Maastricht University, the Netherlands, is to take part in two new Horizon 2020-funded projects for the development of innovative products and the promotion of research in the areas of health and education.
The collaborative projects were launched within the university’s Department of Data Science and Knowledge Engineering (DKE) in January and bring together universities, industrial players and policy makers in ICT innovation.
The 18-partner, €7.6m MaTHiSiS project intends to develop innovative educational tools for both formal and informal settings that place the user’s emotion at the core of the learning process. It will do this via the application of cutting edge analytics and AI techniques, including robots, mobile devices and interactive boards, in mainstream, special and vocational learning contexts.
DKE will play a central role in the project in the fields of computer vision, AI, data analysis and game design.
ICT4Life meanwhile is a nine-member, €3.4m research and innovation project aimed at the development of ambient-assisted living instruments and smart interfaces for the elderly and their caregivers. Its main focus will be people with dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease who are still living independently.
To that end, ICT4Life, through Maastricht University, will work on smart sensors able to detect anomalies in human activities and smart interfaces for the elderly to report and receive feedback from their doctors and families.
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Projeler
The adoption of eco-friendly, innovative technologies could slash the direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of aluminium production by 66% in 2050, and reduce the associated energy consumption by 21%, according to a new report from the Joint Research centre (JRC).
For primary aluminium production, the reductions between 2010 and 2050 could be even higher at 72% in GHG emissions and 23% in associated energy consumption.
These findings stem from an analysis of the current status of the aluminium industry in the EU28 and Iceland, which quantifies the potential for GHG emission reduction and energy efficiency.
In the study, JRC scientists compiled data on existing aluminium production facilities, their production characteristics, and the best available and most promising innovative production technologies.
The analysis, which identified cost-effective improvements in aluminium production at facility level and the impact of their implementation on energy consumption and GHG emissions, showed that most of the resulting reductions come from technologies that are in early stages of research (e.g. inert anodes of technology readiness levels (TRL) four or five, or even CCS, which is at an even lower TRL).
The report therefore concluded that harnessing this potential will require an effective policy push to create the right conditions to allow the further development and commercialisation of these innovative technologies. This finding supports the commission’s 2015 Energy Union package, which, among other topics, highlights the need for additional research priorities such as CCS and inert anode technology to reach the 2050 climate objectives in a cost-effective way.
Among these objectives is an 80-95% emissions cut in the context of necessary reductions by developed countries as a group.
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The Organic Chemistry Group of Coimbra Chemistry Centre discuss highly efficient theranostics agents for cancer.
A project focused on the development of novel photosensitisers to be used as near-infrared (NIR) agents for targeted photodynamic therapy and optical imaging of cancer tumours is underway at the Organic Chemistry Group, Coimbra Chemistry Centre, University of Coimbra, Portugal. The project, PDT-NanoBullet, funded by FCT, was awarded to Teresa MVD Pinho e Melo in 2015.
The research team has previously reported the synthesis of a new type of stable 4,5,6,7-tetrahydropyrazolo[1,5-a]pyridine-fused chlorins and bacteriochlorins via an [8π+2π] cycloaddition of diazafulvenium methides with porphyrins and chlorins.1 Absorption spectra of these chlorins and bacteriochlorins revealed intense absorption bands within the therapeutic spectral window, at 650nm and 730nm, respectively. These favourable photophysical characteristics, combined with high thermal and photochemical stability, led us to evaluate the phototoxicity of some of the tetrahydropyrazolo[1,5-a]pyridine-fused chlorins in cancer cell lines.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been successfully used in the treatment of skin cancers. However, treatment of melanoma with this method can be compromised due to the natural resistance mechanism of some melanoma cancer cells. In particular, high melanin levels in such pigmented tumours can lead to optical interference via competition with the photosensitiser for light absorption. This, together with the antioxidant effect of melanin, can affect the efficiency of PDT. Melanin is the dominant absorber in the 500-600nm spectral window, therefore photosensitisers that absorb at longer wavelengths are interesting targets.
