Ernesto Alfaro-Moreno, the LEARN project’s coordinator from the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL), was present at EUROTOX 2023, the 57th Congress of the European Societies of Toxicology.
Held on September 12-13 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, the theme of this year was “Toxicology – multidisciplinary science leading to safer and sustainable life”.
During the event, INL presented some results related to the LEARN project.
Lung-vascular under Air-Liquid conditions model
The study ‘Towards mimicking the human alveolus with co-cultures of epithelial types I and II and endothelial cells‘ presents advances in INL’s lung cell culture system developed for LEARN.
The resulting model will be able to mimic the human lung barrier by co-culturing type I (hAELVi) and type II (A549) alveolar cells with endothelial (EA.hy926) cells. This will make nanosafety assessments possible while avoiding animal testing.
Neurodegeneration on C. elegans induced by Diesel Particles
INL also presented its study ‘The Impact of Diesel Exhaust Particles on Neurodegeneration: Differential Effects on Glutamatergic and Dopaminergic Neurons in C. elegans‘.
This study aims to examine the effects of diesel exhaust particulate matter on neurobehavioral systems and, in particular, its impact on glutamatergic and dopaminergic neurons in the model organism C. elegans, with a focus on neurodegeneration.
The LEARN project is a Horizon Europe project meant to monitor and evaluate indoor air quality at schools around Europe and its impact on children’s health. Our main goal is to develop and deploy novel sensors that can detect possibly harmful air pollutants, as well as advanced biosensors and optimised air remediation strategies. Find out more about our EU-funded project!
