The team comprises staff and students of Departments of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science at Maynooth University
Grant and Award AnnouncementVIDEO: MAYNOOTH UNIVERSITY'S WINNING TEAM ROBOÉIREANN V DUTCH NAO IN THE ROBOCUP SEMI-FINAL view more
CREDIT: MAYNOOTH UNIVERSIT
Animal testing under REACH: bringing numbers into the debate
So far, 4.2 million animal tests under the REACH chemical regulation: A study from Konstanz and Baltimore quantifies the number of animals that died for the hazard assessment of chemicals in the chemical industry
Peer-Reviewed PublicationSixteen years ago, the REACH chemical regulation came into force across Europe. REACH obliges the chemical industry to identify the health risks of all chemicals used in their products. The downside of REACH is that this hazard assessment requires a large number of animal tests. Just how many was not clear until now.
The "Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing" (CAAT) based in Baltimore and at the University of Konstanz now wants to bring numbers into the REACH debate. In a current study, based on data from the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), the researchers show that so far around 4.2 million animals have been used for hazard assessment under REACH (of which 1.3 million animals are in ongoing studies). An additional 3.5 to 6.9 million animal tests are expected due to the revision of REACH in 2022.
Animal-free, alternative test methods were relatively rarely used. What is known as read-across methods (prediction of toxicity from comparison with structurally similar, already tested chemicals) were rejected in 75 percent of cases.
Animal-free alternative methods
The researchers from Konstanz and Baltimore advocate the use of animal-free alternative methods (New Approach Methodologies, NAMs). "Some of these new methods are not only suitable for large-scale chemical screenings, but also provide more meaningful results than animal testing, as the chemicals are tested on human cells – naturally in a petri dish", explains Thomas Hartung, Director of the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) and professor at the University of Konstanz.
"Animal-free alternative methods are available for an increasing range of test purposes. The goal must be to adapt the legislation to the current state of scientific knowledge", demands Marcel Leist, professor of in-vitro-toxicology at the University of Konstanz and co-director of the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing Europe. The CAAT researchers emphasize the importance of bringing scientists, authorities and industry to the same table to advance the introduction of alternative methods.
About CAAT-Europe
The Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing Europe (CAAT-Europe) based in Konstanz was founded by Thomas Hartung and Marcel Leist. It is committed to reducing animal testing worldwide through the development and introduction of alternative methods. It combines research and information work, and creates exchange between scientists, authorities and industry. The CAAT scientists are also directly involved in the development of animal-free alternative methods. The 3R network Baden-Württemberg, Germany, as well as the Swiss Doerenkamp-Zbinden Foundation support their efforts. With the professorship of Marcel Leist, the University of Konstanz established the first professorship for alternative methods to animal testing in 2006. Among other achievements, the research team developed the world's first in vitro toxicity test for the peripheral nervous system.
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IMAGE: A WELL-PRESERVED FOSSILIZED FOREST FROM THE LATE MIOCENE EPOCH WAS FOUND IN JAPAN, NEAR THE OTA BRIDGE ON THE KISO RIVER. (PHOTO: TOSHIHIRO YAMADA) view more
CREDIT: TOSHIHIRO YAMADA
An exquisitely preserved fossil forest from Japan provides missing links and helps reconstruct a whole Eurasia plant from the late Miocene epoch.
Complete plant fossils are seldom found as a single piece, as wood, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, or pollen detach easily from plants. This results in leaves and trunks having separate scientific names. Putting together the different parts to reveal the complete plant is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Connecting these dots and reconstructing plants is important to establish their taxonomic identity—their place in the Tree of Life.
A research group led by Professor Toshihiro Yamada from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Hokkaido University, found an exceptionally well-preserved fossil of a Wataria parvipora forest which was almost exclusively accompanied by fossils of Byttneriophyllum leaves. Their findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports.
In 1994, Kiso River (in Minokamo City, Gifu Prefecture) underwent a historic drought, in the process of which 400 in situ fossilized tree stumps surfaced. While most of the stumps have since been submerged, the team examined 137 stumps, of which 130 were identified as Wataria parvipora. “Wataria is a wood-fossil, recognized by its distinctive growth rings, abundant parenchyma rays and lack of resin canals. In the 2000m2 fossil site, these stumps accounted for 95% of the tree remains, indicating that we discovered a forest predominantly of this species,” says Yamada.
