Project R-12979

Development of novel assessments for indoor air quality monitoring and impact on children's health (Research)

LEARNing about the status of air quality in schools and its impact on the cognition of children is a major cornerstone in LEARN. For that, we want to overcome the barriers of the currently existing technologies and take a bold step towards the development and deployment of novel sensors to detect the presence of possibly harmful air pollutants such as volatile organic compounds and ultrafine particles. We will measure and characterize indoor and outdoor air pollutants and evaluate the presence of biomarkers of exposure and their effect on children?s cognition, while trying to recapitulate those effects using C.elegans as biosensor. Moreover, we will use advanced human-based in vitro models of lung and skin coupled to a revolutionary multisensing device to investigate their mechanisms of toxicity in real-time. Novel remediation strategies will be explored to improve air quality and promote children?s quality of life and life expectancy. For that we will mobilize a group of eleven leading research teams, unrivalled in their respective fields (environmental epidemiologists, toxicologists, air quality specialists, systems biology, engineers and citizen/social scientists). The scientific achievements expected to result from LEARN will unlock a large technology potential in IAQ for decades to come ? leading to disruptive societal and economic impacts steaming from a radical improvement in the quality of life of children in Europe.

01 May 2022 - 30 April 2026