This proposal is the continuation of the BRIEFCASE ongoing EIT RM project which is developing an innovative tool dedicated to the 6-14 years old pupils/students to show the significances of the daily use of RM and their exploitation. The aim… Leggi tutto of this new phase is to extent the scope and the target audience by improving the innovative popular science tool (the virtual briefcase) using augmented reality and turning it into a 3D application.

NEUREKA will bring a paradigm shift in drug discovery for neurological diseases, a sector that suffers multiple, repeated failures exacerbating the economical and societal burden of these incurable diseases. It will do so by addressing a crucial shortcoming: the lack… Leggi tutto of in vitro systems faithfully reproducing brain pathology that enable the functional assessment of candidate compounds at multiple levels: from synapses to neuronal circuits. NEUREKA introduces an innovative, hybrid technology, whereby detailed, computational neuronal networks simulate dysfunction and drive cultured neurons to replicate in-brain disease conditions. Nanoelectrodes mediate the transmission between simulated and biological neurons. Akin to real synapses, nanoelectrodes contact cultured neurons at subcellular locations across the dendritic tree, soma and axonal branches, allowing to control and monitor neural activity with unprecedented accuracy. Biological neuronal responses registered by nanoelectrodes are fed back to simulated neurons, closing the loop and enabling control of activity states across the hybrid population. Complementing molecular deficits already present in culture models of a disease, computational models enable replication of both molecular and physiological deficits of neurodegeneration in vitro. Cultured neurons are driven towards pathological excitability states where deficits emerge, so as to optimize quantification of the impact of drugs, going well beyond standard cellular assays. A proof-of-concept will be provided for Alzheimer’s disease, using human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived neurons exhibiting the pathology. NEUREKA will be used to demonstrate the effect of drug candidates across synaptic, neuronal and network functions.

Radioactive gases are key targets for the environment, making gas monitoring an important issue. SPARTE will focus on the detection and activity measurement metrology of tracers related to nuclear activities. In this respect, the detection of 85Kr, 133Xe, 3H, 37Ar, being all… Leggi tutto � emitter or electron capture radionuclides, is targeted. SPARTE will implement and achieve a radically novel radioactive gas detection and radioactivity metrology, by introducing highly porous scintillating aerogels and/ or Metal-Organic Frameworks designed to dramatically extend gas-matter interaction for effective � detection through scintillation. These materials after development and optimization will combine an efficient, fast and isotropic scintillation ensuring homogeneous 3D response and high sensitivity for metrology. The goal will be to realize functional solid-based sensors generating a close intermixing between the sensor and the analyte and to combine efficiency and homogeneity. Major breakthroughs are foreseen: a calibration method for low activity range of 85Kr and 133Xe, a real time detection system of for some noble gas and 3H with a significantly improved sensitivity in an easy deployable system, a detector for 37Ar. SPARTE consortium proposes a unique combination of competences aimed at succeeding in the difficult task of pioneering a new technology track, from sensor as porous scintillator to critical radioactive gas detection and metrology method development. It covers the six critical skills - i.e. aerogels and MOFs scintillating monolith preparation, structural and scintillation characterization, ionizing radiation detection and its modeling – needed to reach our goals. The consortium combines 4 leading research centers and 2 SMEs around 3 core expertises - processing, characterization and metrology - also encompassing the industrial perspective, in order to create the interdisciplinary “substrate” necessary for a successful outcome of the project.