ESFRI Exposome Austria

Claudia Gundacker is partner of Exposome Austria

PARC - European Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals

2022-2027
Funding: EU Horizon Europe

Health risk of emerging concern: PFAS in the urban water cycle 

2021-2024
Funding: WWTF

The project aims to investigate the sources of toxicologically relevant PFAS within the City of Vienna, their transfer via transport in the Danube and through bankfiltration into groundwater and the potentially harmful effects of waterborne PFAS exposure on zebrafish embryos and human cells. We are part of an interdisciplinary research team that will develop an innovative holistic transport and risk model. This will provide urban planners and policy makers with a tool to map future developments on the fate of PFAS in the environment and the risk they pose to human health. 

Iron metabolism of the human placenta – the key to understand iron transfer from the mother to the fetus

2017-2022
Funding: GFF (former NFB)
Iron is essential for healthy fetal development. However, iron metabolism in the human placenta is poorly understood. This project aims to fill key gaps in our knowledge of the transfer of iron from mother to fetus across the placenta. This will be accomplished by combining: 1) a clinical study of mother-infant pairs to determine maternal and neonatal iron status in relation to placental iron metabolism, 2) an in-vitro part that will clarify the functional role of candidate proteins in placental cell models, and 3) in-situ localization of these proteins in term placentas.

HBM4EU - Science and Policy for a Healthy Future 

2017-2022

Funding:  EU Horizon 2020

Exposure to perflourinated alkylated compounds (PFAS) in an Austrian birth cohort:  The potential impact on birth weight (NEWDA study) 

Funding:  Environment Agency Austria, MedUni Wien, HBM4EU

The aim of the project is to investigate the potential impact of PFAS on fetal growth by studying exposure-health relationships, transport of PFAS across the human placental barrier and toxicity at the cellular level.