Strong presence of NextGEM in the BioEM 2024

NextGEM leaders FORTH-ICS, and the coordinator of NextGEM Nikolaos Petroulakis, hosted the 3^rd annual conference of BioEM in Chania, on the island of Crete (Greece). Worldwide EMF experts attended BioEM 2024, participated from June 16^th to 21^st. The conference is organised by the BioEM society, “an independent organisation of biological and physical scientists, physicians and engineers interested in the interactions of electromagnetic fields with biological systems.”

BioEM is the world’s largest and most prestigious bioelectromagnetics conference. The Society’s annual conference attracts academic and industrial participants at all career stages from all over the world. Attendees have a great opportunity to engage with other professionals in this field and share the latest updates in this topic’s research. This was a great opportunity for many NextGEM partners, as this project is intrinsically related to BioEM.

“The main goal for hosting the BioEM was to give the chance to the community of EMF and health to come together to the Crete Island, present the current status of their research work and interact with NextGEM partners and the other partners from CLUE-H projects”, says Dr Nikolaos Petroulakis, NextGEM Project coordinator at FORTH-ICS and local organizing chair of the conference.

A NextGEM-related poster, awarded with the First Prize of Student Poster Award

Seppe Segers is a PhD researcher at Sciensiano. He won the first prize for the Student Poster Award thanks to his work under the title Cytogenetic effects of in vitro exposure to 5G-Modulated 3.5 GHz signal on HaCaT cell line: preliminary results from the NextGEM Project. “I presented our preliminary results about genotoxicity and the exposure to 5G-NR modulated radiofrequency EMF”, says Segers.

📸 Seppe Seggers won the first prize for the Student Poster Award during #BioEM2024.

The poster: "Cytogenetic effects of in vitro exposure to 5G-Modulated 3.5 GHz signal on HaCaT cell line: preliminary results from the NextGEM Project"

👏 Congratulations to him! pic.twitter.com/fN9nXdDN2C

— NextGEM project (@NextGEM_eu) June 28, 2024

His work was not the only showcased during the poster sessions of the conference. Five more NextGEM-related posters were showcased during BioEM 2024. As follows, the whole list of all posters and authors of the posters under the umbrella of this project:

• Cytogenetic effects of in vitro exposure to 5G-Modulated 3.5 GHz signal on HaCaT cell line: preliminary results from the NextGEM Project, by Mr Seppe Segers (Sciensano and UGent), Mrs Maryse Ledent (Sciensano), Mr Roel Anthonissen (Sciensano), Prof Lutgart Braeckman (Ugent), Dr Birgit Mertens (Sciensano)
• MM-Wave Band Permittivity Characterization of C. Elegans, by Dr Pol Alonso (ICMAB-CSIC), Dr Gaetano Chirico (UCAS), Dr Anna Laromaine (ICMAB-CSIC), Prof Rita Massa (IREA-CNR and University of Naples), Prof Marco Donald Migliore (UCAS), Prof Fulvio Schettino (UCAS)
• A narrative review on 5G NR EMF exposure sensing technologies, by Dr Erdal Korkmaz (THUAS), Dr Sam Aerts (THUAS), Mr Richard Richard Coesoij (Delft University of Technology), Dr Chhavi Raj Bhatt (ARPANSA), Mr Maarten Velghe (RIVM), Mr Derek Land (THUAS), Dr Nikolaos Petroulakis (ICS-FORTH), Dr Marco Spirito (Delft University of Technology), Dr John Bolte (THUAS and RIVM)
• Study of the effects of human exposure to 5G millimetre-wave electromagnetic fields: development of an exposure system, by Mr Benjamin Vatovez (ISSeP), Mrs Maryse Ledent (Sciensano), Prof Marco Spirito (Delft University of Technology), Prof Fulvio Schettino (UCAS), Prof Anna Bogdanova (University of Zurich)
• Characterization of a reverberation chamber-based 5G in vitro exposure system: a biological perspective, by Dr Anna Sannino (CNR-IREA), Dr Mariateresa Allocca (CNR-IREA), Dr Stefania Romeo (CNR-IREA), Dr Maria Rosaria Scarfì (CNR-IREA), Dr Gaetano Chirico (UCAS), Prof Fulvio Schettino (UCAS), Dr Olga Zeni (CNR-IREA)

Additionally, more NextGEM partners made oral presentations during the event: Dr Mariateresa Allocca (CNR-IREA) presented Cellular effects of radiofrequency exposure to 1950 MHz, LTE signal, in human neuroblastoma cells in combination with menadione; while her colleague at CNR-IREA, Dr Anna Sannino, presented Characterization of a reverberation chamber-based 5G in vitro exposure system: a biological perspective. The Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUAS) took part in three more investigations presented by non-NextGEM partners, too.

