The POLYRISK project is proud to work with a wide range of talented early-career researchers that are dedicating their scientific work on the impact of micro- and nanoplastics on human health. In November 2023, early-career researchers within the CUSP umbrella research cluster came together for a virtual exchange to share their research and ideas.
Over 55 people attended the virtual event to share their research progress and to talk about their experiences working in a collaborative EU research project and cluster. Participants discussed developments in the characterisation of micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs), in vitro models, exposure and effects, and immune responses.
The early-career researchers were also invited to create a creative two-minute video summary of their research, all of which are now available to watch on the CUSP YouTube channel.
Watch Tim Skrabanja, an early-career researcher from UMC Utrecht and a POLYRISK partner, present his work on microplastic immunotoxicity from in vitro to in vivo to humans:
Another POLYRISK researcher, Esther Lenssen from the University of Utrecht, delivered a presentation on the acute health effects of traffic-related microplastic exposure.
Additional video presentations made available by CUSP include:
- “Impact of PS, PLA, PET particles on B Lymphocyte cell lines.” Lucie Bonnefon-Craponne, CEA France, PlasticHeal
- “MNPs in Macrophages.” Maike Adler, FAU, PlasticsFatE
- “Getting reliable data on microplastic detection methods by means of Interlaboratory Comparison.” Dmitri Ciornii, BAM, PlasticsFatE
- “Micro(nano)plastics (MNPs) fate in the gastrointestinal tract and human gut microbiota.” Iris Pinillos Sanz, CSIC, PlasticsFatE
CUSP unites five research initiatives in one large EU-funded cluster to create synergies and amplify the effort of individual research initiatives. The five CUSP projects include AURORA, IMPTOX, PLASTICHEAL, PLASTICSFATE, and POLYRISK.