News Detail

Barbara Günthardt, Matthew Moy de Vitry and Marius Neamtu win ETH medal

October 18, 2021 | Claudia Carle und Andri Bryner

The environmental chemist Barbara F. Günthardt and the two environmental engineers Matthew Moy de Vitry and Marius Neamtu are awarded the ETH Medal for their doctoral theses. Plant toxins, urban flooding and complicated flows were the topics. Congratulations!

The environmental chemist Barbara F. Günthardt has been awarded the ETH Medal for her doctoral thesis on plant toxins. She has not only developed methods for quantifying these substances, but has also built up a database and identified the releasing plants for individual substances.

Database of toxic plant substances established

When it comes to micropollutants in water, most people think primarily of pesticides, pharmaceuticals or chemicals from households and industry. But there are also thousands of substances of plant origin that are toxic. In her dissertation, Barbara F. Günthardt collected around 1600 of these substances from over 800 plants and their effects on the aquatic environment. She also searched for them in water bodies. Now she is being awarded the ETH Medal for her systematic and carefully worked out approach.

Starting from a newly built database, the doctoral student prioritised around 500 toxins based on their persistency, chemical-physical properties and frequency of occurrence. She has published a separate article on this in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry of the ACS [1] and in Science of the Total Environment [2]. In addition, the TPPT database (for Toxic Plant-PhytoToxin) is freely available on the Agroscope website [3].

In her dissertation, Barbara Günthardt subsequently developed an analytical method to quantify the 134 most important phytotoxins in samples using high-resolution mass spectrometry. She also immediately applied her method in the field and examined samples from 20 streams. She was able to publish an article on this in a special issue of the journal Chimia on Chemistry and the Environment [4]. Günthardt has placed a special focus on the investigation of pyrrolizidine alkaloids. These substances are found in around 6000 plants worldwide, which use them to protect themselves from browsing. Some of them have a liver-toxic, genotoxic or carcinogenic effect on animals. The researcher has uncovered the invasive greiseweed Senecio inaequidens as the main causative agent in the samples from Swiss streams - in some cases with considerable concentrations. Günthardt was also able to publish an article on this in the journal Environmental Science and Technology [5].

The 4 publications of the dissertation entitled "A Systematic Assessment of the Aquatic Exposure to Phytotoxins" are open access in DORA. The thesis itself https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000488067 is currently still under embargo. The work was jointly supervised by Dr Thomas Bucheli (Agroscope) and Prof Juliane Hollender (Eawag and ETH). Most of the work was carried out at Agroscope, but Barbara Günthardt was able to use sampling equipment and the high-resolution analytical instruments at Eawag.

Improve the prediction of urban floods

Matthew Moy de Vitry received the award for his dissertation on "Public Surveillance and the Future of Urban Pluvial Flood Modelling" [6] supervised by Prof. Max Maurer in the Department of Urban Water Management. The aim of his work was to improve the prediction of urban floods and, thus, to be able to better protect urban population and infrastructure. As the models used for forecasting were previously not sufficiently reliable, owing to a lack of data for calibration and validation, he developed innovative and cost-effective approaches for additional data sources - such as images and videos from traffic surveillance cameras or social media. Matthew has already been honoured for this work with the Otto Jaag Water Conservation Prize in November 2020.

"I would love to cut the ETH medal into pieces and share it with the many colleagues who made the work possible," says Matthew, "i.e. supervisors, technicians, co-authors and all the people who contribute to the special Eawag atmosphere".

Since completing his dissertation, Matthew works as a web developer and data scientist at Hades Technologies Ltd, an ETH spin-off that develops data models for automatic detection damage of defects in sewers, using machine learning.

Better understanding of turbulent flows

Marius Neamtu was awarded the ETH Medal for his dissertation on "Objective Coherent Structures Near the Turbulent/Non Turbulent Interface in a Stably Stratified Turbulent Flow" [7] at the Department Surface Waters, supervised by Prof. Markus Holzner. This work contributes to a better understanding of turbulent flows. Such flows are ubiquitous in nature and industrial applications. One example is the smoke issuing from a chimney. In many turbulent flows (e.g. turbulent jets, wakes and boundary layers), surrounding irrotational fluid is continuously entrained in the turbulent region across a sharp interface – called turbulent/non-turbulent interface. This phenomenon, called turbulent entrainment, has a direct impact on the turbulent flow evolution and development. Marius investigated the turbulent entrainment, and more specifically the role of vortical structures in this process. He applied novel mathematical methods to unravel vortical structures from turbulent flows and he elucidated how these structures modulate the turbulent entrainment. This provides an important basis for better modelling turbulent flows - for example, ocean currents and the associated climatic effects. 

