Research

The HistoGenes project unites historians, archaeologists, geneticist, anthropologists, and specialists in bio-informatics, isotope analysis and other scientific methods in order to investigate human migration in the Carpathian Basin after the break down of the Roman Empire 400-900 CE. www.histogenes.org The Institute of Analytical Chemistry (IAC) at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna will perform the analysis of strontium isotopic n(87Sr)/n(86Sr) ratios and multi-elemental patterns of teeth from individuals excavated at two Awar cemeteries in Austria. Furthermore, the IAC will cooperate with the other beneficiaries for interpretation of the results, which can only be done in an interdisciplinary team due to the complexity of the burial site. The gained information will allow to understand if individuals were local or migrated. This will advance our knowledge about population dynamics in a key period in European history.

The final sensorial quality of a wine is the result of a multitude of interactions between all the chemical components within the wine and specific environmental factors such as the temperature of the wine. Since influenced by numerous factors such as grape varieties, growing conditions, climate change, yeast strains, wine making technologies, human experiences, the evaluation and preservation of wine quality – in terms of reproducibility from year to year - is nowadays the main challenge for both wine producers and wine science community. Viticultural practices aim primarily at producing high quality grapes that would reflect varietal flavours and aromas and/or characters typical for a specific region or terroir. In Austria, Districtus Austriae Controllatus (DAC) is a classification for regionally typical quality wine that provides products of distinction in wine market. An accurate evaluation and assessment of the wine quality, identity and typicity is of high significance for vintners to perform proper wine classification and target marketing. The aim of this project is on grape and wine quality evaluation, and regional typical quality characterization and prediction using elemental and sensory analysis, non-targeted and targeted metabolomics, spectroscopic approaches, and artificial intelligence. Grape quality is the most important factor for making high quality wine and some grape metabolites can have a strong relation to the wine quality. The relationship between the grape metabolites and the wine quality will be explored using non-targeted metabolomics and spectroscopic approaches and wine quality prediction models generated by artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms. Of particular focus in this project is providing detailed chemical characterization that elucidates the influence of the Viennese wine growing region (origin) on Viennese Gemischter Satz DAC and Grüner Veltliner. As final output of the project, software, apps and a unique quality mark tag will be developed, for wine quality prediction and authenticity assessment based on established databases. This solution will be designed and developed to prove the identity and authenticity of each bottle and trace them. In turn, the outcomes of this project aim to both support origin marketing and future maintenance of wine production processes and wine quality in Vienna.

The aim of this research project is the identification of ground water formation in the various meteorological conditions in the Austrian Alps and to investigate climate-induced changes related to the ground water formation. Emphasis is further on quantifying water reserves stored in intact rock glaciers as permafrost based ground water. The level of knowledge concerning the impact of the climate change on the alpine permafrost will be significantly enhanced thereby.