Periodic Reporting for period 1 - AURORA (Actionable eUropean ROadmap for early-life health Risk Assessment of micro- and nanoplastics)
Período documentado: 2021-04-01 hasta 2022-09-30
The AURORA project (https://auroraresearch.eu/) will address roadblocks in MNP exposure assessment by advancing analytical methods for measuring MNPs in human tissues. The project focuses on MNP exposure and toxicological effects during pregnancy, in utero, and in early life. These are periods that are critical for development and health later in life, and of heightened vulnerability to environmental insults.
AURORA will assess MNP exposure at three levels (maternal, maternal/fetal interface, and fetal) and will address the effects of MNPs on early-life and female reproductive health (including perturbations to placental function, immune-inflammatory responses, oxidative stress, accelerated aging, endocrine function, and growth and development).
As much of the research on the impact of MNPs on early-life health is in its infancy, AURORA will provide a first and important step in method and knowledge development in relation to MNP risk assessment of early-life health. The newly developed understanding, methods, and tools will inform remaining knowledge and technology gaps that need to be addressed for coming to a comprehensive risk assessment of MNP exposure and early-life health and that will be disseminated through an Actionable eUropean ROadmap for early-life health Risk Assessment of micro- and nanoplastics (AURORA).
AURORA is working towards five research objectives and two support objectives:
1. Exposure characterization: to develop analytical methods and techniques for in-depth characterization of MNPs in maternal and fetal human sample matrices
2. Scalable exposure assessment: to develop a high-throughput analytical workflow with scalable methods and techniques for quantitively assessing maternal and fetal exposure to MNPs in large population cohorts
3. Toxicology: to assess toxicity, toxicokinetics and -dynamics of MNPs in experimental models
4. Epidemiology: to determine the relationship between MNP exposure and female reproductive and early-life health
5. Advance risk assessment: to develop an actionable roadmap for risk assessment of MNPs
A. Dissemination and impact: to integrate and translate the research results for stakeholders
B. Consortium management: to manage the project, coordinate the activities across the partners’ activities, and coordinate with the other CUSP research cluster projects
In addition to a roadmap for risk assessment (Figure 2), the AURORA project will progress beyond the state of the art by delivering
• Methods and tools for in-depth characterization of MNPs in human samples;
• Scalable methods and tools for MNP exposure assessment in human populations;
• New insights into the toxicological effects of MNPs on placental integrity and function, system homeostasis, and early-life development;
• First-ever insights into early-life health effects of MNP exposure through explorative studies in birth cohorts, using the scalable methods developed for exposure assessment.