Research Projects

VINNY

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VINNY

Advanced nano encapsulation of bio-based pesticides and fertilisers for a circular and sustainable viticulture

VINNY is a highly innovative 4-years European funded project focused on sustainable viticulture. 
The project aims to develop eco-friendly nanobiopesticides and nanobiofertilizers from grapevines and industrial by-products to reduce agrochemical use and promote healthier soils. 

The ambition is to reduce the use of conventional agrochemicals by 50% by employing novel and bio-nanoprocessing ttechnologies to develop and encapsulate novel bioactives into biodegradable matrices, making them more effective and bioavailable.

The consortium is powered by 19 partners from Portugal, Spain, Austria, Italy, Denmark, United Kingdom, Israel, Belgium, Romania, and France. This partnership brings together the expertise of universities, research centres, SMEs, and large industries to create innovative solutions for viticulture.

The human and environmental safety of the newly developed nanobiopesticides and biofertilizers will be assessed with a focus on nanotoxicology and risk assessment, providing critical data to ensure the formulations are safe and sustainable, in line with EU regulations and Safe-by-Design (SbD) principles.

UNIMIB is leader of WP5, which aims to evaluate the safety assessment starting with studies of nanotoxicology, followed by LCA studies and the development of a Safe and sustainable by design (SSbD) platform to support the entire project.

Call: HORIZON-CL4-2023-RESILIENCE-01-34 – Advanced (nano and bio-based) materials for sustainable agriculture (RIA)

Grant Agreement:  101130039

Project Coordinator: University of Minho

UNIMIB WP leader: WP5 Leader

Further information can be found on the official project page or facebook page.

ASINA

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ASINA

The Safe-by-Design concept (SbD) incorporates safety of nano-enabled product (NEP) at the design stage of the production process. SbD reverses the paradigm of downstream risk analysis and management (‘is it safe?’, ‘can it be controlled?’, ‘does it transform?’) and pursues the production of less hazardous nano-products affording reduced exposure, mediated by the release of nanomaterials during the life-cycle. The SbD production of NEPs has been recently elaborated upon, and several EU funded projects have provided some tools, databases, and case studies for its implementation.

Despite the advantages that can be obtained, the current state of the art indicates that industrial production is struggling to activate the SbD approach and the fast industrial uptake of engineered nanomaterials (NMs) is missing or unsafely implemented. The delay of nanomanufacturing implementation in the industry is due to incorrect use, lack of NMs culture, and/or difficult access to better quality NMs due to cost or logistics reasons. Psychological difficulties due to the use of unregulated substances, easy access to non-quality-certified NMs, difficulties in following the fast technological evolution of NMs also play a role.

ASINA aims to:

  • support the fast industrial uptake of nanotechnology by providing Safe-by-Design solutions and supporting tools;
  • to give entrepreneurs knowledge and awareness of Safe-by-Design potential;
  • to increase confidence in Safe-by-Design nanomanufacturing by improving the interaction and integration of different stakeholders (entrepreneurs, scientists, regulators, innovators, policy makers).

For this purpose, the proposal will take into consideration the important nano design features of coating and encapsulation and related Value Chains (VCs). ASINA will develop a specific Safe-by-Design Management Methodology, consistent with modern business management systems, to deliver Safe-by-Design solutions and inform design decisions. The project will establish a pilot action, involving test beds and pilot plants, for testing and validating the methodology contents as specific implementations that can be generalized to other engineered nanomaterials, nano-enabled products and industrial case studies. ASINA will finally export the methodology to the industry through a roadmap (including guidelines, analytical tools, best practices) and other standardization deliverables such as CEN-CWA, as a realistic way to ensure diffusion of the ASINA SMM and its industrial implementation worldwide.

PROJECT DETAILS:

  • PROJECT TITLE: Anticipating Safety Issues at the Design Stage of NAno Product Development
  • ACRONYM: ASINA
  • START DATE: 01 March 2020
  • END DATE: 28 February 2024
  • TOPIC: NMBP-15-2019
    Safe by design, from science to regulation: metrics and main sectors (RIA)
  • EU CONTRIBUTION: 5,998,386.06 euro

Project Coordinator: Anna Luisa Costa

Partner UNIMIB – POLARIS: Paride Mantecca WP2 leader

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement: 862444).

