Atopica - Home Page

Anthropogenic Factors

Human activities have increasing effects on environment: greenhouse gas emissions, land-use changes and socioeconomic policies influence global and regional climate changes as well as ecosystem processes.

Environmental changes

Expected climate changes will increase the occurrence of heat-waves, drought and flood. These, in correspondence with widespread urban sprawl, population and traffic increase might exacerbate the effect of environmental changes on human health.

Invasive plant and allergic pollen

Environmental changes are expected to cause migration of new invasive plant species and disease vectors, such as Ambrosia (ragweed ) and its allergic pollen.

Human Health

Ambrosia allergenic pollen causes hay fever (rhino-conjunctivitis), asthma and atopic dermatitis. The rates at which Ambrosia is spreading and the rates at which individuals are becoming allergic are on the rise.

There is an urgent need to develop integrated and cross-disciplinary approaches to assess health risks consequent to severe environmental change and to design suitable adaptation policies.

Predictive models

Modeling the combined pan-European impact of changes in

Predictive models

Modeling the combined pan-European impact of changes in air pollution

Predictive models

Modeling the combined pan-European impact of changes in air pollution,
land use

Predictive models

Modeling the combined pan-European impact of changes in air pollution,
land-use and climate

Predictive models

Modeling the combined pan-European impact of changes in air pollution ,
land use and climate to provide simulations and projections for airborne concentrations of Ambrosia pollens

Allergic diseases

Assessing the health risks of allergen pollen-induced diseases resulting from severe environmental change

Allergic diseases

Assessing the health risks of allergen pollen-induced diseases resulting from severe environmental change:
1) studying vulnerable groups of atopic patients

Allergic diseases

Assessing the health risks of allergen pollen-induced diseases resulting from severe environmental change:
2) tracking the effects of pollen in the initiation of allergic disease using an experimental mouse model of allergic asthma

Allergic diseases

Assessing the health risks of allergen pollen-induced diseases resulting from severe environmental change:
3) analyzing transcriptomics data to capture biomarkers prior to allergy appearance as well as early markers appearing during de novo allergy events.

Integrated assessment of environmental change and allergic disease

« prev Next »

The Atopica project ended in March 2015. Read more

The different geographic and climatic regions from which ragweed pollen originates, as well as the degree of environmental pollution, may influence the severity of allergic reactions such as hay fever and asthma. Pollen from plants in different areas exhibit different levels of aggressiveness. This is the conclusion reached by an inter-university study team led by MedUni Vienna and involving the University of Vienna and the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences. The study was recently published in the journal "Frontiers in Allergy".

The first study modelling the future impacts of climate change upon ragweed plant distribution, plant life cycles, and pollen production dispersal foresees their subsequent impacts on pollen concentrations and allergy. Quantitative estimates indicate that ragweed pollen allergy will become a common health problem across Europe, expanding into areas where it is currently uncommon.

Climate change would be responsible for two thirds of this increase, the remaining third would be due to the colonization of the plant as a result of human activities. These estimates, made by a European team of researchers, show that is now necessary to establish coordinated management of this invasive plant in Europe followed by long-term pollen and mapping the presence of plants. These estimates are published in the journal Nature Climate Change May 25, 2015

atopica press coverage

EU Open Doors Day

Atopica was in Brussels on 17th May 2014 for the 22nd edition of the Open Doors Day of the Europ...

Atopica at the Third International Ragweed Conference

The 3rd International Ragweed conference took place in Rho (Milan) on 3-4 April, was jointly organ...

Atopica is a collaborative project of eight academic & research institutions and two SMEs from seven European Countries.

We are exploring the combined impact of changes in climate, land use and air pollution on allergen pollen-induced diseases.

Discover the great number and high quality of media responses generated by the Atopica project kick-off meeting.

To highlight the importance of clean air the EC declares 2013 as the year of air and promotes initiatives to improve air quality across EU.

The Atopica project was published on the March issue of an European Union affair magazine.

See and download the poster and the leaflet (German version only) promoting Ulm University patient recruitment within the Atopica project.

EU Open Doors Day

Atopica at the Third International Ragweed Conference

who we are

what we do

Atopica press coverage

2013: The year of air

Atopica in The Parliament Magazine

UUlm patient recruitment