EU joint project PRENDISENSOR

Prediction of the behavior of potential endocrine disrupters in soils using vitellogenin ELISA ASSAYS as Biosensors

Scientific collaboration:
- ICB Münster (GER),
- TU Berlin (GER),
- Universita degli studi di Bari (ITA),
- Research Inst. Agrobiology and Soil Fertility Haren (NL),
- Universidade Nova de Lisboa (POR)

Funding:  European Union (EU)

Duration:  December 1997 - November 2000

Project description and results:
Since autumn 1997, the EU research project "Prediction of the behavior of potential endocrine disruptors in soils using Vitellogenin ELISA assays as biosensors" (PRENDISENSOR) was carried out under the project management of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bernd Bilitewski and the scientific supervision of Dr.-Ing. Diethelm Weltin.

The research project dealt fundamentally with the behavior of endocrine active substances in sewage sludge and soils. It is a collaborative project involving engineers, soil scientists, toxicologists, chemists and mathematicians from Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Germany.

The engineering part of the research was carried out at the University in Lisbon and at the TU Dresden. Here, lysimeter experiments with contaminated sewage sludge and soil took place with the aim of documenting the temporal changes in the levels of endocrine disrupting substances in the eluate and solids. These baseline data, together with eluate and solid samples, were forwarded to partners who conducted studies on the sorption behavior of the substances and their endocrine effects.

In a further stage of the project, a mathematical model was developed on the basis of the data obtained to describe the mobility of the endocrine-disrupting substances.

The findings from the toxicological studies will lead to the development of electrodes for the rapid analysis of the endocrine effect.