Positive Results in the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme

The aim of the TEH-TUBE project is to develop new polymer-based biomaterials for heart valve implants.

Congenital heart defects account for forty-two percent of all childhood mortalities worldwide. Dealing with heart defects medically is complex, laborious and fraught with substantial risk for the patients. In roughly one third of congenital heart defects, the right heart valve is damaged; a normal valve effectively regulates the flow from the heart to the artery in the lungs. Doctors replace either a portion of the valve or the entire valve with an implant in traditional surgical procedures.

The materials used are, at the moment, incapable of altering their form and function and therefore cannot grow along with the patient. The children must thus undergo several corrective surgical procedures, which are not only risky but also reduce the patient’s quality of life. The TEH-TUBE project aims to develop new polymer-based biomaterials for heart valve implants, which will include several new functions: these materials will be bioabsorbable and will thus be replaced by the body’s own growing tissue with time, and as the implant gradually becomes unnecessary, it “disappears” without leaving behind residual matter. Until then, the implant remains in place to at least take over part of the biological functions of the body’s own heart valve. In addition to the properties mentioned above, the new implants must fulfil a number of conditions.

above, the new implants must fulfil a number of conditions. The implant, for example, must not inflict any toxic impact on the patient’s own tissue; it must be “hemocompatible.” This means that it cannot induce thrombosis and that the patient’s immune system cannot reject the new material. The municipal hospital in Paris is the largest hospital of its kind in Europe and it leads the small but top-notch consortium. In addition to two research institutes, three companies also participate to manage subsequent marketing and to ensure the immediate use of the new implant in Europe’s health care sector should the research development prove a success.

Role of the HZG Within the consortium, the Institute of Biomaterial Science is developing a novel polymer as well as the specific surface functionalization of the heart valve implant. “Development” also includes the subsequent testing and ensuring that properties, for example, cytotoxicity, immuno-compatibility, and hemocompatibility of the new polymers meet certain criteria.

Good to Know: The term “tissue engineering” refers to the artificial production of biological tissue through the targeted, functionality-oriented cultivation of cells. One possible use in the health care sector is the replacement of diseased or missing tissue in the human body. The European Union finances “tissue engineering” with considerable funds through many projects that strive toward a multitude of possible future uses, as in this case for example, heart valve replacement in sick children and young adults.

The Climate Service 2.0 develops new methodological approaches that aim to improve climate change information and communication for local decision-makers in the coastal regions of South Africa.

KNOWHOW belongs to a specific type of EU project in which European institutes exchange personnel with partners outside of Europe with the intention of facilitating and accelerating, through these mutual visits, the international transfer of knowledge beyond Europe. The core topics of KNOWHOW are the climate change adaptation options for coastal regions of South Africa. In addition to the HZG, the participating research institutes are based in Portugal, Holland and Norway. The South African partner is the Institute for Natural Resources and the Environment, a division of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

The aim of the project is to first examine not only the existing knowledge on climate change and its effects on the South African coasts, but also to assess the communication involved between the scientific community and the relevant political decision-makers. The project participants then plan to develop the foundation and methods for effective communication between scientists and legislators. The focus lies on those regional governments and decision-makers in the coastal regions of South Africa responsible for coastal protection in the face of environmental and climate change. Another aim of the project is to develop an interdisciplinary research proposal for the new EU Framework Programme HORIZON 2020 that will contribute to effective coastal management in South Africa during continuing climate change.

Role of the HZG: The Climate Service Center 2.0 at the HZG is developing new methodological approaches aimed at improving information and communication provided to local decision-makers on climate change adaptation measures in South Africa’s coastal regions. The project will also simultaneously contribute to the expansion of services offered by the Climate Service Center 2.0 in regions outside of Europe.

Good to Know: EU projects can also contribute to solving environmental problems on other continents. European research on climate change in coastal regions takes a leading global role and has a hand in finding solutions for coastal regions beyond Europe, for example, in South Africa.

The aim of the EU CLIPC project is to compile climate information and make it available to target groups.Photo: Insa Meinke

Important data on past and potential future climate change and its effects are currently provided in highly varying formats and at numerous regional, national and international data centres as well as at other facilities. Quick access to the necessary information by politicians, decision-makers in the private and public sectors, by industry and the public is thus hampered, making even scientific research more difficult. The aim of CLIPC is to create a European-wide platform, which provides essential climate information that is made available to a multitude of users.

One challenge lies in the diversity of the observational data. This data stems, for example, from satellites as well as weather and climate stations. Other sources of information are climate projections, reanalyses and derived data products such as impact indicators. The intended platform will merge access to data and products so that users can assess the effects of climate change and evaluate it for their own needs. The project contributes to the COPERNICUS European Earth Observation Programme and also to the development of what are known as “climate services” in Europe.

Role of the HZG: A core problem in discussing and evaluating climate data is dealing with the uncertainty of not only observational data, but also of model results. The Climate Service Center 2.0 at the HZG will use statistical methods for assessing climate projections along with other approaches and will thereby contribute to a better understanding of the term “uncertainty” in climate and impact model data.

Good to Know: In the future, Europe is to be provided simple and comprehensible access to climate information. This will serve as the partial foundation in the development of what are known as “climate services.”
Hier geht's zur Webseite des Climate Service Center 2.0

The Elbe River water levels rose again to record levels in 2013. The EU project EUCLEIA examines to what extent anthropogenic climate change influences weather extremes.

