Featured projects

If you live or work in a city centre, you will know how stressful constant traffic noise can be. But adaptations to roads, tyres, vehicles and urban planning could reduce traffic noise to less than one-tenth current levels in towns and cities, say EU researchers. They have paved the way by developing an approach – along with new designs for road surfaces and tyres – to turn the volume down.

One quarter of breast cancer cases belong to two subtypes that are difficult to treat. EU-funded researchers are identifying new therapeutic targets for these patient groups. The research has already led to new diagnostic tools, while patients are already being enrolled for clinical trials.

Researchers are blazing a trail towards personalised medicine in cancer care. This will mean the provision of new immunotherapy treatments targeting some of the most complicated conditions. In line with this approach an EU-funded project is developing new technologies to help doctors provide targeted, individual treatments. It has so far conducted clinical trials involving eight melanoma patients to demonstrate the potential of this approach.

How can we make predictions of people’s activities based on internet links? What can we learn from patterns of usage on the internet? The EU’s NADINE project is establishing algorithms and methods of analysing activities online that will shine a light on relationships between subjects, countries and even trading commodities.

The melt rate of Europe’s snowy peaks and glacial lakes can have a huge impact on both daily activities and planning in many countries. EU-funded researchers have developed applications that use satellite data to tell them just that, in close to real time.

Donated organs are a rare and precious gift — but, unfortunately, some can’t actually be used because they don’t offer much hope of a successful transplant. An EU-funded research project focusing on kidneys and livers has set out to improve the odds.

Diamonds – highly desirable lumps of carbon. But while their use to jewellers is well known, their hidden secrets are being revealed by the DIADEMS project. By modifying the structure of a diamond crystal, the project creates a new material that could be used in applications, from the creation of smart medicines to the next generation computers. The EU project is helping Europe stay at the forefront of research into atomic scale sensors.

The Antilope project's final conference and handover workshop took place on 29 January 2015 in Ghent in front of a packed and engaged audience. There was good feedback, lively discussions and an agreement on the required next steps to take Antilope's work on European eHealth interoperability forward.

With a €4 Million budget, the m-RESIST Project (Mobile Therapeutic Attention for Patients with Treatment Resistant Schizophrenia) aims to develop a therapeutic program that draws on the support of mobile devices and actively involves patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia. This will make them capable of self-managing their illness, as well as support their carers.

Solar eruptions release huge amounts of energetic particle radiation. While most of these events will only affect satellites and other spacecraft, particularly large eruptions will also make themselves felt on Earth – in aviation and radio communication, for example. The EU-funded SEPServer project has developed a web-based tool to help scientists investigate solar energetic particles (SEP) and their origin.

The challenges affecting a regional sea cannot be tackled effectively by individual countries acting alone. Nor can they be addressed without a thorough understanding of the relevant facts and processes. The states bordering the Baltic Sea are cooperating in a joint research programme to provide policy-makers with the information they need to achieve greater sustainability.

The recently launched project will develop an electronic platform, called Medical Intelligence for Assistive Management Interface - Mild Dementia, or MIAMI-MD, the first assistive technology designed specifically for mild dementia sufferers.

Technology capable of quickly detecting the tiniest of flaws in automotive parts could help reduce production stoppages and costly vehicle recalls. The next step is to create new opportunities for SMEs by bringing this innovation to market.

Tales of invincible ‘super rats’ sweeping across towns and cities are no longer so far from the truth. There are around 60 billion rats on the planet – eight rats for every human! One pair can produce 3 650 young in a year, and each new generation is more resistant than the last to every pest controller’s most powerful weapon: rat poison.

European researchers report a breakthrough technique paving the way for the first-ever stem cell-derived brain cell transplantations in people with Parkinson’s disease. Meanwhile, research on brain cell reprogramming is moving towards potential application for Huntington’s disease.

EU-funded researchers have developed a driver’s seat and seatbelt from smart textiles that measure heart and breathing rates. Detecting if drivers are showing signs of fatigue behind the wheel and somehow alerting them to the fact, the system could prevent thousands of fatalities every year.

For years, the European Space Agency (ESA) has been studying the Earth's magnetosphere – a 'bubble' in which the Earth's magnetic field is present. Huge amounts of supporting data have been gathered. EU-funded researchers have made this data available in an easy-to-use, open-access format, giving scientists the information they need to improve space weather forecasting – important for protecting European satellite and ground-based infrastructure.

EU-funded researchers have used novel carbon materials to make lightweight, energy-efficient supercapacitors, the energy storage devices that supply power to electric vehicles during acceleration. Their work promises to extend the distance electric vehicles can travel before a recharge. This improved performance could boost their appeal on the market, help make EU manufacturers more competitive, and contribute to the EU’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

An EU-funded project has extracted enzymes found among Iceland’s volcanoes that could lead to more efficient and greener industrial processes – from making food to biofuels. A number of these enzymes have already been patented, ushering in a new generation of natural catalysts for chemical processes and helping industry become more competitive.

Powerful modelling tools developed by European researchers have been commercialised to provide forecasting services for coastal sea conditions in Europe and beyond. Applications range from storm forecasts for beach and coastal defence management to efficient route planning for shipping, and contingency planning for oil spills.