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Translocation of black carbon from the mother to the fetus. Development of a new internal label-free biomarker of black carbon exposures and its link with the early life origin of health and disease concept. Hasselt University

Tim NAWROT
Bio-Physics, Environmental Biology
Current ambient outdoor air pollution concentrations are responsible for 3.7 million premature deaths worldwide. The combustion-related particulate matter (PM) air pollution, indicated as black carbon (BC), increases cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, but also chronic respiratory diseases and lung cancer. Two hypotheses are used to explain these findings both from experimental as well as epidemiological studies. First, particles produce ...

Translocation of black carbon from the mother to the fetus. Development of a new internal label-free biomarker of black carbon exposures and its link with the early life origin of health and disease concept. KU Leuven

Maarten Roeffaers
Centre for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis

Current ambient outdoor air pollution concentrations are responsible for 3.7 million premature deaths worldwide. The combustion-related particulate matter (PM) air pollution, indicated as black carbon (BC), increases cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, but also chronic respiratory diseases and lung cancer. Two hypotheses are used to explain these findings both from experimental as well as epidemiological studies. First, particles produce ...

INCALO: Internal Black Carbon Loading: validation of a novel biomarker Hasselt University

Tim NAWROT
Environmental Biology
Ambient air pollution, including black carbon, entails a serious public health risk because of its carcinogenic potential and as climate pollutant. Inhalation of fossil fuel-derived particulate matter (PM) is associated with a wide range of non-pulmonary health effects. Based on the WHO report of 2015 the European health annual costs of air pollution have been estimated to US$ 1.6 trillion. Although recent studies strongly suggest that particle ...

Transplacental carcinogenic mechanisms of black carbon exposure (T-CAB) Hasselt University

Tim NAWROT
Bio-Physics, Zoology: Biodiversity and Toxicology, Environmental Biology
Ambient air pollution, including black carbon (BC), entails a serious public health risk because of its carcinogenic potential. Despite the respiratory system being the predominant entry route of particulate air pollution, various studies have indisputably demonstrated associations with a wide range of non-pulmonary health effects. A plausible explanation comprises particles translocation from the lungs into the circulation from which they ...

Optical label-free detection of carbon black nanoparticles for measurements of environment pollution. KU Leuven

Maarten Roeffaers
Centre for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis
Black carbon (soot) is an unwanted byproduct of the combustion of diesel engines and is considered to be one of the main contributors to atmospheric particulate pollution. It is thus extremely important to be able to measure the concentration of black carbon particles in the human body and understand the effects of these particles on human health. Recently, the idea of label-free optical detection of carbon black nanoparticles, which are often ...

Sedimentological and geochemical study of Namurian black shales in Belgium and southern Netherlands KU Leuven

Rudy Swennen
Division of Geology

The Namurian shales in Middle Carboniferous are of peculiar interest since they correspond to marine, organic matter-rich shales, especially the Upper Alum Shale. Time-equivalent strata to the Upper Alum Shale Formation include the Souvré and Chokier Formations of Belgium and the Epen Formation with the Geverik Member in the southern Netherlands. The Namurian Chokier Formation has been studied in two shallow boreholes which addresses to some ...

Advanced optical detection of carbon nanoparticles KU Leuven

Maarten Roeffaers
Centre for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis

Much of the outdoor air pollution originates from the combustion of fossil fuels. Current air pollution is associated to various adverse health effects. For example, combustion-related particulate matter (PM) air pollution, particularly black carbon (BC), can cause long term health effects, and results in cardiovascular, chronic respiratory diseases and lung cancer. It is very important to measure the effects of black carbon on human health, ...

Identification of long-term carbon sequestration in historically charcoal-enriched soils KU Leuven

Erik Smolders
Division of Soil and Water Management

Charcoal is the solid product obtained by heating biomass in oxygen limiting conditions. It consists mainly of aromatic carbon (C) that is highly resistant against biodegradation, its estimated residence time in soil is at least several centuries. Charcoal has, therefore, been proposed as a soil amendment (then referred to as ‘biochar’) for enhanced soil C sequestration. In addition, it has been proposed that biochar can indirectly enhance ...

Photocatalytic oxidation of carbon materials KU Leuven

Johan Martens
Molecular Imaging and Photonics, Centre for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis

The core of this research is the oxidation of carbon by a completely new approach. Oxidation-resistant carbon materials like graphite are oxidized by using photocatalysis. Present-day carbon oxidation methods make use of very high temperatures, polluting chemicals and aggressive oxidants, which causes many opponents. The photocatalytic oxidation method could potentially replace the commonly used Hummers oxidation method for converting ...

Label-free bio-imaging and quantification of polluting carbonaceous particles to assess their toxicology KU Leuven

Marcel Ameloot, Maarten Roeffaers
Centre for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis, Biomechanics Section

In 2015, it is estimated that worldwide 4.2 million people died prematurely because of the consequences of air pollution. Moreover, ambient pollution has been identified as the leading cause of the global disease burden. The core of atmospheric pollutant particles is represented by combustion-derived particles (CDPs), such as carbon black (CB) and black carbon (BC), which are produced during incomplete combustion processes of, for example, ...