AIS LIFE 

Florance, Italy

The University of Florence can trace its origins to the Studium, which was established in 1321, and is one  of the largest organizations for research and higher education in Italy, with over 1900 tenured teaching staff and researchers, over 1600 permanent technical/administrative staff and language assistants and over 55 thousand students enrolled. The University consists of 24 Departments. A large part of the yearly budget is allocated to scientific research. In the recent past the University of Florence has been ranked top among Italian Universities in the distribution of national research funds High-level research avails itself of the centres of excellence, which attract funding and form synergies with other institutions. The University of Florence is one of the largest and most productive public research systems in Italy. This result is related to the number of permanent and temporary researchers working in a wide range of disciplines and scientific fields, and the numerous junior scientists in training. It is also due to intensive participation in research programmes of national and international importance, the significant scientific results achieved, and the flow of funds which support research and knowledge transfer. The researchers from the various departments of the University of Florence have at their disposal several research structures comprising interdepartmental and inter-university centres, as well as some specialized research units and laboratories.

Roma, Italy

The CNR department involved in this project is the Pulmonary Environmental Epidemiology Group of the Institute of Clinical Physiology (IFC-CNR). This inter-disciplinary unit forms part of CNR’s largest medical institute and covers environmental epidemiology and pulmonary medicine, including the effects of indoor / outdoor pollution and management of allergic diseases. Currently employing 12 staff members, including pulmonary doctors, epidemiologists, biologists, environmental scientists and technicians, IFC-CNR also has long standing collaborations with a range of key stakeholders. At national level, these include the Cardio-Thoracic and Human and Environmental Sciences Departments of the University of Pisa, the University of Ferrara and the National Institute of Health. IFC-CNR is a member of the Italian Society of Respiratory Medicine and of the European Respiratory Society. Among IFC-CNR’s experience in the area of the proposal, the following can be highlighted:

a) The study "Respiratory allergic diseases: monitoring study of GINA and ARIA guidelines", funded byAgenzia Italiana del Farmaco (AIFA - 2006-09), which evaluated applicability of and adherence to the Global Initiative for Asthma and Allergic Rhinitis and Impact on Asthma guidelines in different care settings and geographic areas.

b) The study "Schools indoor pollution and health: observatory network in Europe”, funded by EU, DG Sanco (2010-12), which identified and analysed indoor air problems in schools, to assess the impact of risk factors on the quality of indoor environment in schools. Resultant recommendations should prevent allergic and respiratory diseases in children.

c) The study “Severe asthma: epidemiological and clinical cohorts; therapeutic appropriateness and

outcome assessment, according to GINA guidelines”, funded by AIFA (2010-14), which assessed effectiveness of therapeutic strategies for severe asthma in the general population and clinical samples.

Wien, Austria

Medical University of Vienna (MUV) is a research institution of international acclaim. As one of the world's leading medical universities. MUV is a state-of-the-art research organisation with over 600 years of history. Of particular relevance to the proposal, MUW is currently the home of the Austrian and European Pollen Information Networks (www.polleninfo.org). Given the recognised need for a non-commercial pollen database to facilitate scientific research at a European scale, the European Aeroallergen Network (EAN) Pollen Database pollen database was established in the late 1980s. The EAN database holds information from more than 600 pollen-monitoring stations from all over Europe. These data are available to scientists and other end users via a secure website and access is restricted to registered users with a valid password and pollen data are available to the public in the form of graphics. MUW’s latest scientific development in the field of aerobiology is PHD, which is a free web-based service for people suffering from pollen allergy that allows participants to compare their symptoms with pollen levels. The development of PHD was primarily driven by the unanswered question of thresholds and was launched in cooperation with the Austrian Pollen Information Service, the Stiftung Deutscher Polleninformationsdienst, Réseau National de Surveillance Aérobiologique France and the Allergy-Centre-Charité Berlin. PHD currently exists in 10 languages. To date, more than 38,000 participants have used this tool.

