Microplastics Research Center

❗Tested: PET vs PBS & PLA | 2 clones of Daphnia magna

💡 Biodegradable bio-based & commodity microplastics cause adverse effects on D. magna
💡 Clonal sensitivity matters!
💡 Cellulose particles show neutral - positive effects
💡 Reduced food availability = environmentally relevant scenario

Same but different: The response to petroleum and biodegradable bio-based microplastics deviates between Daphnia magna clones Microplastics (MP) derived from commodity plastics are considered a threat to ecosystems. Bio-based and biodegradable (BB-) plastics are proposed as e…

📣 New CRC 1357 Article: Same but different: The response to petroleum & biodegradable bio‑based microplastics deviates between Daphnia magna clones

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Effects of petroleum-based and biodegradable bio-based microplastics versus natural control particles on Paramecium caudatum, combined with in situ Raman spectroscopic detection The impacts of microplastics (MPs) are becoming increasingly concerning. Although many ecotoxicological studies have examined potential effects of MPs…

📣 New CRC 1357 Article: Effects of petroleum-based & biodegradable bio-based microplastics vs natural control particles on Paramecium caudatum

🔬in situ µ-Raman spectroscopy
🦠Reproduction in P. caudatum increases

Read open access
👉 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Tire & road wear particles are a growing environmental concern – yet their atmospheric abundance & transformation are still poorly understood.​

Here 6 marker compounds were used to indirectly detect TRWP in complex environmental samples across the full emission pathway.

About the Variability of Tire and Road Wear Marker Components in Air: From Emissions to Atmospheric Deposition Particles originating from tire wear and road interactions, tire and road wear particles (TRWP), are an emerging class of nonexhaust emissions with growing environmental concern. Yet, little is known ...

📣 New CRC 1357 Microplastics Publication:
About the Variability of Tire and Road Wear Marker Components in Air: From Emissions to Atmospheric Deposition” in EST @acs.org

Read the full open access article here:
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

@unibayreuth.bsky.social @dfg.de @bayceer.bsky.social

All interessted researchers are welcome! Our seminars are open and live-streamed via ZOOM. To receive the ZOOM links please subscribe for our seminar newsletter: lnkd.in/dtdVaGQv

🔎Marine litter is ubiquitous in all oceans. Submarine canyons are litter hotspots & conveyors to the deep sea. Not yet known are pathways & processes controling the inputs, distribution & fate. This talk will shed light on the key factors responsible for the accumulation on the deep seafloor.

Join us for next weeks CRC 1357 Microplastics Seminar "Transport & accumulation of marine litter in submarine canyons: a geoscience perspective"

📅 26 January 2026
⌚ 12:15 CET
🧭 H23, RWII, @unibayreuth.bsky.social
🗣️ Dr. Martina Pierdomenico, Environmental Geology & Geoengineering, CNR - IGAG

Our week kicked off at a joint seminar of @crc1357.bsky.social, CRC MultiTrans & COIN, where @ahm531.bsky.social represented FAIRmat with a talk on NOMAD.
Big thanks to Christopher Künneth & Melanie Pöhlmann for the great organization!

Mobility and retention of microplastic fibers and irregular plastic fragments in fluvial systems: an experimental flume study - Microplastics and Nanoplastics Pore-scale microplastics (< 10 μm) are emerging contaminants whose behavior and fate in aquatic environments remain poorly understood. While the transport and retention of spherical microplastics (SMP...

📣 New publication from the microplastics group!

Congrats to Marco La Capra on his first first-author paper. The study shows that microplastic shape matters, with irregular fragments and fibres retained longer in streambed sediments.

