On the 22nd – 23rd of October the AMIGA consortium gathered in Madrid hosted by Dr Cristina Chueca from INIA (The National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology and agrifood research in Spain) for the joint management board and technical meeting after the kick off meeting that took place in December 2011 in Matera at ENEA’s premises. This was the occasion for the partners to share views and broaden the discussion on the different on-going activities.
After almost one year since the beginning of the project and after the first two management board meetings in Italy and Denmark, AMIGA partners met to discuss financial and practical matters with selected members and then specific issues related to the project activities (analysis, laboratory and field trials).
During the first day the Management Board members met to focus on the management issues and communication policies within the project. The second day was dedicated to a short presentation provided by every work package leader, who gave updates to the others about developments and first challenges to tackle. The meeting ended with a brief discuss on the next planned activities and further steps in the partners’ collaboration. In parallel, some WP leader met separately to coordinate their activities with the other partners.
The first AMIGA results can be found in the recent publication on the analysis of environmental risk assessments of genetically modified crops issues. These preliminary results are now available and collected in “Effects of multiple Bt proteins and GNA lectin on in vitro-reared honey bee larvae”, the first paper produced within the project by the AMIGA partner University of Wuerzburg, Germany, and published on Apidologie (2012) by DIB and Springer-Verlag. The group of researchers analysed for the first time combined effects of three Bt proteins conferring insect resistances, and a CP4-protein conferring an herbicide resistance as simultaneously expressed in one GM maize.
Click here to access the complete photogallery