The team also found that the stumps were exclusively covered by a bed of one specific kind of leaf. Byttneriophyllum tiliifolium is a leaf-fossil species belonging to the mallow family (which includes cotton, cacao and durian). Fossils of this leaf were widely distributed throughout Eurasia during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs and the discovery of the Wataria fossil forest indicates that Byttneriophyllum tiliifolium are the leaves of Wataria.
“We found that 98% of the fossil-leaves found at the site belonged to Byttneriophyllum, strongly indicating that they were shed from the parent trees. We could see that the leaves were deposited paraautochthonously on the forest floor—they got fossilized where they fell,” Yamada elaborated.
Research by other groups has shown that the fossil fruit Banisteriaecarpum giganteum is related to Byttneriophyllum tiliifolium. Future research will focus on searching for Banisteriaecarpum giganteum in Japan, as this discovery would provide strong evidence that all three are part of the same species.
Scientific Reports
Observational study
Not applicable
An exceptionally well-preserved monodominant fossil forest of Wataria from the lower Miocene of Japan
Exposed riverbed from where the fossils were found. (Photo: Toshihiro Yamada)
Toshihiro Yamada
A fossil forest of Wataria was found in the Gifu Prefecture, on the bed of the Kiso River. Location of study site in Japan (Nishino et al., Scientific Reports, June 22, 2023)
Wataria parvipora showing annual rings. It is one of the characteristics that helped the scientists in identifying the wood-fossil. (Nishino et al., Scientific Reports, June 22, 2023)
Surface view of the fossil leaf Byttneriophyllum tiliifolium which was found abundantly in the fossil forest, indicating a strong link to Wataria parvipora. (Nishino et al., Scientific Reports, June 22, 2023)
Nishino et al., Scientific Reports, June 22, 2023
Chemists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated that water remediation can be powered in part — and perhaps even exclusively — by renewable energy sources.
Peer-Reviewed PublicationUsing electrochemistry to separate different particles within a solution (also known as electrochemical separation) is an energy-efficient strategy for environmental and water remediation: the process of purifying contaminated water. But while electrochemistry uses less energy than other, similar methods, the electric energy is largely derived from nonrenewable sources like fossil fuels.
Chemists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated that water remediation can be powered in part — and perhaps even exclusively — by renewable energy sources. Through a semiconductor, their method integrates solar energy into an electrochemical separation process powered by a redox reaction, which manipulates ions’ electric charge to separate them from a solution like water.
Using this system, the researchers successfully separated and removed dilute arsenate — a derivative of arsenic, which is a major waste component from steel and mining industries — from wastewater.
This work represents proof-of-concept for the applicability of such systems for wastewater treatment and environmental protection.
“Global electrical energy is still predominantly derived from nonrenewable, fossil-fuel-based sources, which raises questions about the long-term sustainability of electrochemical processes, including separations. Integrating solar power advances the sustainability of electrochemical separations in general, and its applications to water purification benefit the water sector as well,” said lead investigator Xiao Su, a researcher at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering.
This work appears in the journal Small at https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202305275.
Small
Redox-Functionalized Semiconductor Interfaces for Photoelectrochemical Separations
20-Jul-2023
IMAGE: SAMPLING ON THE SHIP TO STUDY SEAWATER FROM THE NORTH SEA. THE SEAWATER IS FILLED INTO LARGE CANISTERS AND COOLED AND BROUGHT BACK TO THE LAB WHERE THE MICROCOSM EXPERIMENTS ARE CONDUCTED. view more
CREDIT: SASKIA RUGHÖFT
Can biosurfactants increase microbiological oil degradation in North Sea seawater? An international research team from the universities of Stuttgart und Tübingen, together with the China West Normal University and the University of Georgia, have been exploring this question and the results have revealed the potential for a more effective and environmentally friendly oil spill response.
Oil leaks into the oceans are estimated at approximately 1500 million liters annually worldwide. This leads to globally significant environmental pollution, as oil contains hazardous compounds such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that can have toxic or mutagenic effects on organisms. Oil spills, particularly catastrophic ones resulting in the rapid release of large quantities of oil into the oceans, such as tanker accidents or incidents at oil drilling platforms like Deepwater Horizon in 2010, are especially devastating.
In such oil spill incidents, large quantities of chemical dispersants, ranging in the millions of liters depending on the amount of oil, are routinely applied to dissolve oil slicks, prevent oil from reaching coastlines, and enhance oil dispersion in the water. The hope is that microbial oil degradation will be enhanced as a result. This is because special microorganisms that are widespread in nature can feed on crude oil components and break them down into harmless substances. This special ability of microbes naturally cleans oil-contaminated areas.