"I was very surprised when my work was awarded the ETH Medal," says Marius, "because I had rather in mind what I could have done better. I am very honored to receive this prize and grateful to those who contributed to this work”. He would like to invest the prize money in his further education. Marius Neamtu now works as a project engineer at the Holinger company in Zurich, where he is responsible for planning major international water supply projects.

The ETH Medal, which comes with prize money of 2000 Swiss francs, is awarded every year to outstanding doctoral theses. The award for Neamtu and Moy de Vitry was presented by Rector Sarah Springmann at the doctoral ceremony on 9 July, the one for Günthardt is scheduled for the beginning of 2022.

Cover picture: Eawag

Original papers

[1]

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      originalId => protected20138 (integer)
      authors => protected'Günthardt, B. F.; Hollender, J.; Hungerbühler, K.; Sch
         eringer, M.; Bucheli, T. D.
' (118 chars) title => protected'Comprehensive toxic plants-phytotoxins database and its application in asses
         sing aquatic micropollution potential
' (113 chars) journal => protected'Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry' (42 chars) year => protected2018 (integer) volume => protected66 (integer) issue => protected'29' (2 chars) startpage => protected'7577' (4 chars) otherpage => protected'7588' (4 chars) categories => protected'natural toxins; poisonous plants; invasive species; aquatic pollution; risk
         assessment
' (86 chars) description => protected'The production of toxic plant secondary metabolites (phytotoxins) for defens
         e is a widespread phenomenon in the plant kingdom and is even present in agr
         icultural crops. These phytotoxins may have similar characteristics to anthr
         opogenic micropollutants in terms of persistence and toxicity. However, they
          are only rarely included in environmental risk assessments, partly because
         a systematic overview of phytotoxins is missing. Here, we present a newly de
         veloped, freely available database, Toxic Plants-PhytoToxins (TPPT), contain
         ing 1586 phytotoxins of potential ecotoxicological relevance in Central Euro
         pe linked to 844 plant species. Our database summarizes phytotoxin patterns
         in plant species and provides detailed biological and chemical information a
         s well as in silico estimated properties. Using the database, we evaluated p
         hytotoxins regarding occurrence, approximated from the frequencies of Swiss
         plant species; environmental behavior based on aquatic persistence and mobil
         ity; and toxicity. The assessment showed that over 34% of all phytotoxins ar
         e potential aquatic micropollutants and should be included in environmental
         investigations.
' (1155 chars) serialnumber => protected'0021-8561' (9 chars) doi => protected'10.1021/acs.jafc.8b01639' (24 chars) uid => protected20138 (integer) _localizedUid => protected20138 (integer)modified _languageUid => protectedNULL _versionedUid => protected20138 (integer)modified pid => protected124 (integer)
Günthardt, B. F.; Hollender, J.; Hungerbühler, K.; Scheringer, M.; Bucheli, T. D. (2018) Comprehensive toxic plants-phytotoxins database and its application in assessing aquatic micropollution potential, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 66(29), 7577-7588, doi:10.1021/acs.jafc.8b01639, Institutional Repository

[2]

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      originalId => protected23249 (integer)
      authors => protected'Günthardt, B. F.; Hollender, J.; Scheringer, M.; Hunger
         bühler, K.; Nanusha, M. Y.; Brack, W.; Bucheli, T.
          D.
' (160 chars) title => protected'Aquatic occurrence of phytotoxins in small streams triggered by biogeography
         , vegetation growth stage, and precipitation
' (120 chars) journal => protected'Science of the Total Environment' (32 chars) year => protected2021 (integer) volume => protected798 (integer) issue => protected'' (0 chars) startpage => protected'149128 (11 pp.)' (15 chars) otherpage => protected'' (0 chars) categories => protected'phytotoxins, poisonous plants; surface water contamination; high resolution
         mass spectrometry screening; persistence, mobility, and toxicity characteriz
         ation
' (157 chars) description => protected'Toxic plant secondary metabolites (PSMs), so-called phytotoxins, occur widel
         y in plant species. Many of these phytotoxins have similar mobility, persist
         ence, and toxicity properties in the environment as anthropogenic micropollu
         tants, which increasingly contaminate surface waters. Although recent case s
         tudies have shown the aquatic relevance of phytotoxins, the overall exposure
          remains unknown. Therefore, we performed a detailed occurrence analysis cov
         ering 134 phytotoxins from 27 PSM classes. Water samples from seven small Sw
         iss streams with catchment areas from 1.7 to 23 km<sup>2</sup> and varying l
         and uses were gathered over several months to investigate seasonal impacts.
         They were complemented with samples from different biogeographical regions t
         o cover variations in vegetation. A broad SPE-LC-HRMS/MS method was applied
         with limits of detection below 5 ng/L for over 80% of the 134 included phyto
         toxins. In total, we confirmed 39 phytotoxins belonging to 13 PSM classes, w
         hich corresponds to almost 30% of all included phytotoxins. Several alkaloid
         s were regularly detected in the low ng/L-range, with average detection freq
         uencies of 21%. This is consistent with the previously estimated persistence
          and mobility properties that indicated a high contamination potential. Coum
         arins were previously predicted to be unstable, however, detection frequenci
         es were around 89%, and maximal concentrations up to 90 ng/L were measured f
         or fraxetin produced by various trees. Overall, rainy weather conditions at
         full vegetation led to the highest total phytotoxin concentrations, which mi
         ght potentially be most critical for aquatic organisms.
' (1651 chars) serialnumber => protected'0048-9697' (9 chars) doi => protected'10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149128' (31 chars) uid => protected23249 (integer) _localizedUid => protected23249 (integer)modified _languageUid => protectedNULL _versionedUid => protected23249 (integer)modified pid => protected124 (integer)
Günthardt, B. F.; Hollender, J.; Scheringer, M.; Hungerbühler, K.; Nanusha, M. Y.; Brack, W.; Bucheli, T. D. (2021) Aquatic occurrence of phytotoxins in small streams triggered by biogeography, vegetation growth stage, and precipitation, Science of the Total Environment, 798, 149128 (11 pp.), doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149128, Institutional Repository

