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“Methods in Food Mycology and Mycotoxicology”
Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by fungi that frequently contaminate agricultural commodities, thus causing serious health hazards to humans and animals, as well as great economic loss. As a consequence, significant concern has been devoted to the rapid and robust detection and quantification not only of the major mycotoxins contaminating foods, but also of the fungi producing them. The potential impact of climate change on food security has been widely debated. It is recognized that climate change may give rise to food shortages, which will bring immediate and direct drawbacks in terms of food security, and, additionally, can induce changes in the dominant mycoflora, boosting food safety problems. This topic needs to be addressed and fully investigated by advanced predictive modelling methods. The Intensive Program (IP) on Methods in Food Mycology and Mycotoxicology aims to demonstrate and teach classical methods as well as innovative molecular, chemical and immunological systems for rapid, robust and user-friendly identification and quantification of mycotoxins and toxigenic fungi in the food chain. Additionally, the IP intends to study the effect of climate changes on food safety and security. For that matter, this IP will gather some of the most prominent academics and researchers in the vast field of food mycology and mycotoxicology, each of whom has specialised in the various subjects to be lectured. This will allow teachers and students from the different partner institutions to exchange knowledge and to create a network which will in the future strengthen the possibility of joint projects and student exchange. This IP will combine knowledge from various scientific fields: food mycology, food mycotoxicology; biological and chemical methods of food analysis; mathematical modelling. This is an excellent opportunity for students from various fields of knowledge (microbiology, food safety, agriculture, biotechnology, mathematics, …) to interact and learn not only the theoretical fundamentals but also state-of-the art methods that are transversal to their academic disciplines. The IP will be hosted by the School of Agriculture of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB), and will enrol 6 partner institutions from 4 different countries - Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom and Italy. The courses will be entirely taught in English. At the end, the participants will be subjected to final evaluation and will receive proficiency certificate worth 6 ECTS. All participants will be considered part of the IPB community and are afforded the same rights and privileges as regular students, so you will quickly feel integrated into the heart of the IPB campus. The atmosphere around campus is friendly and interactive, and you may develop friendships which will last well beyond the programme.  Please check the poster and flyer of the programme. We look forward to welcoming you in the Programme! Warm regards, Paula Rodrigues IP coordinator |
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