Team news
Visiting Internship Insights – Aissa Neyra
BRT offers internship opportunities for visiting students and early-career professionals who wish to expand their scientific networks, gain international and cultural experience, and contribute to a collaborative research environment. These internships support professional growth, encourage the exchange of ideas, and help build meaningful connections across disciplines and backgrounds.
Recently, we hosted Aissa Neyra, a student from Peru. Read her introductory blog HERE.
Enjoy reading about her experience with BRT!
When I wrote my introductory blog, I said that I would mainly support the Communications team. That was true, but it quickly became only part of the story.
New Paper Published! Biodegradation of Benzo[a]pyrene Using a Novel Gut Isolate Bhargavaea beijingensis BP14 from Perionyx excavatus
BRT Postdoctoral researcher Dr. Sandipan Banerjee from the Faculty of Tropical Agrisciences (FTZ) at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZU) recently published an article in the in Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology.
The publication examines the ability of bacteria isolated from the gut of an earthworm to degrade Benzo(a)pyrene, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon commonly abbreviated as BaP. Although the microbial breakdown of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons has been studied for decades, the biodegradation of BaP by gut-associated microorganisms has received comparatively limited attention. The study investigated Bhargavea beijingensis BP14, a bacterial strain isolated from the gut of the earthworm Perionyx excavatus.
The findings showed that B. beijingensis BP14 was capable of degrading almost 65% of BaP within 14 days. To investigate the capabilities of the selected bacterial isolate, the researchers conducted whole-genome sequence analysis. This enabled them to predict genes, perform functional annotation, and identify coding sequences, tRNA and rRNA genes, and proteins potentially associated with BaP degradation.
BRT Coordinates BIO-CAPITAL Consortium Meeting in Bucharest to Advance the Project’s Next Phase
The BRT coordinated the BIO-CAPITAL Consortium Meeting at the Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences in Bucharest, Romania, bringing project partners together for several days of strategic discussions, technical exchange, and collaborative planning.
The meeting opened with remarks from project coordinator and BRT Director Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hynek Roubík, followed by sessions focused on strategic alignment and integration. Partners reflected on review outcomes, aligned expectations for the project’s next phase, and worked to strengthen the BIO-CAPITAL Integration Framework.
A key focus of the meeting was improving coordination across work packages and connecting policy, monitoring, certification, finance, and use cases into a clearer operational structure. Through workshops and cross-work package task forces, partners discussed how to translate project concepts into practical workflows and implementation pathways.
deSalSea Consortium Meeting Held at FTZ to Advance Sustainable Desalination Research
The Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences (FTZ), Czech University of Life Sciences Prague(CZU), welcomed partners from the DeSalSea Project for a consortium meeting held in Prague from 17–19 June 2026. The meeting took place at FTZ and brought together representatives from the University of the Basque Country, Donostia International Physics Center, Institut Européen des Membranes, and Czech University of Life Sciences Prague.
Titled "Novel Sustainable Forward-Osmosis Seawater Desalination Process,” the DeSalSea project focuses on the development of an integrated, energy-efficient forward-osmosis seawater desalination system. Built around biomimetic membranes and stimuli-responsive draw solutions derived from sustainable resources, the project aims to support clean water solutions with significantly reduced energy consumption, lower environmental impact, and minimal reliance on fossil-based materials.
The meeting offered an important opportunity for partners to exchange updates, reflect on progress, and align on the next stages of project implementation. Following an opening session hosted by BRT members representing CZU, and the project coordinator from EHU, the programme continued with partner presentations from DIPC, EHU, IEM-CNRS, and CZU/BRT. These sessions focused on progress in relation to planned work, deliverables and milestones, technical insights, key challenges, and discussion among the consortium.
BRT Wins First Place at the Anthropocene Case Competition 2026
BRT participated in the Anthropocene Case Competition 2026, an international student challenge organised by the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE) in cooperation with Bonafarm Csoport. The team brought together mentor and Assistant Professor Dr. Viktoriia Chubur, PhD students Antoine Bercy and AbdulAzeez Shobajo, and Master’s student Paula A. Castro M. This year’s case focused on developing innovative and practical solutions for the utilisation of by-products generated within Bonafarm Csoport’s poultry business, challenging participants to combine sustainability, circular economy thinking, and applied innovation in response to real agrifood industry needs. In this first-hand account, the BRT team shares their journey through the competition, from the first case brief to the final pitch and their first-place win.
When we first saw the call for the Anthropocene Case Competition 2026, the brief seemed straightforward: solve a real sustainability challenge in the agrifood sector. What we didn't know was that the next four months would push us through four elimination rounds, force us to become experts in everything from poultry blood coagulation to EU animal by-product regulation, and ultimately bring us face-to-face with a 48-hour live case challenge in Gödöllő, Hungary.
This is the story of how we got there.
BRT Director Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hynek Roubík Serves on the Scientific Committee for IOCE 2027
BRT Director Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hynek Roubík is serving on the Scientific Committee for the 2nd International Online Conference on Environments (IOCE 2027), an international event bringing together researchers working on today’s most pressing environmental challenges.
IOCE 2027, titled Resources, Ecosystem services, Quality of life for humans and all species, will take place online from 2–4 March 2027, with all sessions held in Central European Time. The conference aims to support international dialogue and research exchange on environmental systems, ecosystem services, sustainability, and nature-based pathways for human activities.
The programme will cover a broad range of themes across six sessions, including cities and their surroundings, ecosystem diversity and human pressures across land and sea, sustainable farming and food systems, resource recovery, mineral resources, and global transport systems and environmental sustainability. Through these sessions, the conference will provide a platform for researchers to share conceptual and applied studies addressing environmental, technological, economic, and social dimensions of sustainability.