📖: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
@crc1357.bsky.social

Bernd-Rendel-Preis: #Ausschreibung für Geowissenschaftler*innen! Bewerben können sich (noch) nicht promovierte Wissenschaftler*innen mit großem wissenschaftlichen Potenzial und hochqualitativen Forschungsarbeiten. Die Auszeichnung vergibt die DFG gemeinsam mit dem Stifterverband. 👉 sohub.io/2jaa

🔬 Researchers at the University of Bayreuth have developed new fluorinated polyesters that are more efficient and recyclable. By precisely integrating and recovering fluorine atoms, the materials can be tailored for sustainability.
www.uni-bayreuth.de/en/press...
#UBT #UniBayreuth #research

Congratulations Christian & Martin 👇
#HighlyCitedResearchers #DFG #Microplastics

Researchers explored why 𝐏𝐁𝐓, a widely used engineering thermoplastic, has long resisted enzymatic recycling:
💡systematically tuning its semicrystalline structure
💡optimizing enzymatic incubation conditions
🎉𝐞𝐧𝐳𝐲𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐝𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐁𝐓 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 when material & reaction parameters are adjusted

The Key to Enzymatic Degradation of Polybutylene Terephthalate (PBT): Influence of Semicrystalline Properties on Degradation This study demonstrates that enzymatic degradation of polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) can be achieved by tuning PBT's semicrystalline properties and incubation conditions. Polymers with a high conte....

📣New CRC 1357 Publication: The Key to Enzymatic Degradation of Polybutylene Terephthalate (PBT): Influence of Semicrystalline Properties on Degradation
doi.org/10.1002/cssc...

Würdigung für jahrelanges Engagement Prof. Dr. Heike Feldhaar hat die Bayerische Staatsmedaille für herausragende Verdienste um die Umwelt erhalten.

🌿👏 Congratulations to Prof. Dr. Heike Feldhaar, BayCEER, and University of Bayreuth, on receiving the Bavarian State Medal for outstanding services to the environment!

ubtaktuell.uni-bayreuth.de/umweltmedail...

#BayCEER #UniBayreuth #Ecology #Insects #Sustainability

Hydrodynamics shape riverine biofilms on microplastics: insights from an in-situ incubation study - Environmental Systems Research Microplastics (MPs) are recognized as emerging pollutants in aquatic environments, where they are rapidly colonized by microbial communities that form biofilms. These biofilms can alter the environmen...

📢 New CRC 1357 publication: Hydrodynamics shape riverine biofilms on microplastics: insights from in-situ incubation

Congrats to Rizwan Khaleel & co-authors on their new in EnvironSystRes funded by @dfg.de and @daadworldwide.bsky.social

environmentalsystemsresearch.springeropen.com/articles/10....

Link to Newsletter: www.sfb-mikroplastik.uni-bayreuth.de/en/seminars/...

Join us today!

Topics:
- plastic-associated chemicals from weathering plastics
- insights into the outcomes of the P-LEACH project
- profiles & effects of chemicals from plastics
- custom-made plastics & consumer plastics were studied
- analytical & bioanalytical toolboxes for leachates characterisation

CRC 1357 Microplastics Seminar – Open & Hybrid!

🎤 Prof. Dr. Annika Jahnke @ufz.de
P-Leach Impacts on ecosystem functions & human health by environmental plastics & associated chemicals
🗓 27.10.25
⏰ 12.15 CET
💻 Join on site or online
📩 Subscribe to our Newsletter for Zoom Links
Funded by @dfg.de

Great to see that data from lake studies can be further developed to understand also other transport pathways of microplastics.

This study provides novel insights into microplastic retention in drinking water reservoirs & underscores the vulnerability of such systems to episodic transport events.

📣New CRC 1357 Publication: Trapping of microplastic particles in Germany’s largest drinking water reservoir: a simulation study rdcu.be/eK6rK
Joint work between @crc1357.bsky.social @unibayreuth.bsky.social and @ufz.de!

#Microplastics #CRCMP #WaterScience #Research #Modeling #KnowledgeExchange

#Forschungsbewertung im Fokus

Die Veranstaltung am 10.09.25 bot Raum für Austausch: Warum sind Reformen nötig? Welche Chancen und Herausforderungen ergeben sich daraus? Und welchen Mehrwert bietet eine Mitgliedschaft in der internationalen CoARA – Coalition for Advancing #ResearchAssessment?

