Cuba and China to promote 10 new joint scientific projects

Cuba's Science, Technology and Environment Ministry (CITMA) on Friday informed that national and Chinese scientific institutions willbe conducting 10 new joint projects.

The entities will be focusing on a great number of fields, including those related to food, nanotechnology and nanosciences, automation, health and climate variability, among others.

Regarding food production and agroindustry, the projects approved were the sustainable use and management of sweet potato biodiversity in conventional genetic improvement to contribute to food and nutritional security in Cuba. Plus, the development of key technologies for preparation of immunity inducers in plants based on saccharides and peptides from biological materials and their application in agricultural crops.

Concerning sustainable use of biodiversity and confronting climate change, among others, it was approved the evaluation of the remediation potential of environmental liabilities with severe impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems in mineral districts of Pinar del Río province.

As to Automation, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), the project selected was the comprehensive management platform for an intelligent ecological cement plant based on industry 4.0.

Meanwhile, the proposals in Life Sciences were three: development of a digital microfluidic system for the automatic Covid-19 diagnosis, mining of peptides with similar functions to the anticancer peptide CIGB-552 and identification of its antitumor mechanism, as well as Construction of complex nanoparticles with PSO/PTX for the treatment of triple negative breast cancer.