Das Projekt "Boosting Life Cycle Assessment Use in European Small and Medium-sized Enterprises: Serving Needs of Innovative Key Sectors with Smart Methods and Tools (LCA TO GO)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Fraunhofer-Institut für Optronik, Systemtechnik und Bildauswertung durchgeführt. Objective: 'LCA to go' develops sectoral methods and tools for bio-based plastics, industrial machinery, electronics, renewable energy, sensors and smart textiles. These sectors have been chosen, as the manufacturers show a high interest in making clear the environmental benefits of their products to customers ('Green industries') and in prioritizing so they can reduce their environmental impacts. This is particularly the case for SMEs. Free webtools ('apps') will serve dedicated needs of these sectors, addressing the specifics of the technologies and implementing parameterised models, such as calculators for energy-break-even-point of photovoltaics, Product Carbon Footprints (PCF) based on technology parameters of printed circuit boards, and Key Environmental Performance Indicators (KEPIs) for smart textiles. Selected Product Category Rules will be developed to provide a robust LCA guidance for SMEs. Practically, the project website will provide an exchange of scientifically validated data templates, to assist SMEs to pass the right questions to their suppliers. Carbon Footprints are a perfect entry point for SMEs to LCA strategies. Thus, implementation of an SME-compatible PCF methodology is a key element of the project. The approaches will be tested in 7 sectoral case studies, involving suppliers, end-product manufacturers and engineering companies. Inter-linkages between the sectors (on a technical and data level) will be thoroughly addressed. A broad dissemination campaign includes a mentoring programme for 100 SMEs, which will act as showcases for others, boosting use of LCA approaches among European SMEs at large. RTD and dissemination activities will be complemented by policy recommendations and liaison with standardisation activities. The web-tools, being compatible with ILCD data and other external sources, will be made available as open source software, to be adapted to other sectors. The project will have a direct impact on sectors representing nearly 500,000 SMEs.
Das Projekt "Quality of skin as a barrier to ultra-fine particles (NANODERM)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Leipzig, Fakultät für Physik und Geowissenschaften durchgeführt. Objective: Today' s population is increasingly exposed to ultrafine particles (less than 20 nm; e.g. Aerosil, TiO2) contained in body care and household products. Tape stripping studies and recent ion microscopy pilot studies revealed that such particles in, liposomal formulations penetrate the horny layer with large concentrations at the stratum granulosum and the possible risk of further penetration into vital tissue, especially for skin with an impaired barrier function. Here, apart from electron microscopy, high-resolution ion-microscopy techniques will be employed on skin cross-sections from biopsies (pig, human), which yield elemental maps of both the epidermis and dermis with ppm sensitivity for Ti or higher sensitivity with radiotracers (labelled TiO2) on pig skin. Pathways for percutaneous uptake and clearance will be studied. If such particles penetrate into the dermis, in-situ studies of tissue and in-vitro studies of particle-cell interactions follows.
Das Projekt "Comparison and validation of novel pyrogen tests based on the human fever reaction (HUMAN(E) PYROGEN TES)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Steinbeis-Transferzentrum, In-Vitro Pharmakologie und Toxikologie durchgeführt. Pyrogen testing is a crucial safety control of drugs as well as innovative high- tech products such as medical, cellular therapies and species-specific agents (e.g. recombinant proteins). For most biologicals, especially blood-derived drugs, the rabbit animal experiment represents still the method of choice consuming hundreds of thousands animals in the EU per year. This test is laborious, expensive, raises ethical concerns and can not be applied for some of the new products. In recent years, in Europe a number of alternative cellular assays have been developed exploiting the human fever reaction, i.e. human leukocytes release inflammatory mediators in the presence of pyrogenic contamination. The suggested network brings together the most prominent test systems for trans-national comparison and subsequent validation of the most promising models as an integrated goal-oriented problem solving approach.
