Projects

Easy2reUse project will develop an intelligent reusable mask for healthcare workers, critical working groups and citizens. The mask will be sustainable, easy-to-breath, comfortable to wear long working hours, low lifetime cost, easy to clean, meeting the universal fit and standard requirements. User experiences of the mask will be closely studied in Finland and Spain. Cleaning and maintaining in the hospital environment and other environments are the essential part to make the mask reusable, fulfilling the cleanliness requirements. The market readiness research for reusable facemasks focuses on designing manufacturing processes that emphasize material sourcing, cost efficiency, and sustainability. A comprehensive understanding of economic feasibility, usability, and manufacturing efficiency is achieved by combining quantitative and qualitative analyses throughout the prototype development and testing phases. During these tests, facemask prototypes with integrated electronics are evaluated for functionality, durability, and compliance with current regulations and standards. Additionally, documentation for EU type-examination is prepared, and an internal quality control system is established and verified. The project explores best practices and challenges in production, regulatory compliance, and market entry by drawing insights from similar industries. Comparative case studies, life cycle costing (LCC), and assessments of market and technology readiness (MRL and TRL) guide the creation of scalable production plans. A preparedness plan is also developed for stockpiling, scale-up, and adoption by healthcare workers and the public during pandemics, applicable across European countries. The manufacturing process is designed to ensure production takes place in Europe, supporting regional supply chain resilience. Market readiness and cost-effectiveness are evaluated to create a comprehensive plan for rapid production and widespread market adoption.

CERN is an international scientific centre that unites 24 member states and 10 associated states. Their mission is to conduct experiments in high and low energy particle physics and develop novel technologies and IT solutions for medicine, AI and quantum computing. Since 2023, Estonian research at CERN has been coordinated by the CERN consortium formed by the National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics (KBFI), the University of Tartu (TÜ) and Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech) whose members participate in LHC CMS, WLCG, FCC, CLIC, iFast, AMBER, Cloud and CCC experiments. Cutting-edge research at CERN fosters internationalisation and advancement of Estonian science, technology and IT. CERN actively trains students, doctoral candidates, teachers and engineers, contributing to the next generation of Estonian scientists. This application presents the operational and infrastructure plan for CERN scientific infrastructure and consortium until the end of 2029.

CORESpaces project will enable a new normal in understanding, co-designing and implementing systemic changes for delivering human centric, resilient, climate neutral, revitalized and dynamically managed urban space, in partnership with citizens and stakeholders. CORESpaces rethinks spaces and public realm by developing and deploying flexibly adjusted, transferable tools demonstrated and tested in 9 cities across 9 European countries, generating open knowledge to streamline diffusion to any city building capacity and skills for climate-neutral, safe and smart urban redesign in EU urban spaces. The project will help to change spaces to become cognitive and future ready for climate neutrality.

According to OECD, Estonia is one of the EU countries where obesity and diabetes are most prevalent. According to WHO, every fifth child in Estonia is overweight. Therefore, our task is to help people reduce their consumption of sugar, salt, and fat, which are associated with obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. The Estonian food industry is already committed to food reformulation, transforming former sinners in to saints. For example, muffin, which has been a delightful dessert in the past, has now become a food with reduced sugar, extra fiber and with a Nutriscore value B. However, its health impact is noticeable only when the taste is equally enjoyable and consumers accept it. This reformulation project explores sweet-tasting and healthy peptides and oligosaccharides to replace added sugars, the synergy of flavor compounds and salt, and the effect of fats on flavour. We aim to have a positive impact on public health without compromising quality, safety and taste.

The project aims to revolutionise biosensors and point-of-care testing devices by developing sensor arrays using Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (MIPs) as biomimetic receptors for multiplex and/or simultaneous detection of targets that are of significant interest to clinical and environmental health. MIPs offer several advantages over traditional biological recognition elements in being more stable, cost-effective, and reproducible, making them ideal for low-cost and fast recognition of clinically relevant biomarkers and environmental pollutants in complex matrices. We will develop novel synthesis approaches for MIP-based sensor arrays that are affordable and scalable, allowing for the production of large quantities of sensors at low cost. Our innovative approach has the potential to establish a new generation of analytical tools that will significantly improve public health and safety, particularly in critical industries such as healthcare and environmental monitoring.

The consumption of dietary fibres (DF) should be increased to comply with the dietary guidelines and fuel various beneficial metabolites produced by the gut microbiota such as short chain fatty acids (SCFA). Microbiota also produces gases that, in sensitive persons including irritable bowel syndrome patients (IBS), trigger disturbing and at worst disabling gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, leading to the avoidance of fibre-rich foods. The gas formation patterns and amounts are highly individual and interrelated to GI parameters such as gut pH and transit rate. FIBRE-MATCH develops and validates a concept to match DF types to gut microbiome subtypes for optimal metabolic output. The project identifies major DF-metabolising microbiome types prevalent in Europeans using existing metagenomic, dietary and GI symptom data, considering also endogenous glycans. Representative microbiomes and DF will be characterized in vitro to identify metabolic phenotypes. DF combinations yielding an optimal gas to SCFA ratio in vitro will be used to develop fermented food prototypes for proof-of-concept studies in healthy volunteers and IBS patients, to study whether consumption of the microbiome-tailored food improves GI symptoms and IBS markers compared to unmatched fibre, using breath monitoring, metagenome, metabolome and glycan analyses. Biosamples from the healthy subjects will be used to evaluate the effects of DF on risk markers of noncommunicable diseases using metabolomics approaches. A novel database of chemical composition of DF in high-fibre foods will be developed to enable analysis of nutrition-microbiome interactions at functional and molecular level. FIBRE-MATCH fits to the Precision Nutrition Challenge portfolio as it develops fundamental knowledge, capabilities and resources that foster precision nutrition innovations related to individually-tailored microbiome-targeting foods, microbiome-based stratification, and ultimately decreasing the fibre gap.