Annual meeting of the CLUE-H

The 3^rd CLUE-H annual meeting took place during the Conference, too; and it counted with the participation of various members of NextGEM. This project, along with three other EU-funded projects (SeaWave, GOLIAT, and ETAIN), is part of the European Research Cluster on EMF and Health (CLUE-H). This network of over 70 organisations expects to fill the knowledge gaps that exist regarding the impact of wireless technologies on health and the environment.

Strong presence of NextGEM members in 3 workshops

The Workshop sessions counted with three presentations by NextGEM partners, too:

• Dr Nikolaos Petroulakis presented the NextGEM: Next Generation Integrated Sensing and Analytical System for Monitoring and Assessing Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Field Exposure and Health, in the Workshop The European Research Cluster on EMF and Health (CLUE-H), a session which introduced NextGEM to all attendees.
• Prof Mats-Olof Mattsson and Prof Mytrill Simko (both from Sciproof International) presented the session Are there appropriate exposure/dose metrics for RF-EMF health risk assessment? in the Workshop From exposure to dose measure: what are suitable concepts for public communication and research. “The paper discussed the rationale for biologically relevant dose metrics and discussed if we have such an entity for RF-EMF”, says Prof Mattsson, who adds that “this is a central tenet in the risk assessments performed within NextGEM, and most relevant for the experimental work.”
• Dr Sam Aerts and Prof John Bolte (both from THUAS) presented On advancing radiofrequency electromagnetic field exposure assessment in mobile-phone networks in the Workshop Breakthroughs in numerical and experimental EMF exposure assessment: The contribution of BIOEM young scientists.

Great satisfaction with BioEM 2024

“It was a significant moment for NextGEM and its partners. The results from NextGEM can undoubtedly be compared with the existing shared findings of other researchers within the community. The variety of NextGEM research directions can cover a wide range of research topics”, says Dr Nikolaos Petroulakis, who feels satisfied with the outcome of the event: “It was a great experience marked by a lot of personal and team effort. Everything went smoothly, and the participants enjoyed the conference and their stay in Chania.”

The same goes for other attendees, like the awarded Seppe Segers: “I really enjoyed getting to know other researchers within the field, and getting a broader scope on the challenges within the field, from exposure measurements to more practical applications in an experimental context”.

“We had some great discussions about the posters and it was great to be there with the NextGEM partners. The session I liked most is the one led by Mats-Olof and Myrtill Simkó”, says Maryse Ledent, scientist at Sciensano; whereas Anna Sannino, research scientist at CNR-IREA and presenter of one of the NextGEM posters, says: “I liked very much the Workshop 1, where I had an overview of all the Horizon Europe funded projects, and the Workshop 3, organized by BioEM young scientists. I found the event was very well organized.”

BioEM 2025 will be in Reims

The Conference for BioEM 2025 was announced at the end of the event, and it will be in Reims, France. There, it will take place the 4^th CLUE-H Annual Meeting, too. “I am pretty sure that the next period the role of NextGEM and its results will be of core importance in the EMF and Health community”, adds Nikolaos Petroulakis, who expects for the upcoming events “stronger participation by presenting more results and oral presentations by individual researchers from NextGEM.”

See related news:

• NextGEM’s presence at BioEM2023
• FORTH co-hosted NextGEM’s 4th and CLUE-H’s 2nd meetings in October 2023
• EMF and Health Cluster (CLUE-H) Kick-off in Thessaloniki 22 September 2022

Does EMF exposure pose a risk to human health? Exploring three NextGEM studies

NextGEM is an EU-funded project dedicated to exploring whether exposure to Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) can affect human health. Partners will achieve this objective through various lines of research, including methodologies and experimental procedures. The goal is to evaluate the effects of RF exposure in multiple frequency bands in in vitro and in vivo biological models. In this framework, three NextGEM partners explain their studies, which will shed light on this question.