"In a study from the USA published in 2015, we demonstrated that - contrary to expectation - chemical dispersants in deep-sea water from the Gulf of Mexico can slow down microbial oil degradation," says Prof. Sara Kleindienst, who worked at the University of Tübingen until 2022 and now works at the University of Stuttgart. “Since then, the topic has been at the center of controversial discussions, and there is still no simple answer to how oil spills can be combated more effectively,” emphasizes Prof. Sara Kleindienst.
In the search for more environmentally friendly methods for dealing with oil spills, biosurfactants could offer a promising alternative to chemical dispersants. Biosurfactants are produced by microorganisms and can increase the bioavailability of oil components. This can thus enhance microbial oil degradation, which is crucial for purification.
Experiments with seawater from the North Sea
An international research team led by environmental microbiologist Professor Sara Kleindienst, with geomicrobiologist Professor Andreas Kappler (University of Tübingen) and biogeochemist Professor Samantha Joye (University of Georgia), compared the effects of biosurfactants and chemical dispersants. In the laboratory at the University of Tübingen, the researchers simulated oil spill conditions. For their experiment, they took over 100 liters of surface water from the North Sea close to the island of Helgoland. The seawater was treated with either the biosurfactant rhamnolipid or a dispersant (either Corexit 9500 or Slickgone NS), both in the presence and absence of oil. The research team used radioactive markers to track the degradation of the oil by the microorganisms in detail. “Our investigations using radioactively labeled hydrocarbons or a radioactively labeled amino acid showed that the highest rates of microbial hydrocarbon oxidation and protein synthesis occurred in the oil microcosms treated with rhamnolipid,” says Prof. Lu Lu, who previously worked at the University of Tübingen and now works at the China West Normal University.
The impact on the composition of microbial communities also differed significantly between the approaches using biosurfactants compared to chemical dispersants. "This result suggests that the use of biosurfactants may stimulate different microbial oil degraders, both in terms of growth and activity, which in turn can affect the cleanup process after oil spills," says Prof. Lu Lu.
"Our findings suggest that biosurfactants have great potential for use in future oil spills in the North Sea or similar nutrient-rich ocean habitats," adds Prof. Sara Kleindienst. "A visionary continuation of our work would be the development of products based on biosurfactants that offer both effective and environmentally friendly approaches to combating oil spills."
Helgoland coastline in the German Bight, North Sea: Helgoland is characterized by a rich marine biodiversity that is vulnerable to pollution such as oil spills.
Saskia Rughöft
Microbial oil snow, see brown flake-like small structures, in microcosms with North Sea water. Microbial oil snow is a phenomenon in which microbial oil-degrading bacteria form solid aggregates in water. These aggregates look like snowflakes or snowballs, hence the name oil snow.
Lu Lu
Experimental study
Not applicable
Rhamnolipid biosurfactants enhance microbial oil biodegradation in surface seawater from the North Sea
IMAGE: SUPPORTED THROUGH A THREE-YEAR SEED GRANT FROM FRALIN LIFE SCIENCES INSTITUTE, A GROUP OF 14 INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCHERS LED BY PETER VIKESLAND WILL DEVELOP WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS TO SURVEY MICROBIAL THREATS TO WATER QUALITY. view more
CREDIT: PHOTO BY RYAN YOUNG FOR VIRGINIA TECH.
Peter Vikesland believes high-tech tools could help increase the flow of quality water in an equitable manner.
Atop a new wave of support from the Fralin Life Sciences Institute, Vikesland, the Nick Prillaman Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is leading a research team in creating wireless sensor networks to survey microbial threats to water quality and to enable operational control and provide real-world feedback for public transparency. The project, Technology-enabled Water Surveillance and Control, reflects the “one water” concept that views water quality as important to our society, economy, and environment and requires an integrated approach to policy planning and implementation.
Data collected by Vikesland’s team also could lead to the development of a new research center at Virginia Tech.
“Multiple converging trends support the need for a center focused on distributed ‘one water’ sensing,” said Vikesland. “These include national tragedies, such as the lead contamination of drinking water in Flint, Michigan; increasing pathogen impairment of surface waters; and wastewater driven dissemination of antibiotic resistance.”
Vikesland’s research team is one of two to receive the institute’s first program/center planning grant, which will provide three years of funding to help proposal developments for other prestigious, federally funded multimillion dollar grants. Michelle Theus, professor of molecular and cellular neurobiology, will lead the second group receiving funding on a neurotrauma research project.