In this context, preliminary studies on the photodynamic activity of 4,5,6,7-tetrahydropyrazolo[1,5- a]pyridine-fused chlorins against melanoma cells proved this class of compounds to be very active as photodynamic agents against melanotic (A375) and amelanotic (C32) cancer cells.2 Interestingly, dihydroxymethyl-chlorin 1 was particularly active against human melanocytic melanoma cells (IC50 = 31nm) (Fig. 1).
Following from this, metabolic activity studies of A375 and C32 cells after photodynamic treatment with the chlorins, both in the presence and absence of the singlet oxygen quencher sodium azide and in the presence of the superoxide scavenger D-mannitol, were carried out. The addition of these inhibitors resulted in a decrease in the growth inhibition rate. Thus, both singlet oxygen and superoxide must be involved in the observed photodynamic activity. Experiments with A375 and C32 cells in the absence of light demonstrated that the cytotoxicity is light-dependent. PDT studies with different irradiances demonstrated that the cytotoxicity is also light-dose dependent. The generation of the active oxygen species only in the presence of light is one of the major advantages of PDT. Furthermore, if these cytotoxic species are generated near the target, high selectivity towards cancer cells can be achieved, minimising the side effects usually observed with common systemic drugs.
The research team is working on the development of targeted photodynamic therapy using nanobody-photosensitiser conjugates. Sabrina Oliveira, research fellow, Utrecht University and co-principal investigator of the project, has recently introduced a novel form of targeted PDT by conjugating nanobodies to photosensitisers.3 Nanobodies are the smallest naturally-derived antigen binding fragment, obtained from a different sort of antibodies that are composed only of heavy chains.4 Nanobodies are known to accumulate rapidly and specifically in tumours in xenograft models.5 Furthermore, such immunoconjugates can bind tightly with strong specificity in an efficient manner to cells over-expressing the target. For example the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is over-expressed in cancers relevant to this study, and this offers potential for clinical diagnosis and biomedical research for the investigation of biochemical processes at the cellular and subcellular levels. NIR emitters are particularly important as their light output is in a region where organisms are highly transparent. The incorporation of high atomic number metals, such as platinum, can enhance the triplet state properties of tetrapyrrolic macrocycles, and in many cases leads to long wavelength, room temperature phosphorescence. In this context, NIR luminescent compounds based on platinum(II) derivatives of 4,5,6,7-tetrahydropyrazolo[1,5-a]pyridine-fused chlorins have been prepared and preliminary studies indicate that they are very promising theranostic cancer agents.6
From a photophysical point of view, these platinum complexes possess the ideal properties of a NIR-emitting complex for time-resolved microscopy. Moreover, the phosphorescence intensity of the platinum complexes is strongly quenched in the presence of oxygen. In contrast, the fluorescence is relatively unaffected, thus providing the possibility for their use as ratiometric oxygen sensors in chemical and biological media. The phosphorescence lifetime is also reduced in the presence of oxygen, making these compounds suitable for applications in fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy. Hence, these novel and stable NIR luminescent compounds based on platinum(II) derivatives of 4,5,6,7-tetrahydropyrazolo[1,5-a]pyridine-fused chlorins are likely to be useful for theranostics not only to melanoma but also to oesophageal, bladder and colorectal cancers.
The PDT-NanoBullet project is being carried out by an interdisciplinary research team, which includes Filomena Botelho’s research group at IBILI, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra and Oliveira’s research group, at the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University and has the contribution of Mathias Senge (SFI Tetrapyrrole Laboratory, School of Chemistry, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin, Ireland) as the project consultant.
The main objective for the next two years is to potentiate the results already achieved in order to develop efficient theranostic agents for cancer treatment.
