Over two intensive and dynamic days in June, the PlasticsFatE partners met up to present and discuss the developments in the project and examine in depth many of the cross-cutting issues. Hosted by Work Package 3 Leader STAMI, the meeting enabled partners to explore and elaborate areas of synergy across the different work packages.
On the first day, discussions focused on real world test materials and the main analytical tests: in vitro, cell culture media, animal experiments, etc; before moving on to examine our work in the Inter Laboratory Comparisons. After a fuelling lunch, partners deliberated over different media for exposure and fate studies, before focusing on occupational and human biomonitoring.
In a third cross-cutting session, the consortium members discussed the long term effects from clinical (health status), model ecosystem (human food web) and in vitro studies; Biofilm formation and transfer of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR); and the transfer of risk relevant data from different work packages to the risk assessment platform and their integration into fate and effect modelling.
In what turned out to be a meeting highlight, a number of our Early Career Researchers then presented their latest research and results across the different technical work packages, as follows:
Lara Faccani (CNR) "Pro-oxidative potential of MNPs assessed with free-cells tests"
Katharina Juengert (FAU). “Effect of micro-and nanoplastic particles on human macrophages”
Maria Kazour (ULeiden); "Exploring the impacts of different physico-chemical properties of nanoplastics on lettuce (Lactuca sativa) uptake and the potential trophic transfer to garden snails (Cantareus aspersus)"
Sara Michelini (UL); "Impact of europium-loaded polystyrene particles on epithelial barrier formation and functionality"
Giulia Antonello (UNITO); “Advanced in vitro models to assess the impact of HDPE microparticles on gut epithelium”
Michelle Klein (BOKU), “Application-dependent banding of the human exposure potential to MNPs”
Øyvind Pernell Haugen (STAMI); “Intratracheal instillation of MNPs and microbial contaminants in mice – Which relevant materials and endpoints to study?”
ECRs from left to right: Lara Faccani (CNR); Katharina Juengert (FAU); Maria Kazour (ULeiden); Sara Michelini (UL); Giulia Antonello (UNITO); Michelle Klein (BOKU); Øyvind Pernell Haugen (STAMI)
A subsequent focus on Data Management led by Damjana Drobne furthered our efforts to ensure that our project data are findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable by peers and future researchers.
Before the close of the meeting, our consortium members were fortunate to benefit from constructive comments provided by our Advisory Board Members: Antoine Ghanem, Hans Schweisfurth, Phil Demokritou, and Tobias Stöger, who had given up their time and travelled considerable distances to observe and inform our progress.
Following the consortium meeting, the final two days of that week were dedicated to a training workshop that was focused on supporting our ECRs, and delivered by STAMI in collaboration with other PlasticsFatE partners. The workshop examined advances in hazard assessment of MNPs and A/C in humans, and a number of lectures were provided by partners alongside a demonstration of the Vitrocell ALI system.
For more information about the workshop, read this short news item