“I am enthused by the scientific diversity and potential for impact the two recently funded projects have to offer,” said Robin McCarley, executive director of the institute. “The myriad questions that may be answered by the team Vikesland leads are vital to the life sciences community, and the possible outcomes have huge societal ramifications.”
One recent example of successful water monitoring is wastewater-based surveillance. And though it has recently proven to be a useful tool to quantify the spread of viral pathogens, such as the COVID-19 virus, and antibiotic resistance within communities, its implementation hasn’t always been smooth sailing.
“Wastewater-based surveillance, and other forms of ‘one water’ surveillance, allow for the nonintrusive collection of information at multiple scales (e.g., community manhole, individual buildings) to inform timely and efficient public health responses,” said Vikesland. “However, a looming challenge is these surveillance programs have arisen rapidly — often without full consideration of societal implications.”
Vikesland said previous studies have failed to consider the social, political, and economic criteria necessary for network deployment and decision-making and resulted in some public pushback
“We contend that surveillance programs, no matter their scale, must be developed within a framework that considers not only their scientific engineering and data analytic dimensions, but also policy drivers, equity, economics, ethics, and the potentially conflicting needs and perspectives of all potential stakeholders,” Vikesland said.
Because the team is cognizant that this project is multifaceted and will involve and affect many stakeholders, its members are bringing a transdisciplinary approach to the work. The team includes more than a dozen Virginia Tech faculty spanning multiple colleges and academic disciplines.
“The old cliche that the social dimensions of complex socio-ecological challenges are an afterthought at best among engineers and physical scientists could not be further from the truth when it comes to this group,” said Todd Schenk, associate professor of public and international affairs. "I think that this initiative is all the stronger because there is a shared attentiveness to integrating human dimensions, the social sciences, and what it takes to conduct work that will have public policy and wider societal impacts."
Other members of the faculty research team and their roles:
Alasdair Cohen, assistant professor of environmental epidemiology in the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, will lead analyses and statistical modeling of water-related markers and health outcome data as well as support rural setting studies.
Harpreet Dhillon, professor of electrical and computer engineering in the College of Engineering and associate director at Wireless@VT Research Group, will direct development of wireless communication platforms.
Marc Edwards, University Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, will co-direct measurements of chemical parameters across “one water” systems.
Julia Gohlke, associate professor of environmental health in the population health sciences department, will lead studies examining health outcomes associated with flood events and provide methodological and data processing support for studies of human health outcomes.
Stanley Grant, professor of civil and environmental engineering and co-director of the Occoquan Watershed Monitoring Lab, will coordinate research projects, as well as contribute to data collection and modeling studies and stakeholder interactions.
Lenwood Heath, professor of computer science, will develop algorithms for locating sensors and designing networks for optimal benefit.
Korine Kolivras, professor of geography in the College of Natural Resources and Environment, will conduct geographic analyses of social, ecological, and human health measurements.
Leigh-Anne Krometis, associate professor of biological systems engineering, will develop and lead projects examining implementation in rural and resource-limited settings.
Amy Pruden, University Distinguished Professor and W. Thomas Price Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is an expert in detecting, tracking, and mitigating antibiotic resistance in water and will co-direct microbiological analyses.
Megan Rippy, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering stationed at the Occoquan Watershed Monitoring Lab, will assess social, ecological, and hydrological drivers of water security.
Todd Schenk, associate professor of urban affairs and planning in the School of Public and International Affairs and Global Change Center affiliate, will support stakeholder engagement and integration and consideration of public policies in water and related domains.
Liqing Zhang, professor of computer science, will develop bioinformatic tools for data processing and analysis as well as develop machine-learning models for prediction and anomaly detection.
Wei Zhou, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, will develop and lead projects to advance field deployable sensor technologies for real-time multimodal monitoring of analyses.
Long-term changes in waves and storm surges have not impacted global coastlines
Changes in ocean wave and storm conditions have not caused long-term impacts on sandy coastlines in the past 30 years, a new study has found.
Peer-Reviewed PublicationChanges in ocean wave and storm conditions have not caused long-term impacts on sandy coastlines in the past 30 years, a new study has found.
Published today in Scientific Reports, the study draws on data from 30 years of global satellite and model studies to investigate whether changes in ocean wave conditions will have an impact on the stability of coastal environments.
