Akpan, bissap, jujube fruit and monkey bread are part of Africa’s rich food heritage, but are relatively unknown to European palates. Thanks to the EU-funded AFTER project these exciting flavours, and others, could soon be available here, boosting the competitiveness of small food manufacturers on both continents.
No more injections... For diabetics whose bodies don’t produce insulin, transplants of the necessary pancreatic cells can be a solution. However, at the moment, this intervention can only offer temporary relief. A new EU-funded project is taking the technique another step ahead.
Through better understanding exactly how our brains deal with memory, EU-funded research has taken scientists one step closer to effectively diagnosing and treating degenerative brain diseases.
Ageing is a complex process. It happens in every part of the body, not just specific cell or tissue types. Even psychological factors and stress can play a role. The EU-funded project NINA took a multidisciplinary approach to improving our understanding of how age-related changes interact, ultimately helping us age more healthily.
EU-funded researchers are developing innovative tools and ‘liquid biopsy’ techniques to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer by targeting the detached tumour cells that cause the vast majority of deaths. Once validated and commercialised, their approach promises to lead to more effective and personalised care for cancer patients.
Developing numerical models for analysing the stability, efficiency and feasibility of floating wind turbines, the future of offshore wind power generation, was the remit of the EU-funded ICFLOAT project. Its innovative techniques are already being used to analyse other types of wind energy devices.
Electric vehicles are quiet — too quiet, possibly. Pedestrians and other vulnerable road users don’t always hear them coming. An EU-funded project has developed a solution. This innovative accident prevention system detects persons at risk and warns them by emitting a sound directed at them and them alone.
Tweaking breeding methods could allow European fish farming – or aquaculture – to produce more efficiently. An EU-funded project is studying how hi-tech breeding techniques can promote disease resistance and fast, efficient growth in six commonly farmed fish species, improving fish welfare, impacts on wildlife and farm productivity.
Elderly people with walking difficulties are often intimidated by busy public places. This led an EU research project to develop a robot walker to guide them around shopping centres, museums and other public buildings, thus enhancing their autonomy.
New technology slashes both water consumption and costs using environmentally responsible techniques.
Correcting imperfections in wood is a costly and laborious process which is prone to human error. A new robot promises to boost the productivity, accuracy and quality of wood patching, with massive benefits for the timber industry.
Prof. Michael Schneider is a leading authority in the field of cardiac molecular biology. In 2008, he obtained an ERC grant to identify the mechanisms governing self-renewal of cardiac progenitor cells, a population of stem cells located in the heart itself that might be exploited to play a key role in regenerating this vulnerable organ in heart disease.
Under your feet is something very ordinary but essential to life – soil. It grows the food we eat and regulates the water, carbon and nutrient cycles that shape our environment and climate. To help keep farming sustainable, EU-funded researchers have mapped out the long-term impacts of how farmers use soil, and developed a tool and guidelines to support best practices in farms.
Heart attacks leave scars on the cardiac muscle — and if the scar is large, it can gradually weaken the organ’s ability to pump blood. Stem cell therapy can help to regenerate the damaged tissue. An EU-funded project has set out to advance the state of the art.
What good is an empty clinic? The brain drain that is depleting health care services in many parts of Africa is leaving entire communities stranded. An EU-funded project is looking into ways to mobilise more human resources for primary health care across the continent.
Access to healthcare is a basic human need, but efforts to provide affordable public care in many developing nations have had mixed results. EU-funded researchers sought to find out why through a landmark evaluation of healthcare systems in six Asian countries. The conclusions highlight the influence of insurance schemes’ affordability, understanding what motivates people to take out insurance policies, and how public money is spent.
Freely accessible online tools to enable sustainable and efficient water resource management are being developed by the EU-funded SWITCH-ON project. The initiative is currently building a web portal to host innovations such as a virtual water-science laboratory, product marketing point and meeting place.
Aircraft maintenance companies are under a great deal of financial pressure from carriers, which require consistent and low cost repairs using high quality processes and spare parts. EU-funded researchers studying future repair and maintenance say digital manufacturing technologies will put increased automation and fewer production stages within grasp. The result could be more competitive providers, cheaper flights and fewer emissions.
The EU-funded FUSENET project created new learning opportunities for Europe’s future fusion scientists by developing educational materials, organising internships and bringing academia and industry closer together. While the project may be officially over, the concept has been kept very much alive through the ever-expanding FUSENET Association.
The EU is investing in research to counter rising obesity among Europeans. Ongoing projects such as SATIN, Full4Health, I.Family and EarlyNutrition are leading to a better understanding of why more people are becoming obese – research that could save lives and reduce the burden on national health systems.