PTDC/QEQ-MED/0262/2014 (Project’s Acronym: PDT-NanoBullet)
References
A. M. Pereira, S. M. Fonseca, A. C. Serra, T. M. V. D. Pinho e Melo, H. D. Burrows, [8π+2π] Cycloaddition of meso-Tetra- and 5,15-Diarylporphyrins: Synthesis and Photophysical Characterization of Stable Chlorins and Bacteriochlorins. Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2011, 3970-3979. [DOI: 10.1002/ejoc.201100465]
A. M. Pereira, M. Laranjo, M. Pineiro, A. C. Serra, K. Santos, R. Teixo, M. Abrantes, A. C. Gonçalves, A. B. Sarmento Ribeiro, M. Filomena Botelho, T. M. V. D. Pinho e Melo, Novel 4,5,6,7-Tetrahydropyrazolo[1,5-a]pyridine Fused Chlorins as Very Active Photodynamic Agents for Melanoma Cells, Eur. J. Med. Chem. 2015, 103, 374-380 [DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2015.08.059]
Heukers, P. M. van Bergen en Henegouwen, S. Oliveira, Nanobody-photosensitizer Conjugates for Targeted Photodynamic Therapy, Nanomedicine, 2014, 10, 1441-1451 [doi: 10.1016/j.nano.2013.12.007]
C Hamers-Casterman, T Atarhouch, S Muyldermans, G Robinson, Hamers, E B Songa, N Bendahman, R Hamers, Naturally occurring antibodies devoid of light chains, Nature 1993, 363, 446-448.
S Oliveira, G A M S van Dongen, M S-van Walsum, R C Roovers, J C Stam, W Mali, P J van Diest, P M P van Bergen en Henegouwen, Rapid Visualization of Human Tumor Xenografts through Optical Imaging with a Near-infrared Fluorescent Anti-Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Nanobody, Mol Imaging 2012, 11, 33-46.
Stable Metal Organic Near Infrared Light Emiting Platinum(II) Derivatives of 4,5,6,7- Tetrahydropyrazolo[1,5-a]pyridine-fused Chlorins for Imaging, Sensing and Optoelectronics, Provisional Patent Application nº 2015000028888 (2015/04/07, PORTUGUESE), Inventors: H. D. Burrows, T. M. V. D. Pinho e Melo, A. C. Serra, N. A. M. Pereira, L. M. Martelo, University of Coimbra
Teresa MVD Pinho e Melo
Associate Professor with Habilitation
Group Leader – Organic Chemistry Group of ‘Coimbra Chemistry Centre’ (I&D, FCT)
Department of Chemistry, University of Coimbra
+351 239854475
tmelo@ci.uc.pt
https://apps.uc.pt/mypage/faculty/tmelo/en
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Despite all efforts to establish the risks associated with nanotechnology-based products, there’s still a considerable uncertainty about the safety of these materials.
All emerging technologies offer great promises but also pose ethical and regulatory dilemmas that we must deal with. While the benefits of a new material, product, or process are often immediately appreciable, assessing their risks takes time. Nanotechnologies are no exception. Nanoscale materials often exhibit new or improved physicochemical properties compared with bulk material resulting in potential new applications. However, the very same properties that make nanomaterials so appealing also raise concerns about their safety. The wide range of nanomaterials’ industrial, biomedical and consumer uses has increased the likelihood of environmental and human exposure to these materials. So far, nanomaterials risk assessment has been done on a case-by-case basis, which is not feasible considering the vast number of materials and their possible variations. Scientists are now looking for new toxicity testing strategies based on predictive and high-throughput technologies for evaluating the potential hazard of these materials.
The Environmental Health Research Group
The Environmental Health Research Group is integrated in both the Environmental Health Department of the Portuguese National Institute of Health, and in the EPIUnit of the Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto. The group is led by Professor João Paulo Teixeira and supported by a multidisciplinary and highly skilled research team with expertise in the evaluation of the impact of environmental and lifestyle factors on human health, with a particular focus on genotoxicity and mechanistic studies, using both experimental models and human populations.
Towards a safe development and use of nanomaterials
In the last six years, the Environmental Health Research Group has been particularly involved in several initiatives in the field of the safety assessment of manufactured nanomaterials. They soon realised that a harmonised European and global collaboration to develop science-based, regulatory-driven safety evaluations would be the key for an effective and reliable nanomaterials risk assessment. Their first international joint venture within this field was in 2010, with a partnership in the European project NanoLINEN-Nanotoxicology link between India and European Nations (New INDIGO Networking Pilot Programme on Biotechnology and Health), which promoted the mobility of scientists among the eight participant countries, seven European laboratories and the Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, fostering collaborative research within partners with complementary expertise.
