About the Action
E-NICHE will help unify the different branches of chemical ecology
The natural world speaks in chemistry. The main channel for information transfer among cells, microbes, fungi, plants, and animals, as well as across biological kingdoms is through infochemicals: molecules or mixtures of molecules released by one cell or organism that influence the state and behavior of another cell or organism. The universality of chemical communication across the tree of life and across biological levels of organization has resulted in a perplexing diversification of signals and signal receptors. This chemodiversity is paralleled by the diversity in researchers that study signals and receptors: ecologists and biochemists, zoologists, botanists, and microbiologists, aquatic and terrestrial researchers. E-NICHE aims to unite these different branches across disciplines, across geography, and from academia to industry to build a pan-European, collaborative community. E-NICHE will enable this community to fill knowledge gaps on the origins and functions of variation in chemical signaling systems, develop open and accessible resources, and educate the public about the fascinating chemodiversity that is critical to the diversity of life on earth.
Vision
Integrating the currently fragmented chemical ecology community in Europe across disciplines will bring together complementary expertise and facilitate a more holistic approach to uncovering the origins and functions of variation in chemical signaling systems.
Mission
E-NICHE aims to develop a pan-European, collaborative community, connecting scientists across scientific disciplines, countries, industry and academia that can fulfill the need for interdisciplinary approaches to understand chemodiversity and transfer this knowledge to stakeholders and the general public.
Approach
E-NICHE will bring together stakeholders and researchers across countries and scientific disciplines through the identification and dissemination of knowledge gaps, the development of open resources, and through meetings, workshops, training missions, and mobility promoting grants.
