Research

Water-soluble polymers (WSPs) are essential high-performance ingredients in home and personal care products – with an annual global production exceeding 1 million tons and a market demand that is expected to further increase. Sustainable end-of-life management for WSPs is currently one of the key challenges facing the polymer community. In this context, biodegradable alternatives to persistent WSPs have gained increasing interest from several sectors (including industry, regulation, academia, and the public). Despite this interest, our fundamental understanding of WSP biodegradation in both natural and engineered systems is limited. Particular knowledge gaps are pertaining to the pathway of biodegradation, the microorganisms and enzymes that play a key role in this process, the polymer- and environment-related factors that affect biodegradation, and the analytical methods for investigating WSP biodegradation and assessing the transferability of results from laboratory testing to realistic scenarios. In a collaborative effort of expert researchers from the University of Vienna (UNIVIE), University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), and BASF SE, the proposed Christian Doppler (CD) Laboratory for Biodegradation of Water-Soluble Polymers will address these knowledge gaps. By pushing forward the knowledge boundaries in this emerging field of research, we seek to fundamentally comprehend the chemistry and microbiology underlying WSP biodegradation and to thereby lay the urgently needed scientific foundation for the design of biodegradable high-performance WSPs and the development of science-based regulations of WSP biodegradability. Given the release of WSPs used in home and personal care applications into wastewater streams, the focus of the proposed research lies on biodegradation in wastewater and freshwater systems. WSP classes of particular interest include polyamino acids and polysaccharides, which are considered promising for combining performance during use and end-of-life biodegradability. The proposed research will be tackled in nine distinct subprojects - each addressing one of our three objectives: (i) identify key factors affecting the kinetics and pathways of WSP biodegradation, (ii) derive links between microbiome functioning and WSP biodegradation, and (iii) develop analytical methods that enable detailed investigations of WSP biodegradation and moving towards realistic scenarios. The proposed CD laboratory responds to the emerging need for a deeper understanding of the fate of WSPs in natural and engineered systems. Through interdisciplinary and intersectoral collaboration – and by combining expertise in environmental chemistry, microbiology, and analytical chemistry – we will obtain transformative insights into the complex process of WSP biodegradation. Specific anticipated outcomes include elucidated biodegradation pathways and intermediates, enabled biodegradation prediction based on characterized microorganisms and enzymes, established analytical methods for WSP characterization, and a critical assessment of the transferability of laboratory tests to realistic scenarios. These outcomes will enable the design of biodegradable high-performance WSPs for a sustainable end-of-life management and pave the way for science-based regulatory advancements – towards a sustainable future, in which challenges are met with innovative chemical solutions and collective action.

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.