Microplàstics

PlasticHeal

Project to study the effects of micro and nanoplastics on health.

Innovative tools to study the effects of micro and nanoplastics on human health

Humans are exposed to micro and nanoplastics (MNPL) because of their omnipresence on the environment, but there is still little to no information about the potential impact of said exposition on health. Because of this, the current regulatory mark cannot grant that the incidental MNLP present in air, food, and drinks is safe for the general population.

In this context, the European project PlasticHeal, coordinated by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), has the goal of providing regulators with new methodologies and evidence, combining the use of advanced research and reliable methods to establish a base of knowledge for an appropriate evaluation of the risks of MNPL.

The project will generate estimates on human exposition after the identification, measurement, and characterisation of MNPL presents on air, water, and foods, as well as in human biological samples of population groups with high risks of MNPL exposition levels. 

Next, the project will apply a variety of models and experimental, complementary methodologies to analyze different potential effects created by MNPL. In vitro, in vivo, ex vivo and in silico models will be applied to develop a predictive toxicology of MNPL: the combination of analytic and advanced computational methods will allow no only to decipher cellulars answers or identify relevant critical sequences for key features or conditions, but also determine a range of characteristics of great value to predict their toxicity. 

The data generated will be processed using integrative analysis methods to obtain information on the mechanism of MNPLs and to identify key events with the potential to establish themselves as new biomarkers of their long-term effects.

Participants

The project is coordinated by Alba Hernández, from the Department of Genetics and Microbiology of the UAB, with the participation of 10 universities and research centres from 7 EU countries: Wageningen University (Netherlands), the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (Finland), the Technical University of Denmark (Denmark), the French Commission for Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy and the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (France); the Foundation for Training and Research in Health in the Region of Murcia, the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP, as a third party linked to the UAB) and the Technological Center of Plastics (Spain), the University of Manchester (UK), the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research and the University of Leipzig (Germany).

Rol del PRUAB

The UAB Research Park is leading the communication of the project

Period

Start date: April 1st, 2021
End date: March 31st, 2025

Funding

The project has been funded by 6M€ from the Horizon Europe program by the European Union. 

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