The application of the safe(r)-by-design concept along the innovation process of nanotechnology-based products has recently emerged as a promising tool to accelerate the capitalisation of the economic potential of nano-based products. Understanding how the intrinsic properties of nanomaterials (e.g. chemical composition, size, shape, surface chemistry) influence their interaction with biological systems will be decisive not only to accelerate the hazard assessment of the large number of already available nanomaterials but also to assist the industry in the safe design.
The group has recently started to work within this field of investigation as partner of ERA-NET SIINN NANOTOXCLASS (http://www.nanotoxclass.eu/) consortium led by Dr Andrea Haase of the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR). The project aims to develop a comprehensive grouping approach based on the joint consideration of relevant physical, chemical and biological properties (mode of action) of the nanoparticles to prioritise their testing and support risk assessment. Through a systematic and targeted approach, it is expected to establish criteria for grouping based not only in conventional toxicity endpoints but also in omics analyses (transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics), getting a more complete picture of the effects induced by different kinds of nanoparticles (e.g. TiO2, SiO2) present in products already available on the market.
According to the European Agency for Safety Work and Health, nanoparticles and ultrafine particles have been identified as one of the strongest emerging risks. Considering that nanotechnology industries are clearly expanding, workplace exposure is a matter of great concern. The comprehensive assessment of occupational exposure, toxicity and risk during the production and handling of nanomaterials has only rather recently become feasible, with the advent of new measurement techniques and first attempts towards harmonised measurement strategies. The recently begun ERA-NET SIINN CERASAFE project led by Dr Mar Viana of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) addresses the occupational risks associated with the manufacture of nanomaterials in the ceramic industry. The project will assess workers’ exposure under different scenarios and characterise intentionally and unintentionally produced nanoparticles during different industrial processes. The Environmental Health Research Group will be in charge of the evaluation the biological/toxicological effects of airborne nanoceramics materials in relevant in vitro and in vivo models.
Main publications of the group
Kiliç G. et al (2016). Res., 5: 235–247. DOI: 10.1039/C5TX00206K
Costa C. et al (2015). Appl. Toxicol. 36(3): 361-372. DOI: 10.1002/jat.3213
Valdiglesias V. et al (2013). Food Chem. Toxicol. 57: 352–361. DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2013.04.010
Valdiglesias V. et al (2013). Int. 55: 92–100. DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2013.02.013
Fraga S. et al (2013). Appl. Toxicol. 33: 1111–1119. DOI: 10.1002/jat.2865
João Paulo Teixeira, PhD
Co-ordinator of the Group of Environmental and Laboratory Epidemiology of the Institute of Public Health,
University of Porto, Portugal
Co-ordinator of Environmental Health Unit
Portuguese National Institute of Health
+351 933263104
jpft12@gmail.com
www.insa.pt
www.ispup.up.pt
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The second annual CommBeBiz Awards provide practical support to European scientific projects with the potential to address business and societal challenges.
Following the success of its predecessor, CommBeBiz has announced a second awards for European bioeconomy researchers, offering developing and innovative researchers the opportunity to promote their ideas to investors, entrepreneurs, policy makers and the media.
CommBeBiz is funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme with the objective of accelerating knowledge transfer from bioeconomy research projects to businesses in the name of social innovation. These awards promote innovation from research projects in all areas of the bioeconomy sector, i.e. food, agriculture, marine, forestry and biotechnology.
Laura Lecci, from the Brussels-based innovation network EBN, the CommBeBiz project partner responsible for managing the awards, said: “We are looking for ambitious ideas with the potential to address major challenges in the bioeconomy sector with clear business or social innovation potential – a unique proposition clearly differentiated from alternatives already in the marketplace or public domain.”
There were eight EC-funded project winners in 2015 with research briefs ranging from bed-sore prevention and remote-controlled livestock feed to sustainable energy from biogases. Six of these now receive support in progressing and reaching their innovation goals. A total of 19 winners will be selected this year.
