New technology could soon revolutionise the treatment of liver failure: an innovative dialysis device is currently being trialled. It aims to greatly improve the outlook for patients, helping them to recover or supporting them while they wait for a transplant, say the EU-funded researchers taking this innovation forward.
Obesity is on the rise in Europe and with that worrying signs of poor health, stigmatisation and social exclusion, especially among the young. International research is now under way to help schools tackle this scourge through physical education classes that better communicate the benefits of being active to all students, regardless of their gender, sexuality, ethnicity, race and social class.
Today's world is awash with data. But this information is not available as a coherent stream, and the sheer volume isn’t always easy to process for innovative uses. An EU-funded project has set out to address these issues and facilitate the exploitation of big data to tackle key societal challenges.
An EU-funded research-capacity building project in Malta is optimising the use of water for agriculture. Experts from across Europe are sharing innovative approaches to water management with scientists and farmers to help conserve this scarce resource.
An EU-funded project has gained new insights into abnormal protein deposits linked to some 40 diseases, including Alzheimer's, diabetes, and cancer. The cutting-edge research has contributed to promising new techniques to treat these potentially devastating diseases.
Technologies such as our beloved smartphones have taken the world by storm, but some of the materials needed to make them are in short supply. This is also true for other crucial applications - industrial catalysts, for instance. Two projects jointly funded by the EU and Japan have looked into possible substitutes for various critical metals.
Liquid-crystalline fluids are used in many modern optoelectronic devices, from medical tools to smart phone and computer screens - probably including the display you are reading this on. A related soft matter technology currently being explored by EU-funded researchers could have a broad range of novel industrial and commercial applications.
There is still a lot to learn about the genetic changes that occur as melanoma tumours form - and about the body's response to this illness. Greater understanding could help to predict how individual tumours are likely to respond to various combinations of therapies. An EU-funded network is training young researchers who are exploring this issue.
The MAGicSky project is investigating the potential of nano-sized particle-like topological deformations, known as skyrmions, to revolutionise technologies for data storage and processing, making them more effective and energy-efficient.
Infectious diseases and cancer are the focus of the EU-funded project INPACT, which combines the expertise of both academic and industrial partners in protein engineering to develop new drug leads.
