News
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We participated at EURO CD 2019, in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, 2-4 October, 2019
We participated at the 6th European Conference on Cyclodextrins (EURO CD 2019) (https://eurocd2019.com/) organised in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, between 2-4 October, 2019.
The goal of EURO CD 2019 was to offer a multidisciplinary meeting point for scientists involved in cyclodextrin production, chemistry and modelling, or applications in diverse fields including analytical chemistry, drug formulation, gene therapy, regenerative medicine, cosmetics, food, bioremediation and agriculture.
The attendees had an excellent opportunity to learn the latest findings on raw materials, products, procedures and equipment affecting cyclodextrin field, and how to integrate them into the own research, to directly engage people working in complementary fields, make professional connections and create scientific synergies, to discover the similar challenges faced by other researchers and keep the mind open to novel ways of dealing with chemistry, biomedical, food technology and ecological problems exploiting the endless capabilities of cyclodextrins.
Our group was represented at EURO CD 2019 by 3 members: Mónika Molnár, Ildikó Fekete Kertész and Zsófia Berkl, presenting 3 posters.
Mónika Molnár presented a poster on cyclodextrin mediated quorum quenching in the Aliivibrio fischeri bioluminescence model system.
Molnár, M., Berkl, Zs., Németh, I., Fekete-Kertész, I., Márton, R., Timár B., Fenyvesi, É., Szente, L. (2019) Cyclodextrin mediated quorum quenching in the Aliivibrio fischeri bioluminescence model system – Modulation of bacterial communication, (PO-37), https://eurocd2019.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/PRELIMINARY-LIST-OF-POSTERS-v3.pdf
Ildikó Fekete Kertész presented the quorum quenching effect of different CD molecules and their derivatives in the P. aeruginosa model system based on pyoverdin and pyocyanin pigment production.
Fekete-Kertész, I., Berkl, Zs., Tóth, Zs., Fenyvesi, É., Szente, L., Molnár, M. (2019) The quorum quenching effect of cyclodextrins on the pigment production of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, (PO-92). https://eurocd2019.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/PRELIMINARY-LIST-OF-POSTERS-v3.pdf
Zsófia Berkl’s poster presented the study on the effect of cyclodextrines on the biofilm formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Zs. Berkl, M. Molnár, Á. Bordohányi, I. Fekete-Kertész, I. Németh, É. Fenyvesi, L. Szente (2019) The effect of cyclodextrins on the biofilm formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa – Modulation of quorum sensing, (PO-36). https://eurocd2019.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/PRELIMINARY-LIST-OF-POSTERS-v3.pdf
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We participated at ECCE12 and ECAB5 joint congresses in Florence, 14-19, September, 2019
We participated at the joint Congresses ECCE12 (the 12th European Congress of Chemical Engineering) and ECAB 5 (the 5th European Congress of Applied Biotechnology) organised by the European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE)), the European Society of Biochemical Engineering Science (ESBES) and the Italian Association of Chemical Engineering (AIDIC) in Florence between 14-19, September, 2019 (http://www.ecce12-ecab5.org/).
The conferences covered a wide range of research themes under the umbrella of Chemical Engineering and Applied Biotechnology. The topics treated were all typical of Chemical Engineering and Applied Biotechnologies, from the classical ones, like process simulation and reactor design, to the most current ones, like nanotechnologies, bio-fuels, bio-catalysts, food and water, that represent the challenges of the future and are of interest to everybody.
Our group was represented by Emese Vaszita, who presented in an e-poster the most recent results of one of our research topics, biochar, as soil amendment. The poster detailed the results of a laboratory incubation study monitoring the effects of artificial biological aging on the physicochemical, biological and ecotoxicological properties of five biochar types.
