Science and research
The research activities of the Center focus on the study of the relationships between chemicals, the environment, biological systems and human health, including the monitoring of their consequences at local, regional and global levels.
Research activities are carried out in research groups that are grouped into five research programs.
Research agenda
RECETOX research focuses on the study of contaminants and their behavior, long-distance transport modeling and bioaccumulation in living organisms. It includes evaluation of the effects of toxic substances, their environmental and health risks, and developing technologies and biotechnologies to break them down.
Interdisciplinary approach
The extensive expertise of RECETOX staff enables us to explore the interdisciplinary relationships between ecosystem contamination and population health, biodiversity or climate change, assess local and regional impacts, and develop new remediation and remediation technologies for water and soil.
Environment and Health
In recent years, the Center's research has expanded to include research into issues related to a wide range of factors affecting human health and well-being, the so-called exposome, chemical safety and the development of biotechnology, materials and bioinformatics tools for biomedicine.
Our motivation
As a result of the increasing burden of chronic diseases, aging populations and increasing societal demands, most developed countries are facing long-term rising healthcare costs and thus pressure on health insurance systems. This makes chronic diseases, together with health inequalities, one of the most difficult problems of the 21st century that cannot be effectively addressed without clarifying and exploring the factors that determine the health of humans and entire populations..
Individuals and populations are exposed to a number of physical influences, such as heat, noise or light pollution, as well as a wide range of chemicals and mixtures thereof. They enter the body through food, products which are used daily, water or ambient air, but also through indoor environments (buildings, offices) or by the nature of ones profession. Many of these chemicals have been shown to interfere with the proper functioning of the endocrine or immune system, causing neurodevelopmental, metabolic or reproductive disorders. The combined effects of toxic mixtures and other environmental factors that also affect stress, socio-economic determinants, lifestyle or