📅 Today! 👇 💡

Since its 2021 launch, ToMEx has enabled global researchers to explore, visualize, and analyze microplastics toxicity data for hazard and risk assessment. With rapidly growing literature, an international crowd-sourcing effort was organized to systematically update ToMEx. Important team work💪.

The Toxicity of Microplastics Explorer (ToMEx) 2.0 - Microplastics and Nanoplastics In 2021 the Toxicity of Microplastics Explorer (ToMEx, https://microplastics.sccwrp.org ) was released as an open source, open access database and web application for microplastics toxicity. Since then, it has been utilized by the microplastic research community for the exploration, visualization, and analysis of toxicity data for both hazard characterization and risk assessment. The peer-reviewed literature has continued to grow exponentially, making ToMEx out-of-date. To ensure the continued utility of ToMEx, an international crowd-sourcing approach was utilized to update ToMEx by extracting data from additional studies published since the original release. Through this process, both the aquatic and human health ToMEx databases roughly doubled in size, and modest increases in data diversity (e.g., number of species represented, types of test particles) were observed in the aquatic organisms database. However, most trends (e.g., greater toxicities observed with smaller particle sizes, lack of dose–response data etc.) observed in the first iteration of ToMEx remained constant. A previously developed framework for deriving ecological health-based microplastic thresholds using species sensitivity distributions was reapplied to determine how thresholds and their associated uncertainty intervals would change following the database update. Twelve new studies passed minimum screening criteria and were deemed fit for the purpose of threshold derivation. The addition of new data allowed for the separation of freshwater and marine compartments which had previously been combined due to a lack of applicable toxicity data for freshwater species. When molecular and cellular level endpoints were included, freshwater thresholds were comparable or increased from values calculated using previous data (-5 to 2.5-fold change) whereas marine thresholds dramatically decreased (-5000 to -29-fold change). However, when endpoints were restricted to organism and above, marine and freshwater thresholds were comparable to those calculated previously (-20 to 14-fold change). Confidence intervals for both marine and freshwater thresholds remained wide. The doubling of the database increases the value of ToMEx for researchers, particularly those focused on characterizing hazards associated with microplastics. Its utility remains limited for environmental managers as 89% of studies in ToMEx 2.0 failed to meet minimum screening criteria for threshold derivation, highlighting the need to generate fit-for-purpose toxicity data for threshold development. However, ToMEx continues to be a useful research tool, and future iterations could become even more powerful through novel artificial intelligence applications to streamline data curation and even predict toxicological outcomes.

🚀 Update on Microplastics Toxicity Research - ToMEx 2.0 Release!

The open-source Toxicity of Microplastics Explorer received a major expansion. Congrats to all authors that contributed to this international coop led by Leah Thornton Hampton.
🔎 microplastics.springeropen.com/articles/10....

This #meta-analysis adds valuable insights into how micro- and #nanoplastics affect reproduction in #Daphnia. An important step toward understanding #ecosystem-level impacts of #plastic #pollution.

Great work!!
#Microplastics #Ecotoxicology #BayCEER

Micro- and nanoplastic effects on the reproduction of Daphnia spp. - A meta-analysis Abstract. Several micro- and nanoplastic particle (MNP) traits, like polymer type, size, and shape, have been shown to influence MNP toxicity. However, the

📣New CRC 1357 Publication: Micro- and nanoplastic effects on the reproduction of Daphnia spp. - A meta-analysis.
by @analeticiav.bsky.social , Luca Liprandi, Christian Laforsch and @magdalenammair.bsky.social.

academic.oup.com/etc/advance-...

Graphical Abstract showing how surface charge changes upon weathering.

💡 The surface charge of particles larger than 10 microns can't be studied like small colloidal particles using electrophoretic mobility.

Streaming potential method allows to study this crucial parameter for environmental relevant particles!