The e-poster can be viewed at the conference webpage (Screen 44, P/392): http://www.livecongress.it/posters/public/viewer/C456CB6E#posters/screen-04
The abstract of the presentation is available in the Book of Abstracts, page: 1832-1833 of the Conference:
Molnár, M., Kőszegi, M., Vaszita, E., Gruiz, K., Farkas, É. (2019) Influence of artificial biological aging on physicochemical, biological and ecotoxicological properties of five biochars – a laboratory incubation study, ECCE12, The 12th European Congress of Chemical Engineering, ECAB5, The 5th European Congress of Applied Biotechnology, Florence 15-19 September 2019, Book of Abstracts, pp. 1832-1833, ISBN : 978-88-95608-75-4, DOI: 10.3303/BOA1901
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We participated at the ISTA 19 Symposium in Thessaloniki, Greece, August 25-30, 2019
We participated at the 19th International Symposium on Toxicity Assessment (ISTA 19) (http://ista19.civil.auth.gr/), hosted by the Division of Hydraulics and Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in collaboration with the Society of Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety (SECOTOX) in Thessaloniki, Greece, between August 25-30, 2019.
ISTA conference series has been biennial since 1983 and it serves as a catalyst for fruitful exchanges between researchers, managers and legislators involved in all fields of environmental science, safety and health. ISTA provides a forum for discussions dealing with current advances in toxicity and risk assessment, fundamental and innovative concepts in ecotoxicology.
The programme of the symposium can be downloaded from the Symposium webpage: http://ista19.civil.auth.gr/deadlines-2/
Maria Tolner, on behalf of our group, presented a poster (see title below) in the Soil Microbiology and Ecotoxicity Topic of the Symposium:
Farkas, É., Kerekes, I., Tolner M., Szabó, Á., Vaszita, E. and Molnár, M. (2019) Biochar mediated short-term effects on acidic sandy soil and influence on soil living animal Enchytraeus albidus preference behavioral test as a screening tool to assess soil habitat function, Abstracts ISTA 19 , p. 39.
The abstract of the presentation can be reached in the Book of Abstracts, available at the conference webpage (http://ista19.civil.auth.gr/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Abstracts_ISTA-2019.pdf page 39).
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A four volumes book series “Engineering Tools for Environmental Risk Management” edited by Hungarian scientists was published by CRC Press
A four volumes book series “Engineering Tools for Environmental Risk Management” edited by Hungarian scientists (Katalin Gruiz: Budapest University of Technology, Budapest, Hungary, Éva Fenyvesi: Cyclodextrin Research and Development Ltd, Budapest, Hungary, Tamas Meggyes: Berlin, Germany) was published by CRC Press, member of the Taylor & Francis publishing group.
The book series deals with environmental management, assessment & monitoring tools, environmental toxicology and risk reduction technologies and focuses on the state of knowledge concerning the environment and its conscious and structured application in environmental engineering, management, decision making and legislation. The members of our research group are amongst the authors of the book series.
Series Titles (the books are still available for purchase)
1st Edition
Katalin Gruiz, Tamas Meggyes, Eva Fenyvesi
August 08, 2014Engineering Tools for Environmental Risk Management: 2. Environmental Toxicology
1st Edition
Katalin Gruiz, Tamas Meggyes, Eva Fenyvesi
April 27, 2015Engineering Tools for Environmental Risk Management: 3. Site Assessment and Monitoring Tools
1st Edition
Katalin Gruiz, Tamas Meggyes, Eva Fenyvesi
October 21, 2016Engineering Tools for Environmental Risk Management: 4. Risk Reduction Technologies and Case Studies
1st Edition
Katalin Gruiz, Tamás Meggyes, Éva Fenyvesi
January 17, 2019 -
We participated at the CRITICAL RAW MATERIALS DATA MANAGEMENT & EUROPEAN SCANDIUM INVENTORY WORKSHOPS at Berlin, on 26-27 November 2018
The German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) in cooperation with the SCALE Project, organised a workshop on secondary raw materials / urban mining data management in close connection with a scientific exchange platform for stake holders of the European scandium inventory.
Our group was represented at both events.
On behalf of our group, Dr. Éva Ujaczki presented a lecture on the ENFO-MOKKA environmental database, which incorporates the SCALE database planned within the SCALE project.
The SCALE database may include information not only on Sc containing wastes but also on other Critical Raw Materials.
The lecture on the ENFO-MOKKA database (E. Vaszita, V. Feigl, É. Ujaczki, I. F. Kertész, Z. Berkl & M. Molnár, Budapest University of Technology and Economics: Hungarian ENFO MOKKA environmental database: Environmental information on scandium containing wastes) can be reached via the SCALE project website: http://scale-project.eu/scandium-workshop/
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Our review paper on the re-use of bauxite residues was published in the Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology
Dr. Éva Ujaczki, as first author, in collaboration with Hungarian, Irish, Swiss and Greek scientists, has presented a stop-gap review article on bauxite residue in the Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.