[4]

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      authors => protected'Günthardt,&nbsp;B.&nbsp;F.; Schönsee,&nbsp;C.&nbsp;D.; Hollender,&nbsp;J.;
          Hungerbühler,&nbsp;K.; Scheringer,&nbsp;M.; Bucheli,&nbsp;T.&nbsp;D.
' (146 chars) title => protected'"Is there anybody else out there?" - First insights from a suspect screening
          for phytotoxins in surface water
' (109 chars) journal => protected'Chimia' (6 chars) year => protected2020 (integer) volume => protected74 (integer) issue => protected'3' (1 chars) startpage => protected'129' (3 chars) otherpage => protected'135' (3 chars) categories => protected'environmental analytics; isoflavones; natural toxins; pyrrolizidine alkaloid
         s; suspect screening
' (96 chars) description => protected'To protect themselves, plants can produce toxic secondary metabolites (phyto
         toxins) that appear with widely varying structures and negative effects. The
         se phytotoxins often show similar properties as known aquatic micropollutant
         s in terms of mobility, persistence, toxicity, and possibly also ecotoxicity
         . However, their occurrence in surface waters remains largely unknown, which
          is also due to unknown ability of available screening approaches to detect
         them. Therefore, we performed a target and suspect screening based on a pers
         istence-mobility prioritization for phytotoxins in small Swiss creeks using
         high resolution mass spectrometry. In total, three of 26 targets were detect
         ed, three of 78 suspects tentatively identified, and six suspects fully conf
         irmed by reference standards. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first
         time that three different plant secondary metabolite classes are detected in
          the same surface water sample. Estrogenic isoflavones were detected at 73%
         of the sites with formononetin as main toxin, which is in agreement with pre
         vious studies. Furthermore, pyrrolizidine alkaloids and the indole alkaloid
         gramine were detected. Especially pyrrolizidine alkaloids might be critical
         due to their production by various plants including the invasive<em> Senecio
          inaequidens</em>, and their known importance in food and feed safety. Based
          on these first screening results, different phytotoxin classes should be as
         sessed for their ecotoxicological effects and considered in future water mon
         itoring.
' (1528 chars) serialnumber => protected'0009-4293' (9 chars) doi => protected'10.2533/chimia.2020.129' (23 chars) uid => protected20612 (integer) _localizedUid => protected20612 (integer)modified _languageUid => protectedNULL _versionedUid => protected20612 (integer)modified pid => protected124 (integer)
Günthardt, B. F.; Schönsee, C. D.; Hollender, J.; Hungerbühler, K.; Scheringer, M.; Bucheli, T. D. (2020) "Is there anybody else out there?" - First insights from a suspect screening for phytotoxins in surface water, Chimia, 74(3), 129-135, doi:10.2533/chimia.2020.129, Institutional Repository

[5]

