Overview of research projects

Funding: Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft Niedersachsen, 663.633 EUR

Project Details:
The UMEX-HOPE project aims to explore the intricate relationships between urban microclimates, ecosystem health, and associated human health risks. By adopting a One Health approach, integrating environmental, human, and animal health, the project seeks to better understand how urban climate adaptation measures (e.g., green infrastructure) may have both positive and negative impacts on health and well-being. A key focus is on identifying "risk zones" where extreme microclimatic conditions (e.g., heat, pollution, allergens) or disease vectors may pose significant threats to human well-being. Urban-rural gradients and trade-offs will be taken into account in the analysis. UMEX-HOPE will use the Hannover and Braunschweig regions to address the following key research questions:
-How do urban microclimatic conditions affect human well-being and the spread of diseases?
-How can (microclimatic) risk zones in urban areas be precisely identified and utilized in decision-making processes for urban planning?
-What interactions and trade-offs exist between multiple stressors (e.g., heat, air pollution, vectors) and adaptation measures to climate change (e.g., green infrastructure) with health impacts?
-What effects do climate changes have on the occurrence of vector-borne diseases in urban areas?
-What role do urban-rural gradients play in shaping specific microclimates and ecosystems?

Results:

https://zkfn.de/umex-hope/

Cooperation Partners:

Liebnitz Universität Hannover:

Institute of Meteorology and Climatology

Institute of Earth System Sciences

University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), Department of General Practice

Technische Universität Braunschweig (TUBS), Institute of Geoecology

Technical University of Berlin (TUB), Institute of Land and Sea Transport, Transport System Planning and Transport Telematics

GEO-NET Umweltconsulting GmbH (GEO-NET)

Funding: BMLEH, FNR, 587.567 EUR

Project Details:
The project is carried out on DIL e.V., Quakenbrück.
The "pfloeZ" project aims to further improve the environmental performance of agriculture. In organic farming, resource conservation and environmental compatibility are top priorities. Crop production and animal husbandry are closely interlinked. The nutrients required for fertilizing crops come mainly from animal husbandry and can be applied to the fields, which are usually adjacent. The purchase of feed and the use of mineral fertilizers are largely avoided. The problem to date has been that in areas with intensive animal husbandry, nutrients have been washed into surface waters and groundwater, causing pollution. Biochar could limit this problem for all forms of agriculture (organic and conventional). The use of pure biochar in crop production returns carbon to the cycle, but depending on the starting substrate for carbonization, valuable nutrients are bound (too) long-term. To resolve this conflict, biochar produced from C-rich, otherwise nutrient-poor raw materials should be used in a closed nutrient cycle utilizing animal husbandry. Biochar can promote animal health as a component of feed, is then excreted and can thus be applied to the fields for crop production in a nutrient-rich, homogeneous form with no loss - or the biochar can be used directly as an additive to livestock excrement (such as manure), and then spread on the fields loaded with nutrients to reduce the amount of undirected nutrient runoff into the environment. In this way, biochar helps to maintain and promote healthy soil microflora and provides nutrients in controlled doses. The "pfloeZ" project provides the basis for more environmentally friendly agriculture, which is a significant carbon sink and at the same time closes nutrient cycles as tightly as possible with minimal losses.

Funding: Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur über die Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, 5.035.385 EUR

Project Details:
agri:change addresses the necessary sustainability transformation of Lower Saxony's agriculture and food sector (AgF) and aims to actively shape and promote a sustainable, resilient system - adapted to the specific characteristics of Lower Saxony. Resilience is understood as protecting the ecosystem while maintaining social responsibility and economic viability.
In agri:change, a targeted transdisciplinary and systemic approach is taken to develop resource-saving solutions, offerings, products and concepts that simultaneously maintain and expand income and value creation.

Goal 1: Understanding and shaping transformation processes, managing sustainability innovations in value creation systems
Goal 2: Using resources in a circular manner, shaping animal husbandry in the context of a circular economy that conserves nature, the environment and resources, and holistic material and by-product management
Goal 3: Improve animal welfare, provide optimal husbandry conditions for farm animals
Goal 4: Develop innovative AgF business areas. Develop and test innovative business areas for new sources of income in the agricultural and food sector (AgF)
Goal 5: Promote acceptance and sustainability skills, advance education and participation.

