SDG 3: Good health and well-being

Every year, 1.5 million people die of tuberculosis worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) states, although the disease is treatable and preventable. It’s especially a problem in low-income countries.

Accessible testing is still a challenge, but Adri Minnaard is hoping to change this. Minnaard is professor of Organic Chemistry, and has been doing research into tuberculosis for over fifteen years, collaborating with an international and interdisciplinary team of researchers. He builds pieces of the tuberculosis bacteria, which he says is the route to a more effective vaccine and simpler, more robust diagnostics.

More than 200 million people are infected with the malaria parasite worldwide each year, which is transmitted by blood-sucking Anopheles mosquitoes. Malaria caused the deaths of around 429,000 people in 2015 with the majority of cases in sub-Saharan Africa.

The rising resistance of malaria mosquitos to insecticides is hampering efforts to control the disease. The largest ever genetic study of mosquitoes, co-authored by Michael Fontaine from the Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES), revealed the movement of insecticide resistance between different regions of Africa and found several rapidly evolving insecticide resistance genes.

The study also found that wild mosquitoes collected in Africa were genetically far more diverse than expected. This helps to explain how mosquitoes evolve insecticide resistance so quickly. The genetic resource will be used to develop new tools for monitoring resistance and managing insecticide use, and for designing novel control methods.

Anton Scheurink, Professor of Neuro-endocrinology, studies the interactions between the brain and hormones, but he is also intrigued by behavioural change. One of his areas of interest is the principle behind NEAT: ‘non-exercise activity thermogenesis’, or subconscious exercise during everyday activities such as climbing the stairs, biking to work and cleaning.

Inactive lifestyles can lead to all kinds of health problems and diseases. 'Sixty percent of people don’t even manage the recommended 30 minutes of exercise 5 times a week. Our level of inactivity is truly shocking! Inactivity increases insulin levels and causes deposits of bad fats, even if your weight remains low. Being active is more important than being slim,' Scheurink says.

CurioUs? is an iniative from Science LinX, Forum Groningen and the Aletta Jacobs School of Public Health. With engaging citizen science activities CurioUs? aims to make people enthusiastic about participating in science and mapping (or even improving) their own living environment.

There is a library (in Groningen city center) where you can borrow measuring equipment (such as tools to measure soil health, CO2, energy usage, particulate matter and humidity) and there are coordinated citizen science projects. Past topics include heat stress, biodiversity, light pollution and particulate matter in the air. Researchers use the collected data in their studies. For example, the earth worm count in 2022 was a big success and the results have now been published.

Professor Petra Rudolf , Professor of Experimental Solid State Physics, was able to filter water to remove a toxic herbicide, by creating neatly spaced slits in a clay mineral. After removing the pollutant by heating the material, the clay can be reused.

In the Northern region of the Netherlands, a lot of sugar beets are grown. On these fields, the herbicide chloridazon is widely used. This compound is toxic to humans, does not break down in nature and will eventually seep into the groundwater. ‘Water purification plants can break down chloridazon using UV light – but the breakdown products of chloridazon are also toxic,’ explains Rudolf.

The functionalized clay that Petra Rudolf developed, together with collegues from Greece, absorbed the herbicide in significant amounts: nearly 900 milligrams per kilogram of clay. ‘This is a good result and we see scope to further increase the absorption.’

Abinaya Arunachalam is developing an alternative to pesticides, by using the natural defence mechanisms of plants as inspiration.

For example, the wild tomato has tiny hairs (trichomes) on its stem and leaves that act as a glue trap for flies and insects that wish to feast on the nutritious leaves. Abinaya Arunachalam aims to develop an insect-repellent glue that can be used as an alternative to pesticides - one that is not harmful to health and nature.

Antimicrobial resistance is a big problem in which drugs to fight bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites can lose their effectiveness, which leads to around 700,000 deaths per year. It has been a focus point for many researchers at the Faculty.

Microbiologist Marjon de Vos is working on a novel approach to tackle the problem, based on ecology and evolution. De Vos: ‘We need to understand how ecological and evolutionary interactions shape antimicrobial resistance. This will help us to develop new treatment options.’

Parkinson’s disease is the fastest growing brain disease in the world. This is partially attributable to the ageing population, yet it is becoming apparent that other factors, such as agricultural pesticides, heavy metals, and solvents, may also play a role in this. A cure is not yet available, but various scientists are busy researching Parkinson’s disease.

Ajay Kottapalli creates new sensors that can be used in a wide variety of applications, such as healthcare devices, prosthetics and even help with early diagnosis in ICUs.

There is an increasing demand for flexible, ultra-sensitive and wearable sensors in the field of prosthetics, soft robotics and healthcare devices. Kottapalli and his team at the ENgineering and TEchnology institute Groningen (ENTEG) are working on developing bio-inspired and even self-powered sensors. Their inspiration can be found in the natural world, such as seal whiskers and fish.

With organ-on-a-chip approaches traditional health research methods are redesigned, by imitating human tissue and organ systems on a chip device to model interactions. This way, animal experiments can be reduced (or even replaced) and the complex models offer novel ways to study diseases and ultimately develop cures.

At the Groningen Research Institute of Pharmacy (GRIP), several researchers work on Gut-on-a-chip and perform experiments that allow them to study diseases outside of the human body, but in a system that closely resembles the human gut.