Read more:

ASINA Web site

INTEGRANO

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INTEGRANO

The Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) framework aims to steer the innovation process towards the green and sustainable industrial transition, substitute or minimise the production and use of substances of concern, and minimise the impact on health, climate and the environment during sourcing, production, use and end-of-life of chemicals, materials and products. However, SSbD implementation to nanomaterials (NMs) is hampered by a lack of harmonized or specific data and datasets which poses a challenge to the design of safe and sustainable NMs and their incorporation into nano-enabled products (NEPs).

INTEGRANO aims to:

• Support decision making in NM development, enabling stakeholders (scientists, material engineers, policymakers) to tackle the SSbD challenge in the NM context

• Promote the design and redesign of NMs and NEPs by reducing R&D and approval lead time, minimising costs and increasing data transparency

• To support industry by reducing research and technological development and innovation risk related to safety and sustainability by enabling impact-based informed investment decisions

UNIMIB is project coordinator of the project and leader of WP3, which aims at nano-tox and nano eco-tox data generation.

Call: HORIZON-CL4-2023-RESILIENCE-01-22

Grant Agreement: 101138414

Project Coordinator: Paride Mantecca (UNIMIB)

UNIMIB WP leader: Maurizio Gualtieri (WP3 Leader)

Further information can be found at the link

MUSA

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MUSA

Multilayered Urban Sustainability Action

MUSA – Multilayered Urban Sustainability Action is an Innovation Ecosystem funded by the Ministry of University and Research under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

The project involves collaboration between the University of Milan-Bicocca, the proposing institution, the Polytechnic University of Milan, Bocconi University, Milan University and numerous public and private partners.

MUSA was established in Milan as a response to the challenges that the metropolitan city faces in the transition to the three domains of sustainability: environmental, economic and social. And with an ambition: to usher in a new model of public/private collaboration that can be replicated nationally and internationally.

MUSA identifies the Lombardy region as an ideal laboratory for testing integrated innovations and planning interdisciplinary responses that act on several city management fronts: the environmental front, in which urban development must respect and strengthen biodiversity and foster optimal solutions for energy and sustainable mobility, the technological front, with the untapped potential of digitalisation and deep tech, and the economic and financial front, in which education and sustainable finance are playing increasingly central roles.

The POLARIS Interdepartmental Research Centre is involved in the Spoke 1 of the project, dedicated to safeguarding and enhancing the potential of the natural environment within the city, from biodiversity to renewable energy sources, from monitoring to involving citizens in sustainable mobility.

Spoke Leader: Massimo Labra

Further information can be found at the link

SAMANTA

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SA.MA.NT.A – ScAling-up di un sisteMA aNTi-particolato, anti-coronavirus, biocida Autorigenerante

The SA.MA.NT.A project is a scaling-up innovation of a filtration system capable of retaining the totality of particulate matter with diameter greater than 4nm (inorganic, organic, and biological PM) and providing >99.99% filtration efficiency, suitable for any indoor environment.

The system allows the inactivation of COVID-19 and a general biocidal action against all biological elements. It is indeed based on a heat treatment for the inactivation of COVID-19 virus and for the combustion of all particulate material collected on the filter, resulting in a completely biocidal as well as self-healing action of the filter itself, eliminating the production of special waste.

The system is designed to be independent from all possible variants of COVID-19 and any possible future pandemic biota, being the system based on a universal method of inactivation and destruction of any biological structure based on carbon chemistry (thermal method with the possibility of acting up to 900°C).

Project Coordinator: Luca Ferrero

AMYGING

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AMYGING

AMYGING – Holistically sustainable multi-modal β-amyloid imaging

AMYGING will demonstrate in a zebrafish embryo model that natural polyphenol-based carrier systems hold great potential as natural actives useful to form the basis of a highly modular amyloid imaging toolbox suitable for in vivo MRI and difference-fluorescence imaging.

Out-of-the-box approaches for combining traditional amyloid-sensing structures with insights from nanotechnology, molecular electronics and inherent characteristics of natural polyphenols allow for the simultaneous realization of multimodal imaging probes.