Das Projekt "Short-term in vitro assays for long-term toxicity (PREDICTOMICS)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Bayer AG durchgeführt. The development of new pharmaceutical compounds will be more efficient if human relevant toxicology information early in the selection process is available. While acute toxicity can be reasonably detected during the early preclinical stages of drug development, long-term toxicity is more difficult to predict, relying almost exclusively on animal experiments Animal experimentation of this kind is expensive and time consuming, raises ethical issues and do not necessarily represent a toxicological relevance to man. This project address the urgent need to develop in vitro based systems which are capable of predicting long term toxicity in humans. The major objectives of this project are:1)To develop advanced cell culture systems which as best possible represents the human liver and kidney in vivo. This will be achieved using combined strategies namely:co-cultures of resident cell types,targeted cell transformation,stem cell technology and new developments in organotypic cell culture (i.e. perfusion cultures and 3D cultures).2)To identify specific early mechanistic markers of toxin induced cell alterations by using integrated genomic,proteomic and cytomic analysis.3)To establish and prevalidate a screening platform (cell systems together with analysis tools) which is unambiguously predictive of toxin induced chronic renal and hepatic disease.This proposal is unique in it's mechanistic integration of the three levels of cellular dynamics (genome, proteome and cytome) together with advanced cell culture technology to detect early events of cellular injury. Only with such an integrated approach will in vitro techniques ever be applicable to predicting chronic toxicity in man. This project,if successful will(1) contribute to the replacement of animal testing in drug development, (2) increase ... Prime Contractor: Fundacion Hospital Universitario 'La Fe', Experimental Hepatology Unit, Research Center; Valencia; Espana.
Das Projekt "Klimaaenderungen und Energiefragen in Europa: potentielle Auswirkungen und Gelegenheiten fuer die Life Science Company" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Trier, European Association for Environmental Management Education - Focal Point Trier -, Europäisches Diplom in Umweltwissenschaften durchgeführt. In 1997, Monsanto Company spinned off its chemical activities into two business units and created the Life Sciences Company (LSC). As a sciences-based firm, its activities are significantly felt in the natural environment and its position in the European market is relevant. The project presents a strategic analysis in order to find out opportunities for LSC in its related activities to the Climate Change with respect to energy. It covers many topics as: - Review of the regulatory framework (fifth European Action Program 'towards sustainability' with respect to energy, Dobris Assessment). - Situation analysis of current energy issues. - Status of EC carbon tax. - Non-renewable and renewable energy sources available in Europe. - Identification of areas for future energy sources or management. - Overview of third party funding. - Potentials for alliances and partnerships. Further recommendations and proposals are made to Life Sciences Company in order to face the European competition for the coming decades.
Das Projekt "Optimal engineering design for dependable water and power generation in remote areas using renewable energies and intelligent automation (OPEN-GAIN)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Heidelberg,Institut für Technische Informatik durchgeführt. Objective: To combat water scarcity and desertification, intensive desalination activities have been carried out in remote arid regions. However, desalting is resources and energy intensive, which are limited and expensive. Thus, water production must be increased while keeping the consumption of resources affordable. For remote arid areas, de-centralised solutions for energy and water co-production offer advantages over large central production sites. Finally, skilled personnel is normally absent in such areas, what demands dependable systems. To implement all this, a highly qualified consortium complemented by experienced subcontracting companies was established. This project offers a solution to cost optimal co-production of energy and water using renewable energy besides diesel generators. Cost optimisation is achieved through a high level of automation, which is necessary to adapt the working conditions to the strongly varying renewable energy supply, and remote maintenance. The approach is based on thorough modelling of the processes and offers a large degree of flexibility in the design to meet different production requirements. The project's work packages are so organised that high teamwork with less management effort is possible. The later transfer from R& TD to the manufacturers will lead to new products with increased benefits. Companies will reduce cost due to an optimal engineering design. They can also offer better maintenance services based on higher reliability and remote monitoring. European countries will become more familiar with the MPC regional demands. This shall lead to a decisive advantage in the international market with a better access for their products to MPC and MENA countries. The new product shall also improve the quality of life in the affected regions and MPC will obtain a better access to European R&TD; their personnel of water authorities and power suppliers shall obtain an added qualification for engineering services.
Das Projekt "Organotypic brain slice cultures as alternatives to in-vivo experimentation in the study of brain repair mechanisms (ORCA)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Leibniz-Institut für Neurobiologie, Stiftung des Öffentlichen Rechts durchgeführt. Currently the demand for animal testing is increasing in both the pharmaceutical and academic sectors driven by a vast increase in the numbers of potential new drug targets following the advances in genomic and polemic technologies and new organic synthesis methods. The present proposal will develop specific methodology and new chronic in-vitro models of traumatic brain injury and stroke that allow for the study of neurodegenerative mechanisms as well as mechanisms of brain repair in organotypic brain slice cultures. These systems will present attractive alternatives to comparable in-vivo models for basic and applied research, reducing the need to carry out in-vivo tests. At the same time they will help industry tore fine and improve the selection of compounds, which subsequently must be tested in-vivo before entering clinical trials. Prime Contractor: University Southampton; Southampton; United Kingdom.
