Overview of research projects

Funding: BMBF - JIPOceans MARE:N-Meeres- und Polarforschung im Förderbereich: Meeresforschung, 399.994 EUR

Project Details:
Marine environment is affected by noise pollution from human activity. The difficulty of conducting clinical and pathological analyses on living organisms in the marine environment and the wide diversity of sources of noise pollution determine a great uncertainty in the nature and extent of effects noise pollution has on marine fauna. Despite the growing literature on these themes, there are still relevant gaps, and a lack of multidisciplinarity in investigations of acute and long-term exposures, considering both single animals and populations. DIAPHONIA will bring together scientists from diverse backgrounds, to assess the various impacts of underwater noise on marine organisms throughout the food web, on European basins. Work package 1 (WP1) will develop a possible diagnostic fingerprinting composed of several tissue markers incorporating molecular, metabolomic and microscopic techniques to identify functional and morphological changes in the acoustic pathways of invertebrates, fishes and marine mammals. WP2 will explore the relationship between behavioural and cellular/molecular/organ effects of both short and long-term noise exposure in fish from different European ocean basins. WP3 will gain insight into the morpho-functionality of the peripheral hearing apparatus in marine mammals and its role in defining the animal?s acoustic sensitivity, by developing a standardised workflow for wave propagation in the associated tissues. All Information and data obtained will be discussed with relevant stakeholders and policy makers, to adapt to a multidisciplinary and evidenced-based approach to the existing guidance. They will also be summarised in guidelines harmonising future research efforts towards novel approaches as predictive models and organoids.

Cooperation Partners:

Projektkoordination: Prof. Sandro Mazzariol

UNIPD - Università degli Studi di Padova, Italy

UPC- Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain

NTNU- Norway

Funding: BMBF - JIPOceans MARE:N-Meeres- und Polarforschung im Förderbereich:Meeresforschung, 394.621 EUR

Project Details:
Sounds from offshore wind farms (OWF) are among the main contributors of anthropogenic noise to the marine environment. Substantial effort has been expanded on understanding possible impacts of noise resulting from the development stages of the OWF lifecycle. Despite 30 years of OWF operation in EU waters, our understanding of the impacts in the operational phase on marine ecosystems is limited. In this consortium, we aim to address this gap by expanding our knowledge of the radiated noise and the biological consequences of these operations and placing them in appropriate regulatory contexts, including provisions for adaptive mitigation advice. From the source and medium side, we will quantify key features of radiated noise from fixed and floating OWF, to increase understanding and simulate cumulative effect of clusters on radiated noise, helping us to identify sensitive habitats in cross-basin soundscapes. From the biological perspective, we will identify spatial and qualitative use of operating OWF by top predators and study the impacts of OWF noise on zooplankton behavior. These efforts will advance our knowledge of acute and cumulative effects of operational OWF noise across pelagic food webs. Harmonising and combining these two sides, we will develop knowledge and tools for integration of all aspects of noise production and propagation from operational OWF. This will facilitate assessment of planned OWF expansion for marine spatial planning and environmental impact. Finally, we will synthesise knowledge and best practices from EU and international experiences with fixed offshore wind installations and transfer this into the development of policy, mitigation, and regulation for the floating OWF within national, EU and international frameworks. With expected substantial expansion in OWF infrastructure globally as part of the green shift, our data and approaches will help facilitate this transition while minimizing impacts on the marine ecosystems

Funding: EU, 120.000 EUR

Project Details:
The project is carried out at DIL e.V., Quakenbrück.
The Horizon Europe project ZeroW directly addresses the challenge of food loss and waste by developing and testing an interplay of innovations under real-world conditions. 46 partners from across Europe have joined forces to develop realistic solutions to significantly reduce food waste and accelerate a just transition to a socially, economically and environmentally sustainable food system for all. The DIL is partner of the Living Lab "Mobile food valorisation as a service""."