AMYGING aims at the implementation of a screening platform for highly sensitive detection of misfolded Aβ-oligomers in the cerebrospinal fluid of Alzheimer’s Disease patients via tunable nanoparticles (NPs). These NPs comprise a core of natural condensed polyphenolic (PNPs) structure complexing gadolinium ions and an outer layer of PNPs that are functionalized with amyloid-sensing small actives (ASSAs), a combination which leads to effectively increased contrast agent concentration in the immediate proximity of Aβ-oligomers for optimum bimodal imaging.

Call: PRIN2022

Grant Agreement: 202295845T

Project Coordinator: Margherita Brindisi (UNINA)

UNIMIB WP leader: Heiko Lange (WP2 Leader), Anita Colombo (WP3 Leader)

AMROCE – AGAINST CECs (AMR BACTERIA AND ANTIBIOTICS) IN WATER BODIES

rossella.bengalli@unimib.it Research Projects
AMROCE – AGAINST CECs (AMR BACTERIA AND ANTIBIOTICS) IN WATER BODIES

Antibiotics, pathogens and antimicrobial resistant (AMR) bacteria are contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in water bodies associated to intensive fish and inland animal farming.  AMROCE aims at reducing antibiotic pollution and spread of AMR bacteria in the entire water cycle through a platform of novel antibiotic-free antimicrobial products. In the project, antimicrobial/antibiofilm fish cage nets and wastewater filtration membranes will be developed through polymer and surface nano-engineering. Marine-derived antimicrobial agents and antibiofilm enzymes will be nano-formulated as alternative to antibiotics for fish and animal feed supplement. Human and environmental nanosafety during the manufacturing and use of the novel nanotechnology-embedded products will be continuously evaluated to anticipate nanosafety issues.

UNIMIB is leader of WP3, which aims at identifying the parameters related to the safety of the nano-formulation process for both workers and users, considering not only the existing regulation, but also the gaps existing in the legislation and norms.

Project Coordinator: Tzanko Tzanov (UPC)

UNIMIB WP/Task leader: Paride Mantecca (WP3)

Please visit the webiste of the project amroce.eu

IT-BEST

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IT-BEST

IT-BEST project aims to characterise the formation, the atmospheric ageing and the toxicological effects of ultrafine particles (UFP) resulting from the combustion of biofuels. Indeed, combustion processes involving biofuels may emit UFP that are actually different in size, chemical composition and health effects than those from conventional fossil fuels.

The special interest in UFP is related to evidence, currently available in the literature, that biofuels reduce the total particulate matter emitted, but simultaneously produce smaller particle size with a relevant number concentration, which are potentially more toxic.

Experimental measurements using an atmospheric simulation chamber, will be performed to determine the effect of different biofuels composition, on UFP numbers, size, chemical composition and their transformation under relevant atmospheric conditions as well as their toxicological assessment.

The expected outcome of the research project will result in a better the understanding of different nature and health-related toxicological effects of the carbonaceous particle formed during the combustion of biofuels.

Call: PRIN2022

Grant Agreement: 2022CH87SA

Project Coordinator: Dario Massabò (UNIGE) and Gianluigi De Falco (UNINA Federico II)

UNIMIB WP leader: Maurizio Gualtieri

BIOMAT

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BIOMAT

BIOMAT – Open  Innovation Test Bed for Nano-Enabled Bio-Based PUR Foams and composites

The POLARIS Research Center is involved in the European BIOMAT project, funded by the European Commission in the Horizon 2020 framework (Grant Agreement nr.) with the aim of establishing an Open Innovation Test Bed (BIOMAT-TB) with a Single-Entry Point (SEP) . The aim of this project is to accelerate a sustainable European bioeconomy through the development of nanomaterial-based and advanced polyurethane foams (PUR Foams) for various companies (building, construction, automotive, furniture, textiles).

Project ID:953270; Call ID: H2020-EU.2.1.3. – INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP – Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Advanced materials;   H2020-EU.2.1.2. – INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP – Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Nanotechnologies

Project coordinator: Dr. Mariana Ornelas (CENTI)

Dissemination Manager: Dr. Pnina Dan (OSM-DAN LTD).

Partner UNIMIB – POLARIS Prof. Paride Mantecca is leader of WP7 – Recycling technologies, nanosafety and regulatory issues with specific focus on Nanosafety and toxicology (Task 7.2).

Further information can be found at the link.

Discover more on the project here!