Research in the Spotlight

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Due to the multitude of negative effects on the environment and human health, the environmental fate and toxicity of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are of a global concern. In one of our recent publications, we reported that the international efforts to reduce PCB emissions have effectively reduced concentrations in open water ecosystems like the Belgian coastal zone.

janaToday, September 15th, is the start of the second international Environmental Omics (iEOS) Conference in Liverpool, UK.  The iEOS conference and the Environmental Omics Synthesis Centre was founded to bring together people, ideas, research fields and organisations using omics approaches to advance environmental sciences. The EOS and the conference are funded through the Natural Environmental Research Council and the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council.

GhEnToxLab at the ESA annual meeting

ESA

Founded in 1915, the Ecological Society of America has strived to stimulate and promote ecological science for nearly a decade. Over the years, it has steadily grown from the original (mostly American) 307 members to an astounding 10.000 international members today. It is the single largest community of professional ecologists in the world and therefore a reliable and critical source of ecological knowledge. Its core business is to improve the communication among scientists as well as raising public awareness through their yearly conference. Today, their 99th anual meeting kicks off in Sacramento (California, USA) and our resident ecologist Jan Baert will be there. During his pitch presentation (COS 57-6), he will explain how the effects of biodiversity on community functioning shifts along a toxic gradient. Read more about his research below to discover the venue.

Microplastics in the news: radio interviews with Prof. Janssen

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Due to the rapidly growing scientific and public awareness on the occurrence and adverse effects of microplastics, news on microplastic usage and research is increasingly being picked up by the mainstream media. Just last month, it was shown that the polar ice caps harbour vast amounts of microplastics which could be released through global warming. A few weeks later, the state of Illinois passed legislation which will ban the manufacture of microbead containing products by 2018. As a leading authority on microplastic research in Belgium, Prof. Dr. Colin Janssen of the GhEnToxLab was asked to elaborate on these news items by the national radio channel Radio 1. You can listen again to these interviews on the website of Radio 1 (Dutch spoken).

 

Illinois bill interview

Polar ice interview

(courtesy of VRT - Radio 1)

Francqui Foundation Fellowship for GhEnToxLab member Dr. Jana Asselman

BAEF logoDr. Jana Asselman (GhEnToxLab) received a Francqui Foundation Fellowship of the Belgian American Educational Foundation for the year 2014-2015 (BAEF). The fellowship is sponsored by the Francqui Foundation and is only awarded after a selection process based on the scientific excellence of the candidate and the research proposal. This year, nine researchers were awarded a Francqui Foundation Fellowship. This fellowship will allow Dr. Asselman to spend a year at Notre Dame University as a postdoctoral researcher (USA, www.nd.edu) and conduct innovative genomics research at the lab of Prof. Dr. Michael Pfrender. The project will focus on the genetic effects of metals to freshwater organisms exposed to salinity stress. Furthermore, this project will also provide a unique opportunity to strengthen the collaboration between GhEnToxLab and the lab of Prof. Pfrender. Congratulations, Jana!

In Knack: Drs. Lisbeth Van Cauwenberghe comments on microplastic use in cosmetics.

lisbethLisbeth Van Cauwenberghe is currently conducting research on microplastics in a marine environment at GhEnToxLab. Knack (a weekly flemish newsmagazine) interviewed our colleague on the possible environmental and health issues of these microplastics.

Read the full article (Dutch) at: http://www.knack.be/nieuws/planet-earth/plastic-op-uw-bord-in-ruil-voor-een-gave-huid/article-normal-144153.html

 

GhEnToxLab researcher Dr. Dieter De Coninck wins SETAC Europe Best Publication Award

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Every year SETAC Europe organises the Best Publication Award in the categories risk assessment, chemical analysis and ecotoxicology. This year the SETAC Europe Best Publication Award for risk assessment went to Dr. Dieter De Coninck, for his paper “An approach to assess the regulatory relevance of microevolutionary effects in ecological risk assessment of chemicals: a case study with cadmium”.

GhEnToxLab at SETAC Europe

setaclogo2 thumb medium50 75Another year, another SETAC conference. This month, our GhEnToxLab members will be presenting their research at the 24th SETAC Europe Annual Meeting in Basel, Switzerland from 11-15 May 2014. There we will highlight our research in a total of six platforms, one poster corner and nine posters. To keep track of us during the conference, a comprehensive list of our activities is provided below. 

Too much pharmaceuticals in the river Maas

According to the latest report of the RIWA, a Belgian-Dutch organisation of water companies, too much pharmaceuticals were measured at 10% of the sampling points. Since Since we tap a lot of drinking water from the river, this finding is disturbing, say water companies. Although our drinking water is still perfectly safe, this elevated concentration of pharmaceuticals may have an adverse effect on organisms in the environment, such as femalized male fish. In another research project, performed in 2010 and involving our laboratory, which focussed on pharmaceuticals in the water at the ports of the North Sea, traces of seven pharmaceuticals were dicovered for the first time.

Read the full article as displayed in De Standaard of August 27th, 2013 (Dutch).

Best oral presentation award on the 9th international conference on toxic cyanobacteria

awardLast week, the 9th international conference on toxic cyanobacteria (ICTC) took place in South-Africa. Being active in the research on toxic effects and genetic mechanisms of cyanobacteria, Jana Asselman represented our lab at the conference. And she did so successfully. For her oral presentation entitled "Unraveling mode of actions and toxin profiles with high throughput microarrays: a case study in Daphnia exposed to different cyanobacterial stressors", she was awarded the first prize for best oral presentation. Congratulations, Jana!

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