These goals are addressed in four agri:labs and the associated issues:
agri:lab X1 | Sustainable value creation systems and sustainability transparency
agri:lab X2 | Livestock farming under Nature Restoration Law conditions
agri:lab X3 | Upcycling of plant and animal by-products
agri:lab X4 | Integrated agricultural landscape development
as well as cross-cutting topics across agri:labs:
- Macro connections for markets and the environment
- Acceptance of transformative processes and developments
- Legal framework for the AgF data space.

Cooperation Partners:

Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

Universität Osnabrück

Universität Vechta | trafo:agrar

Funding: DFG, 350.000 EUR

Project Details:
The aim of this project is to clarify the mechanisms underlying deep brain stimulation (DBS) for dystonia, using suitable animal models of different types of human dystonia. Already short-term, antidystonic effective stimulation leads to dampening of cortico-striatal synaptic communication. Ongoing studies focus on long-term stimulation, now made feasible by implantable stimulators. The project includes examinations on: effects on the severity of dystonia, mechanisms underlying DBS (especially oscillations and activity propagation patterns), biomarkers of therapeutic outcome (focusing on EEG and local field potential markers for feedback control), and on the role of functional plasticity and network connectivity for stimulation effects.

Cooperation Partners:

Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Köhling, Uni Rostock

Funding: BMLEH, 355.080 EUR

Project Details:
In pig breeding, the continuous use of antibiotics in liquid-preserved semen for artificial insemination is increasingly leading to antimicrobial resistance and environmental burden. Worldwide, the pig industry is under pressure to identify and implement effective and sustainable alternatives for microbial control in semen. The goal is to replace antibiotics in the preservation medium with an innovative technology: photodynamic inactivation (PDI) of bacteria. In an interdisciplinary consortium with partners from industry and science, the PDI technique established in a previous project will be translated into a prototype and its antimicrobial efficacy will be enhanced against specific problematic microorganisms. This is intended to bring a biosafe alternative to antiobiotics for liquid-preserved boar semen stored at 17°C to the next technology readiness level.

Cooperation Partners:

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Minitüb GmbH

Funding: Drittmittelprojekt Daimler-Benz-Stiftung, 150.000 EUR

Project Details:
The mystic water veins are no longer mystic

Biological effects relevant to environment and society can now be addressed

Water veins have received a lot of attention for more than one and a half centuries. From the very beginning numerous reports have confirmed the detection of water wells and arteries, metals and interfering by diviners. A large number of reports has also stated that water veins cause a variety of negative effects on human well being. Scientific evidence for the reliable prediction of water arteries or their potential negative health effects, however, has been considered not convincing. Many sources consider divining or dowsing as "hocus pocus" We have shown in multiple double-blind experiments that (i) independent diviners find the same so-called water veins and that (ii) different groups of soil animals strongly avoid predicted areas of "water veins". Strong and highly significant proof derived from two sets of independent experiments, carried out by independent scientists and diviners at well separated times. While we do not know whether so-called water-veins have anything to do with water, we do know, however, that we now have a completely novel and highly sensitive biological assay to detect water vein related geopathic radiation (WGR). These zones are also called "geopathic stress" zones, since they can induce "stress" to humans (e.g. heart rate increase). The escape reaction of soil animals now allows to test a spectrum of shielding materials ("WGR protective shields").

Cooperation Partners:

Drittmittelprojekt Daimler-Benz-Stiftung

Funding: Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre, 3.167.862 EUR

Project Details:
Due to the expected changes in the TAppV and current standards of the European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education (EAEVE), which accredits veterinary education institutions, VETCURR aims to implement adjustments in the curriculum to make veterinary studies fit for the future.