Rhonda Smith, co-ordinator of CommBeBiz, says, “Entering our awards is a valuable opportunity for researchers to test and validate the potential of their ideas, while our winners will receive vital support for their projects in continuing and communicating their work and ensuring it delivers impact.”
The closing date for the CommBeBiz Awards is 31 May 2016. Winners will be invited to attend the EBN Congress from 28-30 September 2016 in Guimarães, Portugal. Go here for more information.
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The European Commission is inviting all interested parties to take part in a public consultation on the development of an integrated research, innovation and competitiveness strategy aimed at facilitating the EU’s transition to a sustainable, low carbon economy.
The strategy is linked to the implementation of the Energy Union communication, which called for more research and innovation to ensure that the energy transition happens via modern, user-friendly, safe, sustainable and secure solutions to the benefit of EU citizens and businesses.
“Research and innovation are important to every part of the Energy Union strategy. With a comprehensive, integrated strategy that enables the quick uptake of new technology and innovation by the markets, Europe can keep its leadership in developing competitive, low carbon solutions, improve our quality of life and create jobs and growth,” said research and innovation commissioner Carlos Moedas.
Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič added: “Energy transition is perhaps the greatest challenge of our time whose pace will be determined by our capacity to innovate. In this endeavour Europe can be led or be a leader. I choose the latter.”
EU citizens, private and public organisations, and other stakeholders are invited to share their views on how to achieve the EU’s energy and climate targets, as well as sector-specific research, development and innovation goals needed for the transformation.
The consultation will also look into the competitiveness of EU economic actors and new business opportunities, and examine how transport – one of the main energy users in the EU – can contribute to achieving the overall climate and energy goals.
The consultation will run for 12 weeks. Its findings will feed into the integrated research, innovation and competitiveness strategy to be presented at the end of 2016, which will be prepared with the close involvement of the energy, transport and industry commissioners.
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Competition from Asia is becoming key to improvements in energy efficiency in manufacturing processes.
Bossa, a textile manufacturer from Adana, Turkey, is rising to the challenge. Employing 2,000 people, Bossa produces on average 32 million metres of fabric each year. It began recording its energy data for each technical unit to identify areas where energy consumption is more intense. It found that two of the major processes in textiles production, weaving and spinning, demand the most energy consumption (75% of the total).
Ozgur Demirel, senior technical supervisor at Bossa, said: “Fierce competition from the Far East is forcing us to save more energy and resources, and now cost-cutting has become an investment priority.
“We have found that 15% of our product costs goes on energy. The remaining 85% is subject to global trading prices on chemicals or on materials like fibres, costs which are hard to compress. Therefore, focusing on the consumption of energy and resources has turned out to be the first step in reducing costs.
“The machines used for weaving and spinning operate unjustifiably slowly. We are therefore considering a measure to increase speed. This would in turn reduce the amount of energy consumed per metre produced without comprising on quality. Furthermore, we will apply a measure to the use of CO2 in the wastewater pool, as a way to mitigate the effects of sulphuric acid on the environment.”
REEMAIN (Resource and Energy Efficient ManufacturINg) is a Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) funded project that combines cutting edge knowledge and experience from production processes and, in this case, supplies solar collectors and furnace recuperators for different manufacturing processes for Bossa in an attempt to decrease energy consumption.
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Registration is now open for the launch event of three new calls for proposals under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.
The event will be held on 5 April and opened by maritime and fisheries commissioner Karmenu Vella (TBC). Keynote speakers include members of the European Parliament, DG MARE and DG Research.
With a budget of over €7.5m, the three calls are designed to foster blue growth across Europe: ‘Blue careers’ aims to enhance career opportunities in the maritime economy, ‘Blue labs’ to stimulate the creativity of young researchers, and ‘Blue technology’ to set up co-operations that will help bring research results to the market in promising blue growth technology areas.
The calls will be open to all sea basins surrounding the EU coasts and will target a wide range of stakeholders within the blue economy; their launch represents a concrete step towards the implementation of the commission communication ‘Innovation in the Blue Economy: realising the potential of our seas and oceans for jobs and growth’.
