Research

Immunoglobulin E (IgE)-associated allergy remains to be the most prevalent immunologically-mediated disease affecting almost 30% of the population world-wide. Accordingly it is one of the most important non-communicable diseases affecting mankind. Allergic and chronic airway diseases are currently a major public health problem causing high morbidity, costs and mortality. Allergic patients suffer not only from relatively mild manifestations such as allergic rhinitis and conjunctivitis but also other organs such as the lung, skin and gastrointestinal tract can be heavily affected. The most severe form of allergy, anaphylactic shock caused by food allergens and venom allergens may lead to life-threating conditions and death also in very young persons. Likewise, asthma is a severely disabling and life-threatening manifestation of allergy from early childhood up to elderly life. Several pharmacological and biological treatements are available but their effect is modest, lasts only as long as the medication is administered and does not provide sustained effects. Molecular allergy diagnosis enables to transform healthcare towards the principles of “P4 Medicine” for predictive, preventive, personalized (precision) and participatory medicine.

There have been reports of global decline in managed honey bees and wild bees around the world. The rapid dying of honey bee colonies was named “colony collapse disorder” (CCD) and has been linked to different factors. One of the factors are novel insecticides named neonicotinoids. The acute toxity and adverse effects on bees is not only limited to the parent compound, but their (intermediate) metabolites have been shown to be toxic as well. So far, partial metabolic pathways in honey bees were described for only three out of seven neonicotinoids in use. For the remaining four neonicotinoids the metabolism by honey bees is still unclear. The overall objective of this study is to elucidate the metabolism of orally administered neonicotinoids in honey bees. The specific objectives are to determine known and unknown neonicotinoid biotransformation products and their kinetics. The study will be divided into four phases. In phase I, neonicotinoids will be administered at two locations to groups of caged honey bees with a feeding solution containing a mixture of unlabeled and 13C-labeled neonicotinoids with doses up to LD50 and sampling at 8 time points. Next, the targeted compounds will be extracted with organic solvents. For untargeted analysis, an isotope assisted approach will be used with direct analysis of the extracts as to avoid loss of putative biotransformation products (Phase II). Data will be evaluated with the aid of comprehensive databases. Unknown neonicotinoid

The safety of our food system is ensured by tens of thousands of mycotoxin analyses carried out per year. Established mycotoxin screening methods require complex lab-based sample handling procedures besides relying on consumables like organic solvents or plastic disposables. The environmental impact of these unavoidable mycotoxin surveys must be reduced by a transformation from lab-based to on-site screening. Infrared (IR) spectroscopy (IRS) is inherently green due to its non-destructive character and thus ideal for rapid screening, as hardly any consumables or sample handling is required. In fact, more and more portable IR spectrometer become available facilitating on-site analysis. IR spectroscopy, however, is limited to track fungi induced sample changes, requiring its combination with reference analysis. The mycotoxin level of the sample, obtained by techniques like liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) is thus correlated with the corresponding IR spectra using chemometrics. Within this project the feasibility to use portable and handheld IR spectrometers for mycotoxin analysis in intact grain will be evaluated. Furthermore, IRS will be established as a rapid, green and easy to use alternative to current screening methods. In the end, by the combination of LC-MS/MS with IRS, multi-toxin IR-based screening approaches are going to be explored. Thereby the current state of the art of mycotoxin analysis will be substantial advanced towards easy and rapid on-site screening.