for the risk of resistance - one of the main challenges facing medicine today - that will help manage the environmental impact of antibiotic prescribing in hospitals and healthcare centers.

Spanish hospitals and health centers are not required to have a system for eliminating antibiotics and resistance genes in their wastewater treatment plants. LIFE GENESYS wants to anticipate future legislation and propose systems that can eliminate this contamination from the environment, and thus prevent the aquatic ecosystems and people's health from being affected.

The scientific community and the World Health Organization (WHO) have warned that pharmaceuticals, particularly antibiotics, are one of the most alarming pollutants since their presence in the environment promotes the proliferation of antibiotic-resistance and multidrug-resistant bacteria that are difficult to treat.

An innovative solution in Spain

Aiming to eliminate resistant bacteria in hospital wastewater and avoid its environmental impact, the European LIFE GENESYS project will promote an innovative solution in Spain consisting of treatment at source, i.e. at the Hospital Universitari Parc Taulí (Sabadell).

Specifically, this solution will be based on implementing a new-generation treatment train to decentralize wastewater treatment and remove pharmaceuticals, resistance genes and antibiotic-resistant bacteria, making it easier for hospital wastewater to be free of substances that can alter aquatic systems.

In addition, LIFE GENESYS will develop a digital platform for early warning of resistance risk with data collected from the city's sanitation network. This tool will determine the levels of antibiotics in hospital effluents, allowing healthcare professionals to make informed decisions when prescribing antibiotics.

Commitment to European directives

This project has obtained funding from the LIFE 2023 Call for Environment and Climate Action, within the “Circular Economy and Quality of Life” subprogram of the European Union, and will be carried out by the consortium formed by Cetaqua, as a coordinating entity in collaboration with Aigües Sabadell CASSA, Apria Systems, LABAQUA, the Hospital Universitari Parc Taulí and the Institut d'Investigació i Innovació Parc Taulí (I3PT).
“The collaborative work of these institutions will allow the integration of different areas of knowledge that include biological waste management, the management of resistant bacterial infections, the city's drainage network, wastewater treatment and innovative water treatments, with the aim of implementing a pilot solution,” highlighted Òscar Quijada, a researcher at Parc Taulí, at the project kick-off meeting held recently.
Thanks to this innovative and replicable solution, as explained by the I3PT research team, will contribute to furthering the objectives proposed by the EU in the framework of the development of innovative strategies to fight against antibiotic resistance, offering decentralized and more efficient solutions.

Project reference:

Acronym: LIFE GENESYS
Title: Decentralised solution to remove contaminants of emerging concern from hospital effluents
Call: LIFE-2023-SAP-ENV. (Circular Economy and Quality of Life - Standard Action Projects (SAP))

Press contact:

Mireia Córcoles Canet
Responsable de comunicación – Institut d’Investigació i Innovació Parc Taulí – I3PT
Tel.: (+34) 93 723 10 10 - ext. 23102 / Móvil: 654 743 744
Correo: mcorcoles@tauli.cat

Project information

Awarded the project DisTecH2 under PRTR Hydrogen programme

Photochemical equipment: Innovation and Customization