Spanish partners ICMAB-CSIC showed us how they work with the nematode C. elegans and why this is useful to assess the biological effects of EMF. These tiny worms can be used as a first step to screen and evaluate materials to drugs and even EMF and to try to elucidate human-scale repercussions. In the following video, Dr. Pol Alonso explained the similarities between this worm’s biology and the human body’s, and how ICMAB works with C.elegans:

In Naples, Italy, the Institute for Electromagnetic Sensing of the Environment of the National Research Council of Italy (IREA-CNR) presented us the Bioelectromagnetics Laboratory. This lab is fully equipped for carrying out NextGEM experiments on human cell cultures and explore the effects on cancer-related endpoints due to RF exposure in different frequency ranges. In the framework of a collaboration between IREA-CNR and ICMAB-CSIC, in which the ICMAB’s expertise with C. elegans is combined with CNR’s expertise in bioelectromagnetics, the IREA lab will also host the in vivo experiments on this model organism.

In Belgium, Sciensano showed us the premises of the Scientific Institute of Public Service (ISSeP). There, they house an exposure system for EMF-effects tests on humans. Sciensano and ISSeP will undertake short acute exposures (45 minutes long) to a 5G (26.5 GHz) on healthy volunteers. With this, the project will investigate whether or not the controlled exposure could affect various parameters in red blood cells.

Welcoming the IARC, the first steps of NIKH and 3 project meetings: see the latest news of NextGEM

The consortium has produced 8 publications and two public deliverables during the last year

Many things have happened for NextGEM since the spring of 2024: the IARC-WHO has joined NextGEM, the NIKH platform has made its first steps, the project has had a steady number of publications and keeps up to date with the deliverables.

Now, you can see the most important news of the NextGEM Project during this last year on our latest newsletter.

Click on the image to read it!

The 10th Course of the Erice International School of Bioelectromagnetism, “one of the best organised in its framework”

NextGEM partners co-organised and participated in this School of Bioelectromagnetism, which celebrated its 20th anniversary

The 10th Course of the Erice International School of Bioelectromagnetism was carried out successfully at the beginning of April 2024. The programme occurred at the Ettore Majorana Foundation and Center for Scientific Culture in Erice (Sicily, Italy) for the last 20 years. This time, it counted on the participation of some NextGEM partners, including the co-director of the Erice International School of Bioelectromagnetism, Maria Rosaria Scarfi, Research Director at CNR-IREA (now retired). Scarfi considers that “the 2024 course was one of the best organized in the framework of the School“. She adds: “I liked more than one aspect. For example, very friendly atmosphere,  high student participation, strict interaction between teachers and students, and organization of group work.”

Dr Scarfi was not the only NextGEM partner taking a role at the school. There were also attendees from the Universitätsmedizin Mainz (IMBEI), SciProof International (SPi) and the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). Prof. Mats-Olof Mattsson is the CEO of SPi and was an invited lecturer to the course: “The course had a good balance between formal lectures and interactive sessions, and the knowledge presented was on a good academic level”, considers the Professor. He also defines the atmosphere as “very friendly, open, and constructive“.

CLUE-H and BioEM co-directed the course

The 2024 edition, celebrated on April 7-12, was also the 20th anniversary of the event. The goal of the School of Bioelectromagnetism’s 10th Course was to empower participants to apply epidemiological approaches with confidence. It focused on electromagnetic fields and health, for which in-depth reviews, insights, and discussion of key aspects were conducted. The theme of the course was in line with CLUE-H‘s, the co-organiser of this year’s edition. CLUE-H is a network that involves over 70 organisations and four research consortia, one of which is NextGEM. It aims to fill the knowledge gaps that exist regarding the impact of wireless technologies on health and the environment.

In addition to CLUE-H, the other co-organisers of the course were the BioEM Society, who supported the course from a scientific and economic side. IGEA Clinical Biophysics and the Interuniversity Center for Interaction between Electromagnetic Fields and Biosystems also sponsored the Erice School of Bioelectromagnetism.

