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European Commission

EU Research and Innovation Programme

About the project

HYDROPTICS aims to develop reliable, cost-effective, and high-accuracy monitoring of produced water quality involved in up- and downstream processing in oil industry, by making an extensive use of novel mid-IR light sources. It will also elaborate how data provided by these advanced sensors can be combined with readily available process data, and a digital twin of the process apparatus to gain in-depth process understanding. Digitalisation of process data, data fusion, machine learning and artificial intelligence shall enable a new level of process optimization yielding high and constant product quality despite fluctuating process conditions.

About the project

Objective 1: Develop a new generation of cost-effective, miniaturized MEMS-FTIR* spectrometers for multi-sensing analysis in liquid and solid phase.

Objective 2: Develop a new generation of cost-effective, miniaturized PTS* spectrometer suitable for ultra-sensitive detection of trace-level markers in small gas volumes.

Objective 3: Develop integrated platforms to achieve beyond-SotA performance for the MEMS-FTIR and PTS spectrometers, through smart approaches, advanced optical configurations and data analytics. 

Objective 4: Validation will be performed through comparison of the spectrometers’ performance with reference analytics.

Objective 5: Wide-scale but also audience-specific communication actions to reach all stakeholders and demonstrate the results’ value even beyond the targeted application domains. 

About the project

The general objective is to generate a Tumor-LN-oC platform that will allow the monitoring of the LN metastasis process, the characterization of signalling ques facilitating LN metastasis and the identification of spectral and molecular signatures in metastasizing cells. This information could lead to novel diagnostic tools and therapeutic approaches. Moreover, the developed platform will serve as a preclinical setting for parallel testing of drugs for individual cancer lung cancer patients.

Using sensitive proteomic and molecular approaches it will characterize the soluble signals that neutralize the immune response and allow tumor cells to metastasize to the LNs and to use them as spring boards for further dissemination. This will enable the use of existing drugs, or the development of new ones that could reverse this process and inhibit tumor growth and dissemination. It will also allow the identification of novel biomarkers characterizing metastatic cells which could also be exploited therapeutically. Moreover, by employing novel imaging approaches, Tumor-LN-oC will generate a spectral “fingerprint” of migrating/metastasizing cells which could be used for diagnostic purposes in tumor and lymph node biopsies.


About the project
  • Demonstrate novel Quartz Enhanced Photo-Acoustic Spectroscopy (QEPAS) and Photo-Thermal Spectroscopy (PTS) configurations with improved sensitivity and compactness
  • Demonstrate improved detection of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX) and propaneexploiting long wavelength 10+ μm laser sources
  • Demonstrate highly sensitive Photo-Thermal Spectroscopy for liquid analysis for the first time
  • Improve the compactness, robustness and power consumption of QEPAS to allow use on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • Demonstrate new methodologies to improve the sensitivity of PTS and QEPAS in the second overtone band, thereby allowing the use of low-cost telecoms components
About the project

PASSEPARTOUT is a research project aiming to develop compact, photonic-based gas analysers for a smart sensing solution to environmental pollution monitoring in urban areas. It combines expertise on lasers, spectroscopy, data analysis, systems integration, environmental testing and drone operations in a Europe-wide consortium involving both academia and industry.

About the project

Today’s First Responders (FR) are using technology of the past. During their primary mission of saving lives and preserving society’s safety and security, FRs face a multitude of challenges. In both small scale emergencies and large scale disasters, they often deal with life-threatening situations, hazardous environments, uncharted surroundings and limited awareness.
Threats and hazards evolve rapidly, crossing municipalities, regions and nations with speed and ease. Armouring public safety services with all the tools that modern technology has to offer is critical. Such tools holistically enhance their protection and augment their operational capacities, assisting them in saving lives as well as ensuring their safe return from the disaster scene. INGENIOUS will develop, integrate, test, deploy and validate a Next Generation Integrated Toolkit
(NGIT) for Collaborative Response, which ensures high level of Protection & Augmented Operational Capacity to respond to the disaster scene. This will comprise a multitude of the tools and services required: 1) for enabling protection of the FRs with respect to their health, safety and security; 2) for enhancing their operational capacities by offering them with means to
conduct various response tasks and missions boosted with autonomy, automation, precise positioning, optimal utilisation of available resources and upgraded awareness and sense-making; 3) for allowing shared response across FR teams and disciplines by augmenting their field of view, information sharing and communications between teams and with victims. The NGIT armours the FRs at all fronts. The NGIT will be provided at the service of the FRs for extensive testing and validation in the framework of a rich Training, Testing and Validation Programme – of Lab Tests (LSTs), Small-Scale Field Tests (SSTs) and Full-Scale Field Validations (FSXs) – towards powering the FR of the future being fully aware, fully connected
and fully integrated.


