2 billion-euro EU grant for Israeli project

The Joint Management Authority of the European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI CBC MED program) has informed Nava Ben Zvi, president of Hadassah College in Israel that it will award a contract worth up to 2 million euros ($2.7 million) for the Bio-Xplore Project.

This project, initiated and directed by Hadassah College, will be implemented in partnership with the Biodiversity and Environmental Research Center of the Palestinian Authority, Leitat Technological Center in Spain and the Hellenic Regional Development Center in Greece. Two USA-based Universities Rutgers University, New Jersey and the North Carolina State University, will also participate in the project.

Bertold Fridlender, director of Hadassah College’s Biotechnology Department and the inspiration and driving force behind the BioXplore project, explained: “the goal of the project is to identify endemic plants from the Mediterranean area, which contain compounds that may be valuable for industrial products such as pharmaceutical products, food additives, cosmetics and others. This collaborative research will promote social and financial developments in the Mediterranean Sea Basin Area.”