In addition, the project aims to strengthen students' professional skills, resilience, and ability to deal with future-related topics. To meet the challenges that arise during studies and professional life, accompanying measures will be established that focus on practical training, tutorial support, and coaching. Adjustments to the curriculum and the integration of foreward-thinking teaching concepts are intended to strengthen practical education. In the interest of animal welfare, the expansion of compulsory teaching in the Clinical Skills Lab serves to implement the "never-the-first-time-on-a-live-animal" concept. So that students do not perform practical skills on animals the first time, but instead receive preliminary instruction using models, simulations, or digital teaching materials.

Cooperation Partners:

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Funding: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG, 401.271 EUR

Project Details:
Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) is one of the most important immunosuppressive chicken pathogens worldwide. Despite vigorous vaccination, IBDV field outbreaks occur. This project will investigate the role of different immune cell populations in infectious bursal disease pathogenesis and will address specifically the impact of age and genotype in this context. We will therefore contribute to the overall improvement of chicken health and welfare, and in addition may inform development of new farm animal vaccination strategies. The project is embedded in the DFG-research group "ImmunoChick".

Cooperation Partners:

PD Dr. Angela Berndt, FLI

PD Dr. S. Härtle, LMU München

Dr. T. von Heyl, TU München

Dr. S. Früh, FU Berlin

Prof. Dr. B. Kaufer, FU Berlin

Dr. El-Sayed Abdel-Whab, FLI, Riems

Prof. Dr. B. Schusser, TU München

Prof. Dr. J. Kaufman, University of Edinburgh

Project Details:
Equine tendon and ligament lesions are known to have an utmost unsatisfactory healing potential if they are located within synovial structures such as tendon sheaths and bursae. Potential causes have only been sparsely described. In addition to surgical debridement of altered tendon tissue as part of a tenoscopy or bursoscopy, adjunctive medical and regenerative therapy have been described. The aim of the project is to investigate the effect of the mentioned therapeutic strategies in a controlled manner and to identify factors that contribute to improved healing of intrasynovial tendon damage.

Cooperation Partners:

Andrea Noguera-Cender, PhD, Hanseklinik für Pferde, Sittensen

Project Details:
Nanotechnology is a fast-moving area that finds applications in such diverse areas as material science, electronic engineering, consumer goods production, medicine, and agriculture. A recent innovation in the field is the use of plant extracts in nanoparticle synthesis. Due to the involvement of auxiliar natural substances, this so called "green nanotechnology" aims for environmentally beneficial and more biocompatible nanoparticles free from hazardous substances. Copper nanoparticles (CuNPs), synthesized using green methods, have been particularly noted for their potent insecticidal activity. On the other hand, there is a growing public awareness about the toxic potential for humans associated with nanoparticles applied to the environment. The small size of nanoparticles poses the risk of permeating the protective blood brain barrier into the nervous system, even by inhalation through the nose. The nervous system, and in particular the developing central nervous system is more sensitive to damage than other organs. Whereas developmental neurotoxicological testing usually employs large numbers of mammalian experimental animals, basic mechanisms can be studied in cell culture, or insect embryonic tissue culture.
The purpose of the project is the development of a joint multidisciplinary approach to study potential adverse effects of green-engineered nanoparticles on the developing nervous system. On the biological side, using neuronal precursor cells and/or embryonic insect nervous tissue, the effect of nanoparticles can be tested on neurotoxicological endpoints such as cell differentiation, neurotransmitter content, cell migration, neurite outgrowth, and growth cone navigation. On the material science side, modification of the production process enables to test effects influenced by nanoparticle size, biochemical modification, or effectivity of uptake.
The objective of this collaboration is to define a specific project in which the strengths of both partners, development of green-engineered nanoparticles in South Africa, and developmental neurotoxicology in Germany, are combined to gain deeper knowledge about the interaction of these new materials with living cells, connecting the distinct fields of human and environmental nanotoxicology.

Results:

Stern M, Botha N, Cloete KJ, Maaza M, Tan S, Bicker G (2024) Neurotoxicity and developmental neurotoxicity of copper sulfide nanoparticles on a human neuronal in vitro test system. Int J Mol Sci 25 (11): 5650. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25115650

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25115650

Cooperation Partners:

Dr. Karen Jacqueline Cloete, University of South Africa/iThemba Laboratory for Accelerator Based Sciences - National Research Foundation: Somerset West, Western Cape, South Africa