Preludium BIS 2 – two grants for the UPWr

Prof. Agnieszka Noszczyk-Nowak, leader of the Lead Research Team – Animal Diseases – Translational Studies and director of the Doctoral School in the Preludium BIS 2 competition of the National Science Centre, has received PLN 536,800 for research on histological and structural changes in the tendon cords of the mitral valve in dogs.

Cardiology is currently one of the fastest growing areas of veterinary medicine. According to epidemiological data, heart disease, classified as a civilisation disease in humans, also affects domesticated animals, especially dogs. Degenerative valve disease accounts for nearly 75 percent of all cardiovascular diseases in these animals.

– And what's interest us that it occurs much more often than in humans. For us, veterinary cardiologists, it is becoming more and more important to understand the biological and mechanical factors influencing the development of this disease. We know that it is the most commonly acquired heart disease and the most common cause of congestive heart failure in small breed dogs, but we want to know more, hence my application for a research grant, says Prof. Agnieszka Noszczyk-Nowak.

As the leader of the Lead Research Team explains, the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) issued guidelines in 2019 for canine osteoarthritis distinguishing its four primary stages. Stage A includes dogs at high risk of developing heart disease, B includes dogs with structural changes in their heart but no heart failure, C includes dogs with a current or previous history of heart failure, and D includes patients resistant to treatment and at the final stage of the degenerative mitral valve disease.

– It is in this last stage that we observe many serious complications. Sixteen per cent of dogs develop a rupture of the chordae tendineae, but animals also suffer from pulmonary hypertension, or even left atrial rupture. We know the structural and mechanical changes in the valve leaflets affected by the degenerative process, but the mechanics and histological structure of the chordae tendineae, which are present only in the bicuspid and tricuspid valve apparatus, are something we have still still not explored," explains Prof. Noszczyk-Nowak, adding that so far, for example, it is not known how the structural and histological changes appear at different stages of the disease, how they affect the mechanical function of the tendon chords, or the maximum stretch that they can withstand when they are healthy and changed by the disease process.

The research project carried out by Prof. Agnieszka Noszczyk-Nowak should answer several questions: what is the maximum tensile strength of a tendon chord, both healthy and diseased, and thus assess the risk of its rupture. The research will allow to determine the histological and structural changes of the tendon cords of the mitral valve, their tensile strength and the correlation between histological, structural and mechanical changes in the various stages of the disease.

- Ultimately our research will contribute to the development of new therapeutic strategies for dogs with heart failure. But to develop these strategies, we need to expand our knowledge – emphasises Prof. Agnieszka Noszczyk-Nowak.

Yet another project in the Preludium BIS 2 program of the National Science Centre will be carried out by Prof. Andrzej Białowiec, Lead Research Team leader – Biomass and Waste Valorisation Team and Head of the Department of Applied Bioeconomy. He has received PLN 541,619 in funding. It should be mentioned that this is the professor's second project under Preludium BIS (in the first edition he also received over half a million zlotys for research).

– In a nutshell, torrefaction, also called waste and biomass roasting, as a by-product gives carbon-rich solid fuel, i.e. CSF. Recent studies have shown that CSF can be used to replace fossil fuels and is considered a measure of great importance for sustainable waste management, explains Prof. Andrzej Białowiec, adding that the project he is going to lead will focus on harmful and toxic substances that CSF may contain, and more precisely on determining the model of the influence of technological parameters of CSF production and the quality of the raw material on the emission of volatile organic compounds, as well as the validation of this mathematical model for forecasting potential risks to the environment and human health.

As the leader of the Lead Research Team explains, in the broadly understood field of waste management one of the currently dominant concepts is "Waste to Carbon", according to which the goal is to transform organic waste into valuable materials, including fuels with a high carbon content. Torrefaction turns municipal waste into CSF with a calorific value similar to that of hard coal. This is the positive side of this process. The negative side is that this fuel can contain potentially harmful and toxic substances, including VOCs.

– Of course, the content of these pollutants and their emission depend on the properties of the raw material and the torrefaction temperature. But this is why the use of CSF as a fuel requires a storage, transportation and use assessment. The key is to obtain fuel that will not be inhaled by people, avoiding the risk of inhaling harmful compounds – says Prof. Białowiec, emphasising that a detailed understanding of the causes of the negative effects of burning municipal waste into carbonised solid fuel and its further use has not yet been thoroughly investigated. This means that scientists still do not have enough information on the influence of different torrefaction conditions and the content of municipal waste components on the chemical properties of the fuel obtained from them.

TORIFICATION TURNS MUNICIPAL WASTE INTO CSF WITH A CALORIFIC VALUE SIMILAR TO HARD COAL, WHICH IS THE POSITIVE SIDE OF THIS PROCESS. THE NEGATIVE SIDE IS THAT THIS FUEL MAY CONTAIN POTENTIALLY HARMFUL AND TOXIC SUBSTANCES, INCLUDING VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS.

The team of Prof. Białowiec intends to fill this gap. He will assess the impact of the torrefaction temperature and the content of morphological components of waste on the qualitative and quantitative emission of potentially harmful substances from CSF. The project is interdisciplinary and the validation of a model for the influence of torrefaction parameters and waste components on VOC emissions from CSF will be carried out during the internship of a PhD student of Prof. Białowiec at Iowa State University.

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