We focus on airborne allergens, climate change and climate diversity, and an early warning system (allergen forecast). 3 major airborne allergens in Europe (grasses, birch and olive) will be sampled on filters, extracted and analyzed by allergen specific ELISA´s. Pollen counts will be measured by standard pollen traps. Weather data are freely available. Allergen forecast will be calculated by incorporating our measurements and climatic factors in the SILAM pollen forecast program. Expected outcomes are the implementation of a network of European outdoor allergen measurements to better predict airborne allergen exposure. Also the climatic factors that govern allergen exposure in outdoor air will be established. These can be used to calculate the effect of climate change on exposure to airborne allergens

We focus on airborne allergens, climate change and climate diversity, and an early warning system (allergen forecast). 2 major airborne allergens (grasses and olive) will be sampled on filters, extracted and analyzed by allergen specific ELISA´s. Pollen counts will be measured by standard pollen traps

http://www.hialine.com/en/media/HIALINE_for_EAHC_12apr2011.pdf
http://www.hialine.com/en/dissemination.php

No continent in the world, not even a country, has a network of outdoor allergen measurements. Recent scientific evidence compels such measurements, but technically nobody was able to set-up such a consortium.
A EU funded project is much more valuable than the sum of national activities, as the differences in climate across Europe are much greater than within single member states. This was the basis of our proposal: to use larger differences in climate to facilitate the identification of the factors determining the allergen content of pollen. Climatic differences cannot be too large, as plant species grow only within certain temperature ranges. Thus the European climate presents the natural extremes for certain species and thus makes the spread of our consortium over several countries an excellent opportunity to implement our ideas. Also, as has been shown by numerous national studies and several European projects, the long-range transport of pollen plays a very important role in Europe, significantly affecting concentrations far from the source areas
Therefore, a coherent effort covering the whole continent is needed to adequately evaluate and predict airborne allergens in outdoor air in Europe. European atopic individuals will then receive the best allergen predictions currently available, thus being better prepared and thus protected compared to other citizens in the world.
State of the art of measuring airborne allergen exposure in Europe is measuring pollen in ambient air. The generated data is supplied into a national network for pollen counts. The national data are then incorporated into a European network of pollen flight data, available at the EAN (European Aeroallergen Network). It is possible to view the data of each pollen trap all over Europe separately. Our project will add to the available networks of European pollen counts EAN (European Aeroallergen Network), who are partners in this project.

Botánica Sistemática y Aplicada

Code PAIDI: RNM-130

Carmen Galán Soldevilla. partner. 

Universidad de Córdoba

Budget of Andalusian group: € 57,865.00

http://www.uco.es/aerobiologia/

The consortium of HIALINE consists of 14 European organizations
• Klinikum rechts der Isar der Technischen. Universität München
• Réseau National de Surveillance Aérobiologique. France
• Finnish Meteorological Institute. Finland
• University of Turku. Finland
• University of Worcester. Uk
• University of Córdoba, Spain
• Universidede de Évora, Portugal
• Universitá degli Studi di Parma, Italy
• University of Florence, Italy
• Medizinische Universität Wien, Austria
• Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland
• GABO:milliarium mbH & Co. KG, Muchen, Germany
• Allergopharma Joachim Ganzer KG, Germany
• Šiauliai University, Lithuania