About the project

Understanding the key strengths and weaknesses of different farming systems is crucial for sustainable production and quality products. When compared to cattle and pig production, both poultry and goat production systems are more resilient, sustainable and adaptable to change. The EU-funded Code Re-farm project will examine poultry and goat production systems to better understand the links between husbandry systems and determine the intrinsic quality of products along the value chain, from farm to fork. The project’s findings, combined with insights on societal demands and sustainability of production processes, will drive alternative solutions that fit sustainable, consumer-driven businesses.

About the project

Perovskite technology is rapidly advancing, providing lighting manufacture, the renewable energy industry and the communications sector with low-cost and high-quality materials indispensable for the production of competitive devices in the frame of the organic and large-area electronics (OLAE) market. However, these materials are exclusively studied for next-generation solar cell development. The EU-funded PeroCUBE project proposes a study focused on scalable production processes (roll-to-roll printing) and future market entry of advanced products by advancing halide perovskite technology. The project will be deployed in the European lighting industry with large-area lighting panels, in the renewable energy industry with advanced perovskite-based photovoltaic panels and in the next generation of visual light communication/LiFi technologies.

About the project

In the era of obesity and diabetes and the ample availability of food choices and services, it is necessary to understand which foods are safe for each one of us. This is determined by genetic and acquired factors, including the intestinal microbiome and the exercise routine. To support personalised nutrition and overcome associated health issues, the EU-funded NUTRISHIELD project will develop an innovative framework that assists people to implement better nutrition choices. The platform will be based on information collected from clinical trials on young people with obesity and/or diabetes, studies on preterm infants, as well as information on the role of nutrition on cognitive development. Through a personalised nutrition algorithm, NUTRISHIELD aims to make personalised diets a reality.


About the project

Photonics-based sensing in the mid-IR been proven to be the key technology for highly efficient sensing in a plethora of applications ranging from environmental monitoring to industrial process control, medical diagnostics, water quality, safety applications, medical
and more. Related to other sensing approaches, mid-IR spectroscopy-based sensing enables the fast, reliable, and consumables/maintenance-free operation for the detection of trace amounts (even in the sub-ppb range) to high concentration of the targeted analytes. The interest in the technology has been significantly increased due to the maturing of the Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCLs).
QCLs offer an up to 2-orders of magnitude enhancement in the signal-to-noise ratio while enabling the direct access to the characteristic molecular fingerprint region of the targeted analytes. M3NIR develops very innovative (currently at TRL2) mid-IR sensing approaches to significantly boost the technology in terms of performance (low limit of detection, multiple-species detection), footprint (co-integrating of lasers and components) reduction of energy consumption and cost. For the latest two, M3NIR implements
detector-free sensing by means of the self-mixing detection scheme. Moreover, the combination of mid-IR and near-IR components in photothermal sensing is yet another approach for the implementation of miniaturised, energy efficient and low-cost advanced
sensory system. To accomplish its goals, M3NIR co-integrates advanced electronics and data processing units in the systems as well.
M3NIR demonstrates its novel approaches at TRL5 for the monitoring of GHG and ships emission (a drone-mounted sensor to be demonstrated), detection of phosphates and nitrates in water and the breath analysis for health and well-being related applications.

About the project

The medicines that save us could end up harming us if not disposed of properly. Unfortunately, the concentration of pharmaceuticals in waterways is reaching dangerous levels. In this context, the EU-funded ENVIROMED project will narrow the knowledge gap when it comes to the effect of pharmaceutical compounds, and their derivatives, on the environment. ENVIROMED will shed light on the environmental impact of such compounds, throughout their lifecycle. The findings will provide information about the occurrence of pharmaceuticals in the environment, their persistence and environmental fate. The project will also aim to develop a set of technologies that enable greener and overall, more efficient pharmaceutical production.

About the project

The agricultural sector has a big challenge: producing more with fewer raw materials and less adverse effects on society, production animals, climate and biodiversity. Optimal use of resource is even more important now, due to the imminent food crisis. Climate-friendly sustainable agriculture, with care for natural resources, is essential for our food production and quality of life, today and for future generations. Automated Milking Systems (AMS) were developed in the late 20th century under the perspective of reducing manual labour & costs and improving quality of life for the farmers. Not only have these machines improved in harvesting milk
efficiently, but they also have the added ability to collect a greater amount of data about production, milk composition, cows health and behavior. This could allow producers to make more informed management decisions, while in parallel reducing emissions and increasing animal welfare. Nevertheless, currently available AMS have important limitations in terms of optimising their operation. dAIry 4.0 addresses these challenges, integrating and optimising AI, data and robotics solutions to demonstrate how this
combination will optimise AMS production aspects and minimise adverse effects on society, climate and biodiversity.
The approach will be demonstrated through real-world use cases of interest both for the farming sector and the food industry. In terms of AI tools to be used, the project will focus on the following novelties:
– Developing multimodal learning techniques to efficiently utilize multiple types of information for animal health & overall animal status monitoring
– Developing self-supervised and novel data augmentation techniques to reduce the amount of labelled training data needed
– Exploring novel explainable AI techniques to increase transparency of the system and eventually facilitate acceptance by the users
– Including the farmer in the loop to build the cognitive abilities for the system


