Foundation for Research & Technology, Hellas (FORTH)

The Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH) is one of the largest research organizations in Greece with well-organized facilities, highly experienced personnel and a reputation as a top-level research institution worldwide. The Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences (ICE-HT), established in 1984 at Patras is one of the eight research institutes that constitute FORTH. Energy and the Environment is one of the three major research and development areas of ICE-HT.

C-STACC Team  

The Center of Studies on Air quality and Climate Change (C-STACC) is the nexus for the activities of ICE-HT related to atmospheric pollution and its impacts on health and climate.  The C-STACC research team has approximately 30 years of experience in the study of urban, regional, and global air quality and climate and has participated and coordinated during the last decade numerous EU projects. The team currently includes three faculty members (Profs. Kanakidou, Nenes and Pandis), approximately 10 postdocs and 20 PhD candidates. The research in C-STACC combines source characterization, laboratory studies of atmospheric processes, field studies, development and application of atmospheric chemical transport models. Most of the current activities focus on atmospheric particulate matter (aerosols), which are responsible for most of the health problems caused by air pollution.

The C-STACC team is involved in the development of instrumentation for the measurement of gas and particulate-phase pollutants and also measurement techniques required to study atmospheric processes. Equipped with a state-of-the-art atmospheric simulation chamber (FORTH-SC) and a mobile laboratory including a dual chamber facility (FORTH-MSC), the C-STACC team is able to simulate complex atmospheric conditions in a variety of environments.

To learn more about C-STACC visit the website: http://cstacc.iceht.forth.gr/

Contribution of C-STACC team in REMEDIA’s framework

• Conducting atmospheric simulation chamber experiments to generate and characterize complex representative atmospheres, with realistic levels of multiple pollutants both in the gas and particulate phases.
• Participation in atmospheric simulation chamber experiments to examine the health impacts of complex exposomes (identified in WP2) in naïve mice and in preclinical models of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and genetic CF (Cystic Fibrosis and surfactant disorders).
• Working together with P02-LISA to develop, test, validate and disseminate innovative and robust protocols for exposure of cells and preclinical models to realistic exposomes.