In Europe, the population is aging. The age-associated decline in cognitive functions represents a serious social and medical problem. Recent studies show that changes in lifestyle such as physical activity and nutritional interventions – even late in life –are beneficial for cognition. The microbiome in the gut is a central effector in the maintenance of brain plasticity and therefore represents a promising target as well as sensor for interventions that aim to improve cognitive ability in the elderly. Detailed and concise scientific investigations of gut-brain interactions, in particular in the elderly, are limited. Such studies require a multidisciplinary approach and a combination of experts from various fields. The aim of our network is to train a new generation of young scientists within a multidisciplinary consortium. The ESRs will engage in individual and well defined, jointly supervised research projects, securing excellent career perspectives and employability. By enabling ESRs to design and conduct studies in this economically and socially important field, SmartAge will elucidate the role of the microbiome-gut-brain axis in aging and its impact on cognition. SmartAge will apply a translational approach combining animal and human studies, nutritional and life style interventions, cognitive tests, brain imaging, cutting edge OMICS and systems biology as well as fecal transfer as proof of principle to identify key regulators of gut-brain communication with the aim to develop microbiome-based therapies. An expert team of scientists from both academia and industry such as clinicians, psychologists, nutritionists, biotechnologists and bioinformaticians will closely collaborate to strengthen microbiome research in aging which will have a direct impact on cognitive health in Europe. Specialists for public communication outreach will ensure effective and efficient transfer of outcomes to policy makers and into the everyday life of the European population.

Currently there are no portable test or biosensors validated for air, soil or water quality control for pathogens, Chemicals of Emerging Concern (CECs) and Persistent Mobile Chemicals (PMCs), so such devices are much awaited by all stakeholders to ensure successful control and prevention of contamination and infections. Mobiles consortium will develop an interdisciplinary framework of expertise, and tools for monitoring, detection, and consequently mitigation of pollution from pathogens, CECs, PMCs, thus benefiting human and environmental health. Mobiles consortium will work to achieve the following objectives: Develop electronic biosensors for monitoring organic chemicals (pesticides, hormones) and antimicrobial resistance bacteria and pathogens in water, soil and air; Develop organism-based biosensor for detection of organic and inorganic pollution in water and soil; Study environmental performance of developed organisms and devices; Metagenomics analysis of organisms leaving in polluted areas in order to enable searches for diverse functionalities across multiple gene clusters Perform safety tests (e.g., EFSA) to assess the impact of developed organisms on the natural environment. Organism-based biosensor will consist on genetically modified chemiluminescent bacteria able to detect antibiotics, heavy metals, and pesticides in water; genetically modified plants that will change colour when in the soil is present arsenic; and marine diatoms that will be used to detect bioplastic degradation in marine and aquatic environments. Developed devices and organisms will be implemented by using flexible technologies, which can guarantee an easy adaptation to other biotic and abiotic pollutants. Devices and organisms, after proper validation and approval, could be used by consumers, inspection services and industry operators, as well as environmental emergency responders to monitor and detect PMCs, CECs and pathogens in water, air and soil

The WATERAGRI vision is to solve agricultural water management and soil fertilisation challenges in a sustainable manner to secure affordable food production in Europe for the 21st century. The WATERAGRI concept aims to introduce a new framework for the use of affordable small water retention approaches for managing excess and shortage of water as well as better recovery of nutrients from agricultural catchments applying a multi-actor approach. The objectives are to (a) Co-develop (multi-actor approach) the links between agricultural land and soil-sediment-water management for improved management of water excess and shortage, maximizing crop production and improving water quality and nutrient uptake by crops; (b) Undertake both technical and sustainability assessments of proposed measures considering tested and reviewed management options; (c) Develop a cloud-based simulation and data assimilation system based on a physically-based terrestrial system model, which is able to assimilate in situ and remotely sensed observations of hydrological and plant variables and meteorological data in near-real time to analyse effects of structures such as drains and dams for improved farm-scale water management and retention; (d) Identify, develop and test affordable and easy-to-implement long-term technical and operational farm solutions such as controlled drainage, regulated deficit irrigation, subsurface irrigation, groundwater recharge, farm constructed wetlands, soil management and nutrient recovery options; (e) Assess the techniques for their potential regarding adaptation to climate change and their impact on ecosystem services for different biogeographic regions using case studies; and (f) Disseminate the implemented innovations to farmers, advisory services and decision-makers as part of a multi-actor approach. The key performance indicators are increased crop production, enhanced nutrient recovery from streams and a simulation and data assimilation system.

The increased use of pharmaceutical drugs and agriculture chemicals in the last five decades now results in a global contamination of the water cycle. Antibiotics, endocrine disruptors, pesticides are among the most alarming compounds found in wastewaters and even in treated waters. Currently, wastewater treatment plants are the most significant barriers to water contamination, but are known to fail in decreasing micropollutants concentrations to reasonable levels. Consequently, there is an urgent need to implement technologies for removal of micropollutants from wastewaters before they reach rivers, groundwater and marine waters. EDEN MICROFLUIDICS offers a compact, easy-to-deploy, cost-effective technology for micropollutant removal, thus giving access to quality water to the EU and beyond. The system uses microfluidics for treatment of high volume of effluent at low pressures, decreasing significantly energy consumption compared to current techniques. But the fluidic design, while efficient, fails to adapt for the wide range of pollutants and their properties. The fluidic architecture should be dependent on pollutant types, sizes, concentration, ... Designing with such a large array of parameters requires expertise in a specific computational method: Computational Design Optimisation. The objective of the research proposed here is to optimize the design of the devices developed by EDEN by means of computational methods. We will build the necessary physics-based or data-driven models to enable the use of numerical optimization algorithms to determine optimal design solutions for a variety of conditions and requirements. We will employ multidiscisplinary design optimization techniques to account for the interaction of different disciplines entailed in the treatment process, and will also formulate strategies for platform-based design of families of devices to derive different solutions at minimal cost and development lead times.

This proposal features a novel and inexpensive, plug-and-play ultrasensitive immune-PCR fully integrated system (lab-on-chip) that will help with early diagnosis of sepsis or toxic shock syndrome caused by pathogenic bacteria Saphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes. Sepsis kills 5.1 millions of people annually; it has up to 26% mortality and rapid progression. S. aureus and S. pyogenes colonise ~50% healthy individuals, and cause common diseases such as tonsillitis, skin and deep tissue or medical implant infection, which sometimes progress to sepsis. Biomarkers that predict of S. aureus and S. pyogenes-caused sepsis are bacterial toxins, superantigens. S. aureus causes most deaths from infectious diseases in high-income countries. This situation is exacerbated by spread of multiple antibiotic resistant S. aureus (MRSA) in the community and hospitals. Superantigens are commonly found in the serum in the absence of bacteremia. It is hence not appropriate to detect them by PCR of the toxin-coding DNA sequences. The key to our innovation is detection of superantigen protein using novel DNA-containing detector nanorods. Binding of the detector particles to the analyte will be quantified via the nanorod DNA. This strategy (immune-PCR) combines immunodetection with sensitivity of PCR to achieve ultrasensitive detection. The system devised in this action will be a prototype for a novel class of devices for ultrasensitive detection of wide array of molecules, including explosives, hormones, or chemical pollutants. The affordable all-in-one plug and play design will allow use in the general practitioner’s office (point of care), at home, or even in the war zones or disaster areas. Development of fully integrated point-of-care lab-on-chip prototype will require multidisciplinary effort where ER’s novel detector nanorods will be combined with the Eden’s expertise in design and engineering of microfluidic systems.