The compounding effect of climate change driven variations in waves, storm surge and sea level rise is projected to lead to shoreline position change along most of the world’s sandy coasts.
A team of researchers, led by University of Melbourne PhD candidate Mandana Ganavati and Professor Ian Young, together with colleagues from IHE Delft Institute for Water Education and Deltares of the Netherlands, looked at the changes in shoreline position over the past 30 years globally. These changes in shoreline position were compared to changes in wave and storm surge properties along the same coastlines.
“Although many shorelines around the world are dynamic, responding to wave and storm surge events, these changes tend to be short to medium term. However, we saw no evidence in the last 30 years or so of data that the long-term changes in waves and storm surge are directly causing long-term recession of coastlines.” said Professor Young.
Ms Ganavati said it is commonly inferred that climate change-induced increases in wind speeds and the ocean waves are impacting global shorelines.
“Changes in mean sea level due to global warming are expected to result in recession of our coastlines, in many places threatening homes, infrastructure and ecosystems. However, in a global sense, the magnitude of the observed changes in waves and storm surge over the last 30 years appears too small to have a measurable impact.
“Variations in the supply of sediment from rivers, longshore gradients in sediment transport and human management of coastlines are likely to have had a bigger impact on changing shoreline position than changes in wave and storm surge climate over the last 30 years.” Ms Ganavati said.
Climate change and mean sea level rise is projected to result in widespread coastal recession along sandy coasts through the twenty-first century, potentially disrupting lives and leading to massive socioeconomic losses. This study found the available datasets do not show clear linkages between long-term shoreline change and changes in waves and storm surge over the past three decades.
Scientific Reports
Meta-analysis
Not applicable
An assessment of whether long-term global changes in waves and storm surges have impacted global coastlines
Subseasonal transition of sea-ice anomalies in the Barents–Kara Sea in winter modulated by the “warm Arctic–cold Eurasia” pattern
IMAGE: THE ARCTIC WARMING AND SEA ICE MELTING view more
CREDIT: JEAN-CHRISTOPHE ANDRE
The “warm Arctic–cold Eurasia” is one of the most significant patterns of winter climate system changes in the mid-high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. In winter 2020/21, this large-scale pattern underwent a significant and intense subseasonal reversal between the early and late winter. At the same time, the sea-ice anomalies in the Barents–Kara Sea changed from being significantly negative in early winter to positive in late winter. For the slow-varying process of winter sea ice, the rapid freezing or melting of sea ice in winter is worthy of attention.
New findings from the team of Professor Zhicong Yin at Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology reveal the close relationship between, and key mechanism of, the subseasonal variation of Barents–Kara sea-ice anomalies in winter and the “warm Arctic–cold Eurasia” pattern. Furthermore, a more comprehensive schematic of the subseasonal reversal of the air–ice system in the Arctic–Eurasia region was depicted, which together contribute to a better understanding and predictability of extreme climate at mid-low latitudes.
WACE [the “warm Arctic–cold Eurasia” pattern] is a phenomenon whereby the large-scale temperature gradient weakens, which can lead to an adjustment of atmospheric baroclinicity. Driven by such remarkable high-latitude atmospheric pattern reversals, an associated subseasonal transition of the sea-ice anomaly also occurs in the BKS [Barents–Kara Sea]. Under a warm Arctic and enhanced Ural high, abnormal downward turbulent heat flux and increased downward infrared radiation in the BKS are conducive to sea ice melting. The surface southerly wind drives the sea ice to drift from the thin to perennial ice area and further enlarges the open ocean surface. The opposite mechanism occurs in the opposite phase of WACE, causing positive BKS sea-ice anomalies. When WACE reverses on the subseasonal scale, the above mechanisms occur in early and late winter, respectively, resulting in a significant subseasonal transition of BKS sea-ice anomalies.
More importantly, in the last decade, with a more frequent reversal of WACE, the subseasonal transition between early winter and late winter in BKS sea ice has enhanced. WACE and the BKS sea ice show consistent trend changes and correspond to the intensity of subseasonal variation. In the context of global warming, the trend changes of “Arctic warming–Eurasian cooling” and Arctic sea ice are still uncertain, whose prediction faces huge challenges. Whether subseasonal variation in BKS sea ice will continue to be as strong as that shown in the last decade under different warming scenarios in the future is worthy of further investigation, thus revealing the role of global warming in extreme events.
Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters
Subseasonal transition of Barents–Kara sea-ice anomalies in winter related to the reversed warm Arctic–cold Eurasia pattern