Imptox (Horizon 2020)

Do micro- and nano- plastic particles in our environment affect our health?

April 1st, 2021. started the European Union Horizon 2020 project Imptox - An innovative analytical platform to investigate the effect and toxicity of micro and nanoplastics (MNPs) combined with environmental contaminants on the risk of allergic disease in pre-clinical and clinical studies. The main aim is to understand how micro- and nanoplastic particles (MNPs) impact human health.

A consortium consisting of 12 partners from 8 European countries will investigate the complex role of micro and nanoplastics combined with environmental contaminants on food safety and human health, focusing on allergy and asthma. MNPs are out in the environment and part of our everyday life. They are in the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe, yet we do not know how dangerous they are to human health. Some of the project’s goals will be to determine the types and quantitates of MNPs in specific environments, identify the sorts of contaminants that attach to them and evaluate where they wind-up in our bodies after inhaling and ingesting them. These results will help us understand the effects of microplastics on human health and provide crucial knowledge for legislators.

Srebrnjak Children’s Hospital is a leader of WP8 which is focused on ecological exposures (water and diet), epidemiological data and analysis of potential biomarkers which may ultimately lead to human exposure effects. An integrative approach of assessing and quantifying the potential for human exposures together with allergen exposure as well as hazards identification (developed previously within two EU FP7 projects ATOPICA and iFAAM) will be performed to estimate potential risk of MNPs for the development and severity of allergic diseases.

• Estimation of potential risks of MNPs in relation to environmental exposure in school children.
• Estimation of potential risks of MNPs in relation to immune responses and inflammatory processes and impact on development and clinical manifestation of food allergy in schoolchildren.
• Understanding and prediction of potential human health effects of MNPs

SREBRNJAK CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL TEAM
Prof. Mirjana Turkalj, MD, PhD -lead
Ivana Banić, PhD, MSc in Molecular Biology
Marcel Lipej, MSc in Biotechnology
Adrijana Miletić Gospić, MSC in Food Technology
Maja Šutić, PhD, mag.biol.exp.
Ana Vukić, mag.biol.mol.
Sandra Mijač, mag.nutr.clin.

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Signing of the contract for financing Centre of Competence for Translational Medicine

A Centre of Competence for Translational Medicine (CCTM) will soon be built at the Srebrnjak Children's Hospital in Zagreb. It's the largest infrastructure project in the field of science and health in the region with the overall costs estimated at 432 million HRK (EU funds cover 85% of that amount and the rest is ensured by the state budget).

It is the only pediatric translation center in Europe and project that involves the construction and equipment of a new building with a total area of 14.523m2, which will be functionally connected with the existing building of Srebrnjak Children's Hospital.

Srebrnjak Children's Hospital is certified according to ISO 9001:2015

Srebrnjak Children's Hospital has complied with the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 standards for providing medical services of diagnostic and therapy treatment in hospital wards, day hospitals, emergency clinics and specialist clinics (allergy and immunology, pulmonary, cardiac, neuropaediatric, rheumatology, occupational medicine and sports, hyposensibilization, one-day pediatric surgery, otorhinolaryngology, anesthesiology, nephropathic and gastroenterological ambulance), physical therapy and rehabilitation, health care, education and conducting a clinical study.

ISO stands for International Organization for Standardization, established 1947.
The standards provide guidance and tools for companies and organizations who want to ensure that their products and services consistently meet customer's requirements, and that quality is consistently improved.

ISO 9001 is a quality management system that requires a documented system of sequence and implementation of internal control ( audit)of the process to determine the corrective and preventive actions for the purpose of improving the process.

Croatian scientists took part in the “13th International Workshop on Ionizing Radiation Monitoring” in Oarai, Japan

Author: Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Japan

From 2nd - 4th December 2017, the 13th International Workshop on Ionizing Radiation Monitoring was held in Oarai, Japan.
The workshop, organised by Chiyoda Technol Corporation, was attended by more than 200 participants from 21 countries. A group of five Croatian representatives from the Ruđer Bošković Institute (Radiation Chemistry and Dosimetry Laboratory) and the Srebrnjak Children's Hospital actively and very successfully participated in the workshop by delivering presentations in the field of dosimetry of ionizing radiation.

The Ruđer Bošković Institute (Radiation Chemistry and Dosimetry Laboratory) has a long-term research cooperation with the Chiyoda Technol Corporation in the area of fundamental and applicative research in luminescence dosimetry which has been reviewed and reaffirmed every year, starting from 2007, by signing a cooperation agreement.
This cooperation is one of the best examples of cooperation between Croatian and Japanese science and business actors which will hopefully contribute to increasing of similar cooperation projects in the future.