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Mechanobiology explores how physical forces affect cellular processes, providing insights into areas like embryogenesis and tumor growth. Cells exert forces onto their environment; the tissue in which they live.

Selenium is a naturally occurring trace element in the earth's crust, a micronutrient for humans and wildlife but toxic at high concentrations. Microbial biotechnologies have emerged as eco-friendly, sustainable research fields for the dism…

Sunlight is abundant, but figuring out how to efficiently grab that energy and convert it into something useful, like electricity for our homes, is a big puzzle. This research project dives into the world of a special type of molecules call…

Nitrous oxide (N2O), commonly known as “laughing gas” for its physiological effects, is both a potent greenhouse gas an ozone depleting substance. Indeed, it is a major contributor to climate change, thereby posing a critical concern for co…

Malaria remains one of the world’s most persistent infectious diseases, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths every year and placing nearly half of the global population at risk. Although the disease is most common in sub-Saharan Africa,…

About 60 to 70% of soils in the EU are subject to severe degradation processes: erosion, pollution, loss of biodiversity, salinisation and sealing; this is the result of unsustainable land use and overexploitation of agrochemicals. Microbia…

The soaring demand for energy and use of fossil fuels has resulted in the release of vast amount of greenhouse gases and climate change. Developing photoelectrochemical devices for solar fuel production is one of the strategies to address t…

We are studying how tiny molecules join together directly on a surface to form sheets just a single layer thick, called two-dimensional polymers (2DPs) or 2D covalent organic frameworks (2D-COFs). Instead of making these materials separatel…

Catalysis lies at the heart of modern industrial chemistry. It enables the production of more than 85% of chemical goods essential to our daily life, from plastics and pharmaceutical products to fertilisers, and contributes to trillions of…

The activation and functionalisation of dinitrogen (N2) remains one of the most important and long-standing challenges in chemistry. Despite being the most abundant form of nitrogen in the atmosphere, its strong triple bond renders it chemi…

The PROMATAI project addresses the critical need for advanced manufacturing solutions in processing complex hybrid materials and nanomaterials. Traditional extrusion technologies often struggle with materials that have unique rheological pr…

The global consumption of metals and metalloids is increasing rapidly owing to an ever-growing demand from technology and renewable energy industries. Most of these metal(loid)s are defined as critical elements, since their supply is expect…

Europe’s transition to a decarbonised energy system, as outlined in the EU Green Deal, will transform how the EU generates, distributes, stores, and consumes energy. Hydrogen will become an important energy vector, as well as a chemical rea…

Context and overall objectives of the project Methane (CH4) is a potent greenhouse gas that has the capability to significantly impact the Earth’s climate. Recent works estimated CH4 emissions from natural, impacted and human-made aquatic e…

Dryland ecosystems cover a substantial fraction of the Earth’s land surface and are projected to expand under climate change. Despite their global importance, their role in carbon and water cycling remains highly uncertain, partly due to ch…

The PITS3D project (Polymer Informatics Tools for Sustainable 3D printing) addresses the crucial European priority of merging digital innovation with sustainability. Specifically, it tackles the challenge of rapidly developing and optimizin…

Today, ion mobility–high-resolution mass spectrometry (IM-HRMS) is a state-of-the-art analytical platform that can measure and quantify molecules that are central to experimental sciences across disciplines. However, it still faces barriers…

CHEERS (Chirality controlled spin to charge interconversion in Tellurium) investigated how low-symmetry van der Waals and telluride materials can generate and convert spin information for future low-power spintronic devices. The project foc…

Modern society depends on the rapid discovery of new molecules for health, materials and sustainable technologies. Yet building molecular complexity still often requires long synthetic sequences, and late-stage modification of advanced mole…

The PRISM project vision encompasses the Global warming and energy crisis from fossil fuels demand sustainable solar-to-fuel conversion via photocatalysis for H2 production and CO2 reduction. PRISM addresses limitations of conventional UV-a…

Mercury (Hg) is a toxic heavy metal that bioaccumulates in aquatic food chains, endangering human health through the consumption of seafood. The atmospheric chemistry of Hg determines how far it can be transported and where it will ultimate…

Antibiotics are now recognised as pollutants of global concern. Their widespread use has led to residues in the environment that contribute to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a major threat to public health and ecosystems.

Photosynthesis is a natural process that relies on harvesting solar energy and transforming it into chemical energy. In addition to its ecological importance, obtaining a better molecular-level understanding of photosynthesis, particularly…

Across sub-Saharan Africa, technology districts modelled (and often dubbed) after California's Silicon Valley are reshaping cities, economies and everyday life. Nigeria has hosted the highest number of tech hubs on the continent since 2019,…

Major Depressive Disorder, commonly known as depression, is a widespread mental health condition that affects millions of people worldwide. It's more than just feeling sad; depression can impact every aspect of a person's life, from their m…

Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) are crucial elements for the fabrication of flexible, wearable, and biocompatible electronic devices. As miniaturization is approaching its limits, bringing an end to Moore’s law, beyond−CMOS devices…

Venus is the closest planet to Earth. Despite a similar size and mass, there are differences between the two planets.

Self-assemble 2D chiral plasmene nanosheets: ultrasensitive biomarker and chirality detectors. Surface plasmons are coherent and collective electron oscillations along the surface of a metal.

ESCULAPE project addresses the urgent need for advanced, sustainable, and clinically relevant biomaterials to support regenerative medicine, with a focus on cardiovascular and musculoskeletal applications. Existing solutions often fall shor…

Climate change remains one of the most pressing global challenges, driven largely by the continued increase of greenhouse gas emissions. Among these, carbon dioxide (CO2) is a major contributor to global warming.

Modern electronics increasingly relies on atomically thin “two-dimensional” (2D) materials whose properties can be tailored by stacking or joining different layers. A central challenge is to control what happens at the interfaces—where char…

Periodontitis is one of the world's most prevalent chronic dental and maxillofacial diseases that will ultimately lead to unwanted tooth loss. This disease was responsible for a significant loss of 158.64 billion in Europe in 2018.