#EriceSchool: Students worked hard to collect and analyze radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) measurements. Amazing results presented. Congratulations to all students. A 🧵, worth to read 1/6 pic.twitter.com/Q34I7h0TaK

— Martin Röösli (@MartinRoosli) April 11, 2024

Great satisfaction with the course

During the course in bioelectromagnetism, attendees were divided into small groups involved in: a) EMF measurements; b) Risk perception/communication; and c) How to judge a scientific paper in epidemiology. Joshua Louis Ziegler is a Research Assistant at IMBEI and collaborates with the NextGEM Project. “I attended this course to broaden my theoretical and practical knowledge on RF-EMF so that it would improve my work within NextGEM”, he says.

21 international participants from 13 institutes in 8 European Countries attended the school, all of them with diverse backgrounds. Prof. Scarfi pointed out that participants graded the course with an 8.9 over 10, showing that they were very satisfied with it. Ziegler spoke in the same line: “The courses were structured very well with plenty of highly interesting practical exercises. I liked it a lot.”

The International Agency for Research on Cancer joins NextGEM

The World Health Organization’s cancer research agency becomes the 21st member of the consortium, which assesses possible health effects by electromagnetic fields

The International Agency for Research on Cancer Research (IARC), which forms part of the World Health Organization (WHO), joined the EU-funded NextGEM project. The IARC becomes that way its 21st project partner. NextGEM is a public-health-focused initiative generating knowledge on electromagnetic radiation (EMF) and its possible effects on human health.

The addition of IARC means great news for NextGEM, helping to achieve the project’s objectives. IARC will assist in the goal of identifying causal links and perform risk assessment of EMF exposure. More precisely, the WHO-belonging agency will lead the umbrella reviews of epidemiological studies on EMF exposure and cancer risks. This mission consists of synthesizing findings from observational studies on the correlation between exposure to electromagnetic fields and the cancer incidence among the population.

Systematic reviews (SR) and meta-analyses (MA) are considered the top of the evidence pyramid. Hence, they are key components in public health policymaking. However, it is possible that SRs and MAs on the same topic come to different conclusions. NextGEM aims to provide the highest quality of evidence and a complete overview of the literature body. To do so, NextGEM will systematically summarise and compare results of all relevant SRs and MAs on exposure to EMF and cancer risk.

Teaming up with the World Health Organization

The IARC is the specialized cancer agency of the World Health Organization. Its mission is to promote international collaboration in cancer research and it brings together “skills in epidemiology, laboratory sciences, and biostatistics to identify the causes of cancer so that preventive measures may be adopted and the burden of disease and associated suffering reduced”.

They join that way NextGEM, a 4-year-long EU-funded project which started in 2022. Through scientific research, risk assessment tools, and the establishment of a dedicated hub, this initiative aims to provide evidence-based insights to inform regulatory decisions and promote confidence in the safety standards governing EMF exposure, especially during the implementation of the 5G technology.

On February 13-15, the project partners reunited to oversee the state of the project and its upcoming steps

NextGEM’s 5th plenary meeting took place from February 13th to 15th, 2024, hosted at the Sciensano Belgian Institute for Health in Brussels, Belgium. This significant event drew more than 30 participants from a consortium of 20 European partner organizations, highlighting the project’s dedication to fostering collaboration and inclusivity. Attendees joined both in person and via teleconference, reflecting a hybrid approach to engagement.

The meeting’s core objective was to present a detailed update on the project’s progress, with a keen emphasis on the technical details driving the initiative forward. Throughout the three-day session, participants engaged deeply with the material, culminating in the development of strategic plans for enhancing internal communication and furthering research efforts.

A key highlight of this gathering was the series of demonstrations that took place, illustrating the technical progress and advancements within the project. These showcases provided tangible examples of progress and sparked dynamic discussions among participants.

Additionally, the meeting served as a vibrant open forum, allowing every attendee to contribute their perspectives, insights, and innovative ideas. This collective exchange fostered a sense of community and shared purpose, laying the groundwork for continued collaboration towards achieving NextGEM’s ambitious goals.

Looking to the future, the NextGEM project anticipates its next plenary meeting in Autumn 2024, set against the backdrop of the historic city of Delft, Netherlands. This upcoming event, to be hosted by the prestigious Delft University of Technology, promises to be another landmark occasion in the project’s path toward pioneering innovation and setting new standards of excellence in the field.