Dissemination
This section presents the communication and dissemination materials produced in the activities of project PulpIng.
Pulping research on News Medical Life Sciences (20/02/2023)
News Medical Life Sciences, one of the world’s leading open-access medical and life science hubs, have published an article entitled Pumpkin byproducts exhibit antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. This article was based on the peer-review paper by Leichtweis et al “Biological Activity of Pumpkin Byproducts: Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Properties” published in Molecules in 2022 https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/27/23/8366
Midterm Report Discussion Meeting (27/01/2023)
At 10:00h of the 27th of Janurary 2023, took place, via Zoom, the Midterm Report Discussion Meeting of the PulpIng project, addressing the PRIMA recommendations following the evaluation of the Midterm Report
Participants: Lillian Barros, Tânia Pires (IPB) | Spyridon Petropoulos (UTH) | Luís Pinto (MORE CoLAB) | Miguel Azevedo (DECORGEL) | Oliver Schlutter, Luma Rossi (ATB) | Mostafa Hanza (BU)
Tunisian PulpIng program workshop
The second Tunisian workshop entitled “Progress reports of Tunisian teams – Accomplishments and future plans” took place on January 5th, organized by partner CBBC.
The work conducted on project PulpIng by Tunisian partners was presented and discussed.
Second Annual Technical Meeting (19/10/2022)
At 10:00h of the 19th of October 2022, took place, via Zoom, the Second Annual Technical Meeting of the PulpIng project.
Participants: Lillian Barros, Carla Pereira, Sandrina Heleno, Tânia Pires, Adriana Molina, Maria Leichtweis (IPB) | Spyridon Petropoulos (UTH) | Neji Tarchoun (ISA-CM), Hanen Falleh (CBBC), Najla Mezghani (NGB-ISA-CM) Wassim Saadaoui (ISA-CM) | Luís Pinto (MORE CoLAB) | Miguel Azevedo (DECORGEL) | Oliver Schlutter, Luma Rossi, Eva Landgraber (ATB) | Mostafa Hanza (BU) | Borhane Ziani (CRAPC)
Second Technical Meeting (07/04/2022)
At 14:00h of the 7th of April 2022, took place, via Zoom, the Second Technical Meeting of the PulpIng project.
Participants: Lillian Barros, Márcio Carocho, Carla Pereira, Sandrina Heleno, Tânia Pires, Adriana Molina, Maria Leichtweis (IPB) | Spyridon Petropoulos (UTH) | Neji Tarchoun (ISA-CM), Hanen Falleh (CBBC), Najla Mezghani (NGB-ISA-CM) Khawla Hamdi (ISA-CM), Wassim Saadaoui (ISA-CM) | Alexandre Gonçalves, Luís Pinto, Marta Barbosa (MORE Colab) | Miguel Azevedo, Beatriz Silva (DECORGEL)
First Technical Meeting (11/10/2021)
At the 10:00h of the 11th of October 2021 took place, via Zoom, the First Technical Meeting of project PulpIng.
Participants: Lillian Barros, Márcio Carocho, Carla Pereira, Sandrina Heleno, Tânia Pires, Adriana Molina, Maria Leichtweis (IPB) | Spyridon Petropoulos (UTH) | Neji Tarchoun, Hanen Falleh (CBBC) | Alexandre Gonçalves, Luís Pinto, Marta Barbosa (MORE Colab) | Miguel Azevedo, Marta Almeida (DECORGEL) | Oliver Schlüter, Luma Ribeiro (ATB) | Borhane Ziani (CRAPC) | Mostafa Hamza (BU).
Seminar “New advances from PRIMA projects for improving Mediterranean Agro-Food value chains” in Oeiras, Portugal
Last Friday (May 18th), the seminar “New advances from PRIMA projects for improving Mediterranean Agro-Food value chains” took place in Oeiras, Lisbon, Portugal. This event was significant in establishing synergies between PRIMA projects and other stakeholders, with the presence of Project Officer Mohamed Wageih. CIMO researchers actively participated in the seminar, with Dr. Lillian Barros moderating the “Innovative Agro-Food business” session, and PhD student Maria Gabriela Leichtweis delivering an oral presentation titled “Developing a Sustainable and Functionalized Pumpkin Fruit Pulp Formulation Using Biobased Preservatives: The PulpIng Project.” More information about the seminar can be found at: https://aphorticultura.pt/eventos/PrimaMedAgroFood/index.htm
Agrothessaly in Larissa, Greece on March 9-12
University of Thessaly presented the scope of Pulping in Agrothessaly exhibition that took place in Larissa, Greece on March 9-12.
University of Thessaly hosted the participants of Erasmus Little Farmers project
Schoolchildren from Greece, Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria visited the experimental farm of the University of Thessaly in Velestino Greece, where they were familiarized with Pulping project.
XXII EuroFoodChem congress in Belgrade, Serbia
The PulpIng Project was disseminated at the XXII EuroFoodChem congress in Belgrade, Serbia. Maria Gabriela Leichtweis (PhD student) presented the oral communication “Sustainable use of pumpkin: characterization of the pulp and valorization of by-products in obtaining preservative extracts”
8th Portuguese Young Chemists Meeting (8PYCheM) on May 18th in Vila Real, Portugal
The PulpIng Project participated in the 8th Portuguese Young Chemists Meeting (8PYCheM) on May 18th in Vila Real, Portugal. CIMO researchers effectively shared the project’s findings. Dr. Lillian Barros delivered a keynote speech titled “From nature to products: natural food ingredients applications,” while PhD student Maria Gabriela Leichtweis presented an oral communication on “Evaluation of the phenolic profile and bioactive potential of Portuguese and Algerian pumpkin by-products.” The book of abstracts can be accessed at: https://shorturl.at/optGL
Pulping project at the II PhD Pitch Day
Technical Meeting of the Pulping project 28th of April 2023, Bragança, Portugal
Sustainable recovery of compounds with preserving capacity from pumpkin by-products
The sustainable recovery of compounds with preserving capacity from pumpkin by-products was investigated at CIMO-IPB, as expected in WP2. For that purpose, a primary study was carried out evaluating more than 100 samples of different pumpkin genotypes, including the seeds, fibers strands, and peels, in terms of their chemical composition and bioactivity. With these studies, it was possible to select the most promising extracts for food preservation. An extraction optimization study was, then, carried out comparing two different methodologies in order to reach the more effective extraction conditions.
Quality evaluation of raw materials
The identification of carotenoids in the pulp fruit of the Tunisian, Greek, and Egyptian pumpkin cultivars is the present emphasis of CRAPC research center after the characterization of carotenoids in the Algerian pumpkin varieties. The ongoing research is related with WP1 Task 1.4 (Quality evaluation of raw materials).
We initially extracted the carotenoids from the samples of the pumpkin cultivars before characterizing by NMR 400 MHz spectrometer in CDCl3 and then identified in accordance with the elution order at 450 nm, and quantified by HPLC/UV-vis system equipped with a C18 column and β-carotene as an external standard. Mobile phase A is composed of methanol/water plus 10 mM of ammonium acetate, and mobile phase B was gradient-mode-operated ethyl acetate/methyl butanol.
National PulpIng Info-day
PulpIng project – Accomplishment and future plants
Poster communication
Preservation studies and quality assessment during shelf-life
Preparation of pumpkin pulp added with the natural ingredient extracted from pumpkin residues that will be processed by high pressure (HPP) to evaluate the shelf life extension.
Sensory analysis
Pulping Project Sensory analysis, the 19th of June, 2024.