About the project

The agricultural sector has a big challenge: producing more with fewer raw materials and less adverse effects on society, production animals, climate and biodiversity. Optimal use of resource is even more important now, due to the imminent food crisis. Climate-friendly sustainable agriculture, with care for natural resources, is essential for our food production and quality of life, today and for future generations. Automated Milking Systems (AMS) were developed in the late 20th century under the perspective of reducing manual labour & costs and improving quality of life for the farmers. Not only have these machines improved in harvesting milk
efficiently, but they also have the added ability to collect a greater amount of data about production, milk composition, cows health and behaviour. This could allow producers to make more informed management decisions, while in parallel reducing emissions and increasing animal welfare. Nevertheless, currently available AMS have important limitations in terms of optimising their operation. dAIry 4.0 addresses these challenges, integrating and optimising AI, data and robotics solutions to demonstrate how this combination will optimise AMS production aspects and minimise adverse effects on society, climate and biodiversity. The approach will be demonstrated through real-world use cases of interest both for the farming sector and the food industry. In terms of AI tools to be used, the project will focus on the following novelties:
– Developing multimodal learning techniques to efficiently utilize multiple types of information for animal health & overall animal status monitoring
– Developing self-supervised and novel data augmentation techniques to reduce the amount of labelled training data needed
– Exploring novel explainable AI techniques to increase transparency of the system and eventually facilitate acceptance by the users
– Including the farmer in the loop to build the cognitive abilities for the system


Why Funding?

Funding plays an essential role for research groups as it provides resources and support for scientific progress. Our research group is fortunate to receive funding from the European Union (EU), our national funding agencies and industry. This enables us to conduct innovative research in the field of vibrational spectroscopy and recruit, motivated young researchers to work on scientific projects.

FWF

Austrian Science Fund

P32644-N

“Advancing QCL-IR spectroscopy of proteins for DSP monitoring”

The aim of this project is to advance laser-based IR spectroscopy methods for analysis of proteins as well as to apply and establish IR spectroscopy as a monitoring and quality control tool for studying downstream bioprocesses.

Unique optical properties of quantum cascade laser (QCL) light sources enable novel approaches in IR spectroscopy. Due to the coherent nature of the QCL radiation, a laser-based Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) can be implemented for simultaneous acquisition of absorption and refraction index spectra of protein samples. Within the project, the robustness and limit of detection of the measurements will be improved by this new approach of spectra recording. These advancements allow expanding the capabilities of IR spectroscopy in qualitative and quantitative analysis of proteins.

Subsequently, enabled by this progress in instrument design and performance, the developed MZI is employed to investigate individual bioprocess steps in the recombinant production of heme-containing chlorite dismutase. In downstream bioprocessing, low levels of protein concentration have been prohibitive so far for employing IR spectroscopy for process monitoring. QCL-IR spectroscopy will be introduced as tool for structure-based product analytics at significant points along downstream bioprocessing (IB analytics, refolding kinetics, downstream chain analytics and heme incorporation kinetics) and utilized for characterization and quality control of the targeted unit operations. Changes in structure and activity of the intermediate products and the final protein are correlated and effects of systematically varied process parameters will be investigated.

The successful realization of the project will establish a new QCL-IR toolbox for downstream bioprocess monitoring. The obtained data will be used for gathering process understanding to identify relationships between process parameters and product quality attributes as well as product quantity. Hybrid models, in which mechanistic and data-driven hypotheses are merged, will be formulated to gain new insights and provide model-based control for optimization of downstream unit operations.

COE 7 microPlanet (Clusters of excellence)

“COE Microbiomes drive Planetary Health”

Our Cluster of Excellence aims to fundamentally understand and manipulate environmental and host-associated microbiomes to benefit planetary health. By bridging the gap between traditionally separate medical and environmental microbiome research (termed red and green fields, respectively), we seek to achieve a unified approach to studying microbiomes. Our research is structured around three key areas: interactions within microbiomes, their response to perturbations, and strategies for monitoring and intervening with microbiome dynamics. Our interdisciplinary teams will conduct seven joint research projects, leveraging shared resources and methodologies to generate comparable data across medical and environmental microbiomes. This integrated effort will pioneer new methods linking genetic diversity to function, transcending traditional research boundaries from genes to ecosystems. Our goal is to establish microbiome research as a core component of planetary health science, fostering a new understanding of microbiomes’ role in mitigating global change and supporting a sustainable future.

FFG

The Austrian Research Promotion Agency

H2REAL

“Hydrogen Region East Austria goes Live”

The flagship project H2REAL (Hydrogen Region East Austria goes Live) aims to develop an integrated H2-network (a “Hydrogen Valley”) as a key enabler for hydrogen technology and applications in the eastern Austrian region. To achieve this goal, existing as well as new technologies will be integrated along the entire hydrogen value chain developing an innovative and holistic solu-tion. This will lead to major emission reductions, decarbonization of all sec-tors and cost reduction for green hydrogen.