Project description
Linking biodiversity exposure to immune health
Organisms constantly shed DNA traces into the environment, allowing scientists to trace various life forms. Our immune system interacts with these organisms, particularly during the first months of life. Limited exposure to bacteria or fungi in this period can lead to immune misfires and diseases like asthma. However, the impacts of broader biodiversity exposure have been overlooked due to a lack of data and methods to measure it. With this in mind, the ERC-funded RESIDENTS project will quantify human exposure to multi-kingdom biodiversity and link it to immune function development during infancy. By studying data from four decades of biodiversity and health records, it will shed light on how biodiversity loss may influence the rise of immune-mediated diseases.
Objective
All organisms constantly shed traces of their DNA in the environment. Scientists can collect this DNA and explore who is or was there, across kingdoms of life. Our immune system is also aware of organisms in the environment as it screens everything it faces. During the first months of life, the immune system adapts to its current environment. Limited exposure to bacteria or fungi during this sensitive developmental period can lead to misdirected immune responses and development of immune-mediated diseases such as asthma. Yet, the health-impacts of other organisms have not been addressed. The major reason is a lack of data and methods to quantify total biodiversity exposure.
In Residents, I will quantify human exposure to multi-kingdom biodiversity, i.e. to organisms from all six kingdoms of life, and link it to immune function development during the first year of life. I study if the potential linkage can affect the later risk of immune-mediated diseases. I bring together recently matured DNA-based biodiversity monitoring, longitudinal immune profiling, and register-based diagnoses of immune-mediated diseases. I hypothesize that multi-kingdom biodiversity exposure benefits immune system development and health. Therefore, ongoing biodiversity loss can seriously hamper human health. I study associations between biodiversity loss and children’s immune-mediated diseases at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions encompassing a whole nation and four decades of unique biodiversity and registered health data.
My transdisciplinary project brings together ecological and immunological research. It takes a leap in the resolution at which biodiversity potentially affecting our health is quantified in our residential environments. This multi-kingdom biodiversity monitoring can open a new frontier in health research due to possibility to study both positive and negative health impacts of various organisms.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-STG
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00790 Helsinki
Finland
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