VALENCIA, 19 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT)-Ministry of Science and Innovation has selected the scientific dissemination project of the SWICEU team, from the CEU Cardenal Herrera University (CEU UCH), on bacterial resistance to antibiotics in its latest call of Aid for the Promotion of Scientific, Technological and Innovation Culture.
In competitive competition with the proposals presented by universities, research centers and science museums throughout Spain, the CEU UCH project, entitled ‘Raising our voice in the face of the silent pandemic’, has obtained the best rating among those presented by universities of the Valencian Community, as reported by the academic institution in a statement.
Likewise, it is among the twenty with the best score of the 489 submitted in the ‘Social communication projects of science and technology’ category by Spanish research centers in this national call.
The SWICEU team project, evaluated with 91 points out of 100, has been selected in 17th place among the 108 projects finally awarded in its category, in which 240 have been denied and another 141 have been rejected.
The one from SWICEU is the best valued among those presented by the universities of the Valencian Community, of which only five others have been granted. The total budget of this CEU UCH project is 29,385 euros.
The initiative of this university is led by the professor of Microbiology of the CEU UCH Teresa Pérez Gracia and directly involves each course, for six years, more than a hundred university students and Valencian ESO and Baccalaureate centers in the experimental process of searching for microorganisms with antibiosis capacity in soil samples that can become new potential antibiotics to treat resistant bacterial infections, the university has detailed.
Under the direction of the participating university students, the schoolchildren have isolated 4,573 colonies of microorganisms, with 373 antibiotic-producing microorganisms detected, available to R&D teams that wish to characterize in depth the production of possible antibiotics.
In the presentation of these scientific results at the end of the course, the CEU UCH will hold, with the collaboration of FECYT-Ministry of Science and Innovation, a scientific karaoke to raise our voices against the “silent pandemic.”
In this karaoke, university and pre-university students from the schools and institutes participating in the SWICEU project must adapt the lyrics of well-known songs – such as ‘Despacito’ by Fonsi, ‘Despechá’ by Rosalía or ‘Mi gran noche’ by Raphael – to include awareness-raising messages about bacterial resistance and disseminate the proper use of antibiotics among the population, the academic institution has highlighted.
The karaoke celebration has the advice and collaboration of CEU Música, the CEU UCH music label made up of students, which will compose an original song about the SWICEU project for its premiere at the scientific event, in May 2024.
SWICEU’s awareness actions, which have the collaboration of FECYT-Ministry of Science and Innovation, will begin during World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW) 2023, the global awareness week on the prudent use of antimicrobials, from the 18th to November 24, 2023.
This course, SWICEU will hold a performance on the topic of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through a live cluedo in which both the characters played by actors and the plot and assumptions to be resolved by the participants in the game will revolve around to this topic.
This live cluedo, developed in collaboration with the specialized company Mystery Games, will be invited to participate in person and through social networks, by streaming through YouTube and live or live streaming on Instagram and Twitter.
Teresa Pérez Gracia leads this scientific dissemination project with the collaboration of professors José Ignacio Bueso and Carolina Galiana, from the Department of Pharmacy; Professor Elisa Marco, from the Department of Communication and Journalistic Information; researchers Beatriz Suay and Antonio Tarín; and the Audiovisual Communication professor Raúl Cruz, as coordinator of CEU Música. This year, the SWICEU project has received the Ángel Herrera Oria Award for Pedagogical and Didactic Innovation in Universities.
