IDi Universities Fund

General Objective: To determine the immunological and productive effects of the probiotic treatment L. fermentum with a diet enriched with microalgae biomass in broiler chickens exposed to Salmonella enterica serovar Infantis. Specific Objectives Participating Institutions: YACHAY, UCE,UTA,UTC. Participants: Project manager Marco Andrés Larrea Álvarez. Awarded budget: $44,621.8 Project status: Signing of agreements.

General Objective: Develop eco-packaging from biodegradable waste such as avocado seed and agave waste. Specific Objectives Participating Institutions: YACHAY, ESPOL, EPN, UYAMAFARMS. Participants: Director of the Rose Mary Rita Michell Uribe project. Awarded budget: $43,400 Project status: Signing of agreements.

General Objective: Characterize the cough caused by COVID19 in patients with a positive diagnosis, using Artificial Intelligence and Digital Signal Processing techniques, in order to contribute scientifically to the identification of the disease and timely treatment, as well as to the social economy by the country's time of crisis. Specific Objectives Participating Institutions:

General Objective: To evaluate the antiparasitic activity of at least 5 peptides from the cruzioseptin, dermaseptin and pictuseptin families derived from the skin of Ecuadorian amphibians against Plasmodium, Trypanosoma and Leishmania, causal agents of malaria, Chagas disease and leishmaniasis respectively. Specific Objectives Participating Institutions: PUCE, USFQ, IKIAM. Participants: Project Director Miryan Rosita Rivera Íñiguez. Awarded budget: $405,500

General Objective: Evaluate the effect of treatment with 'non-thermal plasma' as a new food processing technology to reduce biological risks in shrimp and its packaging material, including the presence of viruses and virus remains. Specific Objectives Participating Institutions: ESPOL, ESPE, UCE. Participants: Project Director Ximena Victoria Yepez Paredes. Awarded budget: $44,700

General Objective: Build dissemination tools that promote the transfer of good agroecological practices and organizational practices that contribute to social, economic, cultural and environmental sustainability in agricultural enterprises of popular and solidarity economy in the province of Azuay. Specific Objectives Participating Institutions: UC, UCACUE, ULEAM, WISSEN, ITS of the Social, Popular and Solidarity Economy,

General Objective: Determine the genetic diversity of N. dimidiatum in yellow pitahaya plantations of the coast, mountains and Ecuadorian Amazon in relation to the isolates present in other countries and the stress factors associated with the development of the disease. Specific Objectives Participating Institutions: ESPOL, IKIAM, ESPOCH. Participants: Project Director Lisbeth del Rocío Espinoza Lozano.

General Objective: Develop a methodology for the elimination of babaco mosaic virus (BabMV) and papaya ring spot (PRSV) in babaco buds, using heat treatments, for the generation of virus-free babaco clonal lines. Specific Objectives Participating Institutions: ESPOL, UC, UDLA. Participants: Project director Diego Fernando Quito Avila.

General Objective: Discover potential probiotic biomarkers for the Ecuadorian shrimp industry using metagenomic sequencing. Specific Objectives Participating Institutions: ESPOL, ESPE, UTMACH. Participants: Director of the Bonny Narcisa Bayot Arroyo project. Awarded budget: $75,300 Project status: Signing of agreements.

General Objective: Develop fibrous polymeric membranes with high antimicrobial effectiveness (antiviral and antibacterial) through electrospinning, from the synthesis of new monomers with the capacity to form liquid polymers with high dipole moment and the inclusion of nanoparticles with antimicrobial capacity; application in a mask prototype. Specific Objectives Participating Institutions: PUCE, ESPE, UTE. Participants: Director