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      authors => protected'Günthardt,&nbsp;B.&nbsp;F.; Wettstein,&nbsp;F.&nbsp;E.; Hollender,&nbsp;J.;
          Singer,&nbsp;H.; Harri,&nbsp;J.; Scheringer,&nbsp;M.; Hungerbühler,&nbsp;K
         .; Bucheli,&nbsp;T.&nbsp;D.
' (179 chars) title => protected'Retrospective HRMS screening and dedicated target analysis reveal a wide exp
         osure to pyrrolizidine alkaloids in small streams
' (125 chars) journal => protected'Environmental Science and Technology' (36 chars) year => protected2021 (integer) volume => protected55 (integer) issue => protected'' (0 chars) startpage => protected'1036' (4 chars) otherpage => protected'1044' (4 chars) categories => protected'' (0 chars) description => protected'Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) are found to be toxic pollutants emitted into
         the environment by numerous plant species, resulting in contamination. In th
         is article, we investigate the occurrence of PAs in the aquatic environment
         of small Swiss streams combining two different approaches. Pyrrolizidine alk
         aloids (PAs) are toxic secondary metabolites produced by numerous plant spec
         ies. Although they were classified as persistent and mobile and found to be
         emitted into the environment, their occurrence in surface waters is largely
         unknown. Therefore, we performed a retrospective data analysis of two extens
         ive HRMS campaigns each covering five small streams in Switzerland over the
         growing season. All sites were contaminated with up to 12 individual PAs and
          temporal detection frequencies between 36 and 87%. Individual PAs were in t
         he low ng/L range, but rain-induced maximal total PA concentrations reached
         almost 100 ng/L in late spring and summer. Through PA patterns in water and
         plants, several species were tentatively identified as the source of contami
         nation, with <em>Senecio spp.</em> and <em>Echium vulgare</em> being the mos
         t important. Additionally, two streams were monitored, and PAs were quantifi
         ed with a newly developed, faster, and more sensitive LC−MS/MS method to d
         istinguish different plant-based and indirect human PA sources. A distinctly
          different PA fingerprint in aqueous plant extracts pointed to invasive <em>
         Senecio</em> <em>inaequidens</em> as the main source of the surface water co
         ntamination at these sites. Results indicate that PA loads may increase if i
         nvasive species are sufficiently abundant.
' (1638 chars) serialnumber => protected'0013-936X' (9 chars) doi => protected'10.1021/acs.est.0c06411' (23 chars) uid => protected22007 (integer) _localizedUid => protected22007 (integer)modified _languageUid => protectedNULL _versionedUid => protected22007 (integer)modified pid => protected124 (integer)
Günthardt, B. F.; Wettstein, F. E.; Hollender, J.; Singer, H.; Harri, J.; Scheringer, M.; Hungerbühler, K.; Bucheli, T. D. (2021) Retrospective HRMS screening and dedicated target analysis reveal a wide exposure to pyrrolizidine alkaloids in small streams, Environmental Science and Technology, 55, 1036-1044, doi:10.1021/acs.est.0c06411, Institutional Repository

[6]

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      authors => protected'Moy de Vitry,&nbsp;M.' (21 chars)
      title => protected'Public surveillance and the future of urban pluvial flood modelling' (67 chars)
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      startpage => protected'143&nbsp;p' (10 chars)
      otherpage => protected'' (0 chars)
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      description => protected'<em>Motivation and objective</em><br /> Urban pluvial flooding is an issue o
         f increasingly critical importance due to climate change and urbanization. H
         owever, the numerical models used for flood forecasting and risk mitigation
         suffer from a pronounced lack of monitoring data, which affects model accura
         cy. Monitoring data are necessary so the models, which contain undefined par
         ameters, can be calibrated and validated against real flood events. In parti
         cular, it is important that the models are able to reproduce flood behavior
         in and around buildings, where the most damage is caused. However, conventio
         nal flow and water level sensors reach their limits in public spaces like st
         reets due to irregular topography, moving obstacles, and the risk of vandali
         sm. It has been suggested that surveillance cameras and social media could p
         rovide the necessary surface flooding data at a fraction of the cost of conv
         entional sensors. The objective of this thesis is to explore how trend-like
         data can be extracted from surveillance footage and assimilated to boost the
          reliability of urban pluvial flood models. [...]<br /><br /><em>Motivation
         und Zielsetzung</em><br /> Urbane regenbedingte Überschwemmungen sind aufgr
         und des Klimawandels und der Urbanisierung von immer größerer Bedeutung, a
         ber den numerischen Modellen zur Hochwasservorhersage und Risikominderung ma
         ngelt es an Überwachungsdaten, was die Modellgenauigkeit einschränkt. Übe
         rwachungsdaten sind notwendig, damit die Modelle, welche unsichere Parameter
          enthalten, gegen echte Hochwasserereignisse kalibriert und validiert werden
          können. Insbesondere ist es wichtig, dass die Modelle das Überschwemmungs
         verhalten in und um Gebäude herum nachbilden können, wo die meisten Schäd
         
         
         pographie, beweglicher Hindernisse und der Gefahr von Vandalismus an ihre Gr
         enzen. Deswegen gibt es ...
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Moy de Vitry, M. (2019) Public surveillance and the future of urban pluvial flood modelling, 143 p, doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000397587, Institutional Repository

[7]

Neamtu-Halic, Marius M. (2020). Objective Coherent Structures Near the Turbulent/Non-Turbulent Interface in a Stably Stratified Turbulent Flow (Doctoral dissertation, ETH Zurich). https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000476303