Das Projekt "Development of a yeast-based model system for expression of higher eukaryotic K-Channels and their pharmacological analysis" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Bonn, Botanisches Institut und Botanischer Garten durchgeführt. Transmembrane ion channels regulate the movement of ions (particularly Na+, K+, Ca2+ and Cl-) across cellular membranes, and are critical to numerous aspects of neurobiology. Cells express a diverse array of ion-channel proteins that vary widely in their ion selectivity and in their modulation by ligands (such as neurotransmitters) or by membrane voltage. Potassium is the most abundant cellular cation and the imbalance of potassium across the cell membrane is responsible for the maintenance of the membrane potential. Activation of different K+ selective ion channels is essential to control the excitability of nerve and muscle cells. Considerable interest has been focused on the roles of potassium channels in shaping the physiological behaviours of both excitable and non-excitable cells. Pharmacological tools, such as inhibitors have been used to characterize individual classes of channels but for many potassium channels specific blockers are not available. Heterologous expression of ion channel proteins in yeast provides an alternative to animal testing for functional (pharmacological) analysis as well as providing a robust, cell-based system for rapid identification of new lead compounds. K+-channel modulators are valuable pharmacological tools with therapeutic potential.The cloning and characterization of the yeast K+ transport system, and most recently, of the outward rectifying K+channel enabled the generation of yeast mutants lacking those transporters and channels. This advance has made possible new approaches for the analysis of mammalian K+ selective channels by functional complementation of yeast mutants. The development of a yeast-based expression and screening system will play a key role in the development of in-vitro pharmacological tests for chemical and pharmacological agents.The development of a yeast screening systems provides useful tools both for academic and industrial applications in an EC wide strategy.
Das Projekt "Development of a high throughput genomics-based test for assessing genotoxic and carcinogenic properties of chemical compounds in vitro (CARCINOGENOMICS)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), Microarray Informatics Team durchgeführt. The major aim of CARCINOGENOMICS is to develop in vitro methods for assessing the carcinogenic potential of compounds, as an alternative to current rodent bioassays for genotoxicity and carcinogenicity. The major goal is to develop a battery of mechanism-based in vitro tests accounting for various modes of carcinogenic action. These tests will be designed to cover major target organs for carcinogenic action e.g. the liver, the lung, and the kidney. The novel assays will be based on the application of 'omics' technologies (i.e. genome-wide transcriptomics as well as metabonomics) to robust in vitro systems (rat/human), thereby also exploring stem cell technology, to generate 'omic' responses from a well-defined set of model compounds causing genotoxicity and carcinogenicity. Phenotypic markers for genotoxic and carcinogenic events will be assessed for the purpose of anchoring gene expression modulations, metabolic profiles and mechanism pathways. Through extensive biostatistics, literature mining, and analysis of molecular-expression datasets, differential genetic pathways will be identified capable of predicting mechanisms of chemical carcinogenesis in vivo. Furthermore, generated transcriptomic and metabonomic data will be integrated into a holistic understanding of systems biology, and applied to build an iterative in silico model of chemical carcinogenesis. Subsequently, predictive gene expression profiles, typically consisting of some 150-250 genes, will be loaded onto high throughput dedicated DNA-chips, thus accelerating the analysis of transcriptomic responses by a factor of 100. It is expected that the outcome of this project will generate a platform enabling the investigation of large numbers of compounds for their genotoxic and carcinogenic potential, as envisaged under the REACH initiative. This will contribute to speeding the identification of potential harmful substances to man, while lowering costs and reducing animal tests. Prime Contractor: Maastricht, University, Health Risk Analysis and Toxicology (Grat); Maastricht, Nederland.
Das Projekt "Forum for researchers and regulators to meet manufacturers of toxicology test methods (ForInViTox)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Stiftung zur Förderung der Erforschung von Ersatz- und Ergänzungsmethoden zur Einschränkung von Tierversuchen durchgeführt. Bei dem Projekt werden laufende und bereits beendete EU-Projekte zu Ersatzmethoden für Tierversuche daraufhin untersucht, ob sie zu einem verbreiteten Einsatz der neu entwickelten Methoden geführt haben, bzw. warum dies möglicherweise nicht der Fall war. Parallel dazu werden potentielle Anwender sowie kommerzielle Anbieter solcher Testsysteme befragt, welche Hindernisse einem breiten Einsatz solcher Methoden im Wege stehen. Zusammen mit einer Expertengruppe wurden die Ergebnisse der Erhebungen analysiert, um aus diesen Erkenntnissen ein White Book für die EU zu konzipieren. Gleichzeitig wurden damit die Strukturen für einen Marktplatz entwickelt, bei dem die verschiedenen angesprochenen Gruppen zusammentreffen sollen, um ihre Bedürfnisse, Nachfragen und Angebote aufeinander abstimmen zu können. Hauptauftragnehmer: Expertradet ECB Miljokompetens AB; Sollentuna; SE.
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