Heat waves, storm surges and droughts – extreme weather events and their possible causes and connections to climate change are discussed again and again by the public. Scientists globally are in agreement that anthropogenic climate change leads to more temperature-related weather extremes such as heat waves, while cold spells, for example, are becoming less frequent. It is currently unclear if this also applies to other weather extremes and to what extent such extreme events are prompted by anthropogenic climate change.

This is where the research project EUCLEIA comes in. The aim is to develop a quasi-operational monitoring system, with which we can determine to what extent anthropogenic climate change plays a role in specific European extreme weather events. To target the results to specific audiences, the participating research groups work in close collaboration with key stakeholders and target groups that include, for example, the insurance industry, local and regional decision-makers in politics and government as well as the general public.

EUCLEIA is a European contribution to the COPPERNICUS program whose objective is the global monitoring of environmental and security threats.

Role of the HZG: The Institute of Coastal Research contributes to the project in two ways: in a practice-oriented work package, the scientists investigate the perceived usefulness and requirements of different user groups that access this kind of monitoring system, utilising storm surges on the German Baltic coast as example. They also analyse the storm surges in the Baltic with physical-statistical methods in order to obtain scientifically reliable information regarding their occurrence, the resulting damage and possible connections with global climate change.

Good to Know: Changes in global climate and the resulting possible regional effects on extreme weather events are to be regularly studied and assessed in the future through global programs. The necessary methods that exist are insufficient and are currently under development with considerable monetary investment from projects supported by the European Union and other funding bodies. At the end of March, the Northern German Climate Office introduced a new method for climate monitoring in the region with the Northern German Climate Monitor

Common Framework of CLIPC und EUCLEIA: Both projects contribute to COPERNICUS and the planned climate services therein

Difficult to detect chemical and biological pollution, such as algal blooms, becomes noticeable only quite late, which is why the EU project ENVIGUARD endeavours to develop and test highly specialized biosensors for monitoring the “good ecological status” of the sea.

The aim of ENVIGUARD is the development, testing and application of precise and highly specific novel sensors based on biological measurement principles (biosensors) for certain harmful chemical substances and biological pollution that have been difficult to detect, such as toxic algae, viruses and bacteria in the ocean. The sensors should serve as an early warning system to monitor the “good ecological status” of the sea, but should also be introduced to monitor aquaculture.

The new system must be cost-efficiently produced so that large numbers can be used to monitor the oceans. The device consists of three different sensor systems that can be combined into one package and that collect their respective data for various scientific parameters – algae, microbes, environmental pollutants. The collected data will then automatically be saved and processed on the device and sent in real-time to a central data unit. If this development can be successfully introduced for marine monitoring, the consortium expects to gain a market advantage for the European research and monitoring device industry.

Role of the HZG: Within the framework of the coastal observing system COSYNA, the Institute of Coastal Research will adapt and test the new sensors or sensor packages for the developed and operational device carriers, such as the automated measuring system on commercial vessels (FerryBox).

Using compact, robust and cost-effective sensors, marine scientists want to measure water quality and many other parameters, such as pH values, within the framework of the NEXOS EU project.

Marine scientists are in pursuit of sensors that are compact, robust, cost-effective and simultaneously capable of measuring as many environmental parameters as possible for a better, and especially temporally and spatially more comprehensive, maritime monitoring system. Within the framework of the EU NEXOS project, an international consortium of scientists and companies aims to develop such sensor packages.

Based on acoustic and optical measuring principles, various parameters could be measured: from the detection of marine mammals and underwater noise to recording algal blooms and ocean acidification. The goal is to ensure that the implementation of the European environmental objectives for the conservation of marine habitats (for example, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive) is supported.

Role of the HZG: The Institute for Coastal Research will participate in the development of sensors for measuring pH-values as well as for determining algae species and will carry out comprehensive testing of the developed sensor systems, for instance, on their FerryBox systems.

Worth Knowing about ENVIGUARD and NEXOS and its common framework: The European Commission and the EU member states have adopted a common European strategy to preserve the “good ecological status” of the European seas (“European Marine Strategy Framework Directive for Good Environmental Status”). The research necessary to implement this strategy for more effective monitoring of the European seas is partly financed by the EU. The HZG participates in two new EU projects in this regard: ENVIGUARD and NEXOS.

RISES-AM intends to investigate how climate change would affect the coast if such change continued unabated and with substantial temperature increase.

Because of their high population density, increasing economic activity and ecological importance, the coastal regions are particularly sensitive to climate change. Future climate change and its potential impacts on the coastal areas are unclear and strongly depend on, among other factors, assumptions made about the nature and extent of pollutant emissions. The RISES-AM project starts with the theoretical assumption that climate change will continue unabated and that global temperatures will rise substantially by several degrees Celsius by the end of the 21st century (known as the “high-end” scenarios).

The project will study what impacts these scenarios might have, particularly for the coastal regions, and which options exist so that these coastal areas can optimally adapt to consequences predicted by such scenarios. Along with the environmental aspects and effects, cost will also be taken into consideration when examining different courses of action. While the project examines global impacts, specific regional studies will also be carried out, particularly in vulnerable or typical coastal regions.

Role of the HZG: The Institute of Coastal Research will closely study the German Bight, the Elbe estuary and the lower reaches of the Elbe, including the city and harbour of Hamburg.