Last week the IASIS project was extensively feature at the Bioremid 2026 conference in Florence. IASIS partners shared field and laboratory data across three specialized posters in the conference session and and one oral presentation at the All4Biorem workshop side event.
Rehabilitating a heavy-metal contaminated brownfield through industrial crops and biofertilizer-assisted growth
IASIS researchers from the Université Marie et Louis Pasteur presented a poster validating the ecological rehabilitation of a 0.5-hectare former railway transshipment area in Audincourt, France. The site presents harsh soil constraints, containing high concentrations of heavy metals (including lead, zinc, arsenic, copper, and manganese) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The cropping system forcused on three industrial crops: Urtica dioica (nettle), Crambe abyssinica, and Camelina sativa. To improve crop establishment and productivity a combination of digestate and amino-acid biostimulants was tested along with complementary fertilization. The team also isolated, assembled, and evaluated specialized plant-associated bacterial and fungal consortia in laboratory and in pot trials. The most promising consortia will be tested in the field trials as a means to mitigate contamination stress, improve crop establishment, and maximize biomass yields of the 3 crops.
Characterization of heavy metal-tolerant microbial communities to support phyto-management of contaminated sites with Crambe abyssinica
A collaborative study presented by Enrica May Hedgecock, Universitè de Liège, focused on characterizing heavy metal-tolerant microbial communities to assist the phytomanagement of Crambe abyssinica. Grown across four distinct European field case studies, Crambe is being evaluated for its natural capacity to accumulate heavy metals like lead and zinc. Through rRNA sequencing and metabarcoding analysis, researchers identified key bacterial and fungal genera—such as Pseudomonas sp., Bacillus sp., and Trichoderma sp.—present in the seed and rhizosphere microbiome. These strains were isolated and characterized for their plant growth-promoting (PGP) traits, exopolysaccharide production, and heavy metal immobilization capabilities. The resulting optimized microbial consortia act as biostimulants, accelerating soil contaminant biodegradation and safeguarding biomass quality under severe environmental stress.
Developing salt-tolerant microbial inoculants to enhance Salicornia growth in IASIS field sites
Addressing the challenge of soil salinization in the EU, another project poster detailed the development of salt-tolerant microbial inoculants to support Salicornia spp, an activity led by our partners at Université Marie et Louis Pasteur in collaboration with Quadrado Selvagem (Portugal), the Deptartment of Agriculture and Food Science at the University of Bologna and the Centre for renewable energy sources and saving (CRES) in Greece. Halophytes like Salicornia naturally thrive in high-salinity conditions but suffer from low baseline seed germination rates (<25%). Researchers processed roots and seeds to isolate bacterial strains, screening them for phosphate solubilization, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) production, and salinity tolerance up to 10% NaCl. Laboratory trials demonstrated that coating seeds with selected bacterial candidates significantly elevated germination rates, with strains affiliated with the genus Pantoea boosting relative germination by up to 67% compared to just 25% in non-inoculated controls. The selected consortia will scale up to field trials in Ravenna (Italy), Setúbal (Portugal), and locations in Greece.
All4Biorem Workshop Curing Land and Securing Bio-Based Economies
Complementing the technical posters, an oral presentation at the All4Biorem workshop framed these technical developments within the broader context of the IASIS project. The presentation mapped the ongoing deployment of the 8 field case studies spanning diverse climatic zones, where farmers are actively trained in cultivating these industrial crops. Furthermore, the presentation outlined the upcoming development of a stakeholder-centric Decision Support System (DSS) leveraging machine learning for geographic crop suitability, ensuring the economic viability and long-term sustainability of biomass-to-product pathways.