Brussieu, France

RNSA is a non-commercial association in charge by the French Health Ministry to make the information available about the allergy risk due to biological particles in the air. For this purpose, RNSA (and Pasteur Institute before RNSA) built a network of pollen traps over 20 years ago. Now in France, RNSA controls more than 80 Hirst pollen traps. They also have a clinician network with more than 130 allergists, who send weekly clinical observations of pollinosis. The weekly information is sent by mail alert, with the update of the website www.pollens.fr and by some smartphone application. For the prevention of allergy, in 2007 RSNA developed a new website www.vegetation-en-ville.org for the user of landscape and policies for urban green areas. They have also established a new protocol of prolixity pollen trap, which measures exposure on a field or a public garden. This work has been presented at French and international Congresses. The efficiency of RNSA in the project is the preparation of the devices for garden pollen traps and the analysis of the slides. They are perfectly places to support activities in Paris, with their allergist network, to measure health impact due to pollen exposure

Pisa, Italy

The Department of Biology, Pisa University, includes the following facilities committed to the monitoring and conservation of plant diversity:

- the Plant Biosystematics Lab is specialised in the taxonomy and systematics of vascular plants; the lab was recently equipped with instruments needed for pollen counts for aerobiological monitoring;

- the Native Plant Germplasm Bank is devoted to ex situ conservation projects and to the development of propagation and cultivation protocols of endangered species aimed at their reintroduction into natural habitats.

Within this context, the Department is / has been partner in a number of projects carried out in Italian and European territories, e.g. the production of the new European Red List of vascular flora; the ENSCONET (European Native Seed Conservation Network). The staff – professors, researchers, and lab technicians – is trained to use the most advanced scientific methods to work on such projects, including: (i) plant DNA isolation, PCR, amplification for the evaluation of genetic variability between and within populations and of phylogenetic relationship between species; (ii) advanced treatment of seeds to ensure that ex situ conservation maintains the viability of seed lots. Recently, a Ms. thesis was carried out on the aerobiological monitoring of the city of Massa (Province of Massa-Carrara), under the supervision of a staff member. The Department maintains a close link with the University Botanic Garden, both to cultivate plants for ex-situ conservation purposes and to run dissemination programmes for school classes and the general public: these include guided tours to plant collection, self-guided tours, conferences, seminars, and exhibitions.

Paris, France

Université Pierre et Marie Curie – Paris 6 (UPMC), devoted to sciences and medicine, is one of the largest universities in France with over 5000 researchers and professors, 120 laboratories, 30000 students and 700 scientific PhD delivered per year. The Epidemiology of Allergic and Respiratory Disease (EPAR) Department (www.epar.fr) at UMR-S 1136 UPMC and INSERM, Medical School St-Antoine, Paris, is one of the France’s national leading centres for epidemiological research on allergic and respiratory diseases. Risk factors for allergic and respiratory diseases taken into account are: genetic, individual, environmental (air pollution), socio-economic, and demographic. In all projects, work is interfaced with metrology and expology using objective assessments of air pollutants. Recent work in EPAR has focused on the quantification of emissions and concentrations and human exposure to  chemical air pollutants and bio-contaminants and allergens and their impact. Very recent investigations deal with the role of epigenetics, multi-pollution and climate change in allergies and respiratory diseases. Ongoing international projects of which EPAR is Principal Investigator (PI) deal with the effects of environment and air pollution on allergic respiratory diseases in elderly people (GERIE Study (Geriatric Study of health effects of air pollution in elderly people). In addition, since 2010 EPAR has been or is WP leader in the following international studies: HESE (Health Effects of School Environment), SINHONIE (Schools Indoor Pollution and Health: Observatory Network in Europe) and PHASE (Public Health Adaptation Strategies to Extreme weather events) Study funded by DG-SANCO, the MED_HISS (Mediterranean Health Interview Surveys Studies: long term exposure to air pollution and health and surveillance) LIFE+ project.