Cooperation Partners:

Inlecom Innovation Astiki Mi Kerdoskopiki Etaireia,

Wageningen University,

Nederlandse Organisatie Voor Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek Tno,

South East Technological University,

Biosense Institute - Research and Development Institute for Information Technologies in Biosystems,

Digiotouch Ou,

Eigen Vermogen Van Het Instituut

Voor Landbouw- En Visserijonderzoek,

Safe Food Advocacy Europe,

FBCD AS,

VLTN BV,

Instituto Tecnologico De Aragon,

Konnecta Systems Ltd.,

ITC - Inovacijsko Tehnoloski Grozd Murska Sobota,

Fondazione Istituto Sui Trasporti E La Logistica,

Instituto Tecnologico Del Embalaje,

Transporte Y Logistica,

Asociatia Transilvania It,

Asociatia Clusterul Agro-Food-Ind

Napoca,

Fundacion Corporacion Tecnologica De Andalucia,

Instituto Andaluz De Investigaciony Formacion Agraria Pesquera Alimentaria Y De La Produccion Ecologica,

Agrifood Lithuania Dih,

Sintef As,

Tilburg University,

Novamont Spa,

Mc Shared Services Sa,

Modelo Continente Hipermercados S.A.,

Grupo Empresarial La Cana,

Multiscan Technologies Sl, UAB Art21,

Lietuvos Darzoviu Augintoju Asociacija,

Lietuvos Maisto Eksportuotoju Asociacija (Litmea),

F6S Network Ireland Limited,

F6S Network Ltd.,

Allmicroalgae Natural Products Sa,

Universidade Do Minho,

Erevnitiko Panepistimiako Institouto Systimaton Epikoinonion Kai Ypologiston,

Boerenbond Projecten, Openbare Vlaamse Afvalstoffenmaatschappij,

ICLEI European Secretariat GmbH,

Kmetijsko Gozdarska Zbornica Slovenije Kmetijsko Gozdarski Zavod Murska Sobota, Univerza V Mariboru,

Robin Food,

Asociacion De Investigacion De Industrias Carnicas Del Principado De Asturias,

Aves Nobles Y Derivados,

S.L.,

Termoformas De Levante Sl, Eroski Scoop,

Voedselbank Limburg,

SVZ International Bv,

Konnecta Systems Ike,

Federation Belge Des Banques Alimentaires

Funding: EIP, EU, Landwirtschaftskammer Niedersachsen, 256.193 EUR

Project Details:
The project is carried out on DIL e.V., Quakenbrück.
This project aims to pilot a sustainable, resource-efficient technology for converting plant by-products near agricultural operations into valuable components, particularly protein-rich algae biomass, and to integrate it into daily routines. The project involves processing by-products from vegetable production through hydrolysis and utilizing the hydrolysate as a nutrient source for heterogeneous microalgae. The product of the process is a protein-rich algae biomass that the farmer involved can use as animal feed for pig fattening. In addition to piloting the process on-site and integrating it into daily operations, the project focuses on building new value chains and activating a circular economy in the farms, generating new sales channels and additional income. Current results include a ready-to-use prototype for microalgae production and its environmental impacts. The environmental impact of cultivating the microalgae biomass is currently under study, along with optimizing the process and necessary protocols.

Cooperation Partners:

Institut für Lebensmittel- und Umweltforschung e.V. (ILU);

Schroeder Winkelmann GbR

Funding: DFG (VIPER GRK)

Project Details:
The aim of the project was to identify mechanisms of immune interference of canine distemper virus (CDV) in cells of innate immunity, in particular with regard to the antagonization of the innate antiviral immune response. For this purpose, different primary cell cultures were created from canine isolated immune cells and infected with different strains of CDV. The focus of the work was on alveolar macrophages, as these cells play a crucial role as primary target cells of the virus after aerogenic CDV infection and are furthermore essential for the maintenance of alveolar homeostasis. Differences in the response of immune cells to CDV infection were investigated using immunofluorescence staining, RT-qPCR, virus titration, RNA sequencing and assays to quantify cell death and viability.