Go here to register, or keep up with the event via Twitter (#bluegrowth) or webstream.
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The world’s largest collaborative building renovation project has been launched today by Europe’s green building councils to tackle one of its biggest climate challenges – its existing buildings.
BUILD UPON will support governments, industry and civil society to deliver so-called ‘national renovation strategies’ by 30 April 2017 – long-term plans on how they will renovate their nation’s homes and commercial buildings to high standards of energy efficiency – in a concerted effort to reduce emissions from buildings, which today account for 36% of the EU’s total CO2 emissions.
The €2.35m Horizon 2020-funded project will bring together a diverse range of organisations to agree clear energy saving targets; co-ordinated awareness raising initiatives that engage citizens; and skills programmes that train the construction workforce to deliver high quality retrofits. They will also consider financial mechanisms such as green mortgages and loans, and policies such as strengthened energy performance certificates.
Green building councils across 13 countries are leading the project (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey), which is being supported by the World Green Building Council’s (WGBC) Europe Regional Network.
“Existing buildings are one of Europe’s biggest challenges when it comes to tackling climate change,” said WGBC CEO Terri Wills. “We can turn that challenge into a solution, but need nothing short of a renovation revolution.
“BUILD UPON will spark that revolution by gathering an unprecedented number of key players, including governments, businesses and NGOs, in a collaborative community where they will work together to transform Europe’s existing buildings into green buildings.”
The project will use two key platforms to aid this collaboration: the ‘RenoWiki’ – a groundbreaking online portal which allows individuals to upload real-life initiatives on building renovations in Europe in order to share best practice and successful initiatives – and a series of over 80 events aimed at bringing together more than 1,000 organisations to consult and engage key players in what could be included in their renovation strategies.
“There are already hundreds of initiatives on building renovation taking place across Europe, yet they often exist independently from one another, with limited means of sharing success and best practice, or lessons learned,” explained Emilio Miguel Mitre, BUILD UPON co-ordinator and director of international affairs at GBC España.
“Now is the time to build upon these relatively strong but scattered foundations by combining our efforts and aligning our resources to achieve a greater collective impact. This huge co-ordination effort is the central challenge BUILD UPON is taking on.”
The RenoWiki and a full events programme are available at www.buildupon.eu.
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Fig. 1 Researchers at the University of Bonn/University Hospital Bonn in Germany who studied the influence of oxytocin on sustainable decision making. From left to right (back row): Professor Dr Wolfgang Maier (Chair, Department of Psychiatry), Professor Dr Dr René Hurlemann (Vice-chair, Department of Psychiatry; chair, Medical Psychology Division). Front row: Dr Dirk Scheele (Postdoctoral Fellow), and Nina Marsh (PhD Student). Picture: UKB/Ukom/Rolf Mueller
The degree to which people are willing to donate their own money for social and ecological sustainability projects depends on their level of oxytocin
The sustainable development of society and ecosystems is crucial for human welfare, today and in the future. Marking historic momentum for humanitarian and climate action, world leaders of the 193 United Nations member states met at UN headquarters in New York in September 2015 to formally adopt a new, ambitious agenda for sustainable development to end extreme poverty, to fight inequality and injustice, and to fix climate change.i While the UN sustainable development goals are widely accepted as the strongest international agenda to promote sustainability, ecological and social responsibility have become a top priority for governments, institutions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and companies worldwide.
However, sustainable decision making often requires balancing ecological and social goals. In order to motivate more individuals to act responsibly with regard to social prosperity and environmental protection, a transdisciplinary approach aiming to understand the processes of sustainable decision making is essential. From a psychological perspective, sustainable development poses a challenge to each individual, as ecological and social responsibility often require a shift in personal priorities away from selfish towards more altruistic goals, at the cost of personal profits. While decision making per se is one of the best-studied domains in cognitive neuroscience, the brain mechanisms that underlie sustainable decision making have received much less attention to date.