The paper does not only discuss the re-use options of bauxite residue (red mud), but it outlines their environmental consequences.
The paper (Éva Ujaczki, Viktória Feigl, Mónika Molnár, Patricia Cusack, Teresa Curtin, Ronan Courtney, Lisa O’Donoghue, Panagiotis Davris, Christoph Hugi, Michael W.H. Evangelou, Efthymios Balomenos, Markus Lenz: Re‐using bauxite residues: benefits beyond (critical raw) material recovery) can be reached via: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jctb.5687.
The work was carried out with the support of a Swiss-Hungarian Sciex project and the Scale H2020 project.
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We participated at the 7th Conference of the Hungarian Society of Ecotoxicology
Our research group was represented by Kerekes Ivett and our students at the 7th Conference of the Hungarian Society of Ecotoxicology (24th November 2017).
We attended the conference with the below mentioned poster presentation:
Kerekes I., Majnovics Á. E., Hegyi V. D., Molnár M. és Feigl V.: Ecotoxicological effect of red mud in sandy soils in a mid-term microcosm experiment
Our poster presents the ecotoxicological results of a 7 months soil amelioration microcosm experiment with red mud, aiming assessment of its environmental risks.
At the conference we had the opportunity to listen to oral presentations about epigenetic effects, about the much debated glyphosate and several related glyphosate salt compounds, about the neonicotionide insecticides, and even about the meta-analysis of data on metals affecting nematodes.
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The SCALE project is 1 year old
The Scale (Scandium Aluminium Europe) project became 1 year old on the 30th November 2017. The consortium with almost 40 participants has held its 1 year Project Meeting in Rotterdam.
Dr. Viktória Feigl , Emese Vaszita and Éva Ujaczki attended the meeting on behalf of BME. We visited Tronox’s Rotterdam Botlek titanium dioxide (TiO2) producing facility, since one of the objectives of the project is extraction of scandium from the filter cake, the final residue of TiO2 production.
BME’s research group is involved in the project with the following main tasks: assessment of the environmental effects of the planned processes, chemicals, wastes and products, environmental risk management, Life Cycle Analysis and development of an environmental database for scandium bearing wastes (included into the MOKKKA-ENFO database ).
BME and FHNW with the collaboration of the consortium partners have completed the 1st public Deliverable on the environmental, health and safety controls that should be taken into account in SCALE technology development.
The document has the following title “Markus Lenz, Dirk Hengevoss, Éva Ujaczki, Emese Vaszita, Viktória Feigl: Environmental, health and safety characterization of processes for application case studies”.
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We participated at the CELSA Round Table Discussion hosted by BME
The Round Table Discussion of the “Central Europe Leuven Strategic Alliance” (CELSA) was hosted by the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) on the 16th November 2017. Besides BME, the following universities were represented at the event: KU Leuven (Belgium), Charles University (Czech Republic), University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), Semmelweis University (Hungary) and ELTE (Hungary).
Each participant university presented a successful H2020 project with positive effect on the society. BME’s selected H2020 project, presented by Dr. Feigl Viktória, was the Scale (Scandium Aluminium Europe) . The main aim of the project is the efficient exploitation of EU high concentration scandium containing resources including bauxite residues (100-150 ppm) resulting from alumina production and acid wastes (50-100 ppm) from TiO2 pigment production to develop a stable and secure EU scandium supply chain to serve the needs of EU aerospace and high tech industry. Consequently, the project fits well into the Circular Economy Model of the EC.
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Success of our student at the Scientific Conference for Students
The Faculty of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology of Budapest University of Technology and Economics organises yearly the Scientific Conference for Students. Major Mónika, BSc bioengineer student’s work, coordinated by Dr. Feigl Viktória has been awarded the 2nd place in the “Biochemistry and Biotechnology” section of the Conference in 2017. The title of the paper is: “ Study of the microbial activity and community level physiological profile in bauxite residue treated soils”. The research was performed within the OTKA PD 115871 project supported by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office.
In addition, Major Mónika won also the special price of the “American Society for Microbiology” for her work.