Results:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39796262/

Cooperation Partners:

Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung, Genomanalytik (Robert Geffers)

Funding: DFG (VIPER GRK)

Project Details:
The exact pathomechanisms that lead to the development of long-term consequences after an acute SARS-CoV-2 infection - also known as long-COVID - are still largely unknown. Since only limited sample material from surviving patients with long-COVID is available, the use of a suitable animal model is essential to investigate the underlying mechanisms. In this project, the Syrian golden hamster was established as a model animal to study the pathogenesis of long-COVID. Initially, a short-term study was conducted to investigate the alveolar regeneration mechanisms, in which a morphological homology to the processes in the human lung after s SARS-CoV-2 infection was found. In a further long-term study over four months, morphological, molecular biological and lung function analyses were combined. The course of the disease in the animals showed three phases: acute, subacute and chronic. While the acute phase was characterized by severe breathing restrictions, these only occurred after exercise in the later phases and disappeared entirely after about 6 weeks. Histologically, there was persistent fibrosis and alveolar bronchiolization with club cell proliferation. Transcriptome analysis showed, among other things, an upregulation of pro-fibrotic genes. In the future, long-term consequences in the brain will be investigated primarily by transcriptome analysis, and the role of the pulmonary neuroendocrine system, which is connected to the central nervous system via afferent nerve fibers, will be examined in more detail.

Results:

Paper 1: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-39049-5 ; Nature Communications, 2023

 

Paper 2: https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-4681343/v1 ; (preprint Version), accepted at Nature Communications, 2025

Funding: MWK, 439.545 EUR

Project Details:
Flex-Fund project in the COVID-19 research network Lower Saxony:
Mechanisms of short- and long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection on the integrity of respiratory tract epithelia

Results:

https://www.umg.eu/forschung/corona/cofoni/

Funding: DFG, 90.000 EUR

Project Details:
VIPER-Immunity against CNS infections caused by the Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV)

Project Details:
Etruscan shrews need to constantly hunt to meet their energy requirements; because of their small body size, their relative energy consumption is very large. To efficiently hunt in close range, these animals rely especially on tactile sensory cues. However, for long-range detection of prey these animals likely use their well-developed hearing. Due to their small body and head size, these animals are expected to hear in frqeuncy range above 5 kHz and therefore are an ideal model system to investigate high frequency hearing and adaptations to miniaturization of mammalian neuronal circuits. We attempt to describe their auditory brainstem strucutes by applying structural and functional markers. After the initial anatomical characterization we will use electrophysiological techniques to comparatively study the properties of adutiory brainstem neurons. Thereby we will focus on biophysical and synaptic size adaptations within conserved neuronal circuits.

Project Details:
Neurons in the dorsal nucleus of the lateral lemniscus (DNLL) are relevant for binaural processing especially during reverberations. Their basic biophysical and synaptic properties have been documented, but are not understood on the cellular and molecular level. It remains so far unclear what voltage gated ion channels (VGIC) underly their functional specifications and how synaptic inputs are modulated. One specific question that will be answered his how different VGIC (potassium and sodium channels) interact to allow these neurons to generate high firing frequencies at high temporal precision. This biophysical phenotype indicates that these features are differently solved compared to other auditory brainstem neurons with similar tasks. Thus, this project aims to understand the moleculare organisaiton of the postsynaptic integration and spike generation mechanism. Since, the GABAergic DNLL neurons are reziprocally connected substantial GABA is liberated onto each neuron. GABA not only leads to fast inhibitory singalling but also is well-documented to generally be an important neuromodulator in the auditory brainstem. Therefore, the action of GABA mediated neuromodulation will be investigated by characterizing its effect on synaptic inputs and VGIC.

Results:

Javadova A, Felmy F.: GABAB receptor-mediated modulation in the developing dorsal nucleus of the lateral lemniscus. European Journal of Neuroscience (2024) Jan 5. doi: 10.1111/ejn.16246.