A new studyii led by Rene Hurlemann MD, PhD, chair of the Division of Medical Psychology and vice-chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Bonn in Germany, has shed some light on these mechanisms. His team tested the influence of oxytocin on altruistic decisions in both a socially and ecologically framed sustainability context. Oxytocin, a hormone produced in a region of the brain called the hypothalamus, strengthens social ties in, for example, people newly in love and during breastfeeding the level of this hormone is particularly high. Earlier studies have found that oxytocin also promotes social behaviours such as trust, empathy and generosity. However, it remains unclear whether the underlying motivation of an altruistic choice translates to socially or ecologically framed sustainability projects and whether sustainable decisions are influenced by oxytocin.
In the present study, the scientists conducted two behavioural experiments involving a group of 172 healthy male volunteers. Each participant received €10 and was able to decide whether he would keep the money for himself or would donate a portion or all of the money to a sustainability project. The participants were told that their donations would support either an ecologically framed project (rainforest reforestation in the Congo region) or a socially framed project (improving the livelihoods of the native inhabitants in the same region).iii In the first experiment, the participants’ oxytocin levels were measured using saliva samples.
Oxytocin decreases the willingness to donate to ecological projects
As expected, the results show that participants exhibiting higher levels of oxytocin in their saliva donated far more generously to social projects than did those with lower hormone levels. However, what was surprising was that this effect could not be observed for ecologically framed projects. In an independent second experiment, the researchers administered oxytocin to some of the participants via nasal spray; the other participants received a placebo spray as control. The pattern repeated itself: On average, the oxytocin group donated twice as much to social projects (€4.50) than the untreated participants (€2.21).
Surprisingly, when participants were exposed to an ecological project, this behavioural pattern completely changed: the willingness to donate decreased under oxytocin. While the placebo subjects donated an average of €4.42 of the €10, the subjects receiving oxytocin were more penurious, donating only €2.42. To further test the influence of oxytocin on sustainable decision making, participants were additionally asked to decide whether to purchase a range of products either at market price for a conventionally manufactured version or at a price the participants set themselves for sustainable version. Intriguingly, participants given oxytocin were willing to pay double the price for socially sustainable products, illustrating that oxytocin’s pro-social influence even extends to the domain of sustainable consumption.
A hormone shifts altruistic priorities
Collectively, the results show that the participants who were given oxytocin more than doubled their donations to the social charity and nearly halved the donations to the ecological charity, compared to the placebo-treated group. Participants with low oxytocin levels tended to support environmental sustainability projects. The researchers found that oxytocin induced a change in altruistic behaviour away from ecological and towards social donations, while keeping the overall proportion of donated money constant. This effective shift of donation allocation towards social causes can be interpreted as a specific effect of oxytocin on pro-social neural underpinnings during economic decision making and not on economic rationality overall.
Given the substantial evidence suggesting elevated oxytocin release in a significant percentage of the population, including people engaged in romantic relationships, parental care, or social group activities, one may assume a widely prevalent bias towards social rather than ecological responsibility, which is inherent to the hormonal make-up of the human brain. According to this research policy makers, institutions, NGOs, and companies may be well advised to emphasise the social benefits of ecological sustainability in order to promote pro-environmental attitudes and eco-friendly behaviours. The researchers conclude that in case support is needed for environmental projects, the social message of the project should be emphasised to also reach those people who have elevated oxytocin levels. Also, promoting environmentally oriented projects using social frames may increase awareness toward – and motivate more individuals and groups to engage in – eco-friendly behaviours, which may help improve climate change prevention and the preservation of biodiversity.
Rene Hurlemann, MSc, MD, PhD, Full Professor
Vice Chair, Department of Psychiatry
Chair of the Medical Psychology Division
Head of the NEMO (Neuromodulation of Emotion) Research Group
University of Bonn
+49 (0)228 287 19123
renehurlemann@icloud.com
http://renehurlemann.squarespace.com/welcome/
ihttp://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/70/1&Lang=E
iiMarsh et al. (2015). The Neuropeptide Oxytocin induces a Social Altruism Bias. Available from: http://www.jneurosci.org/content/35/47/15696.long
iiiAfter completion of the study, the total amount of the money donated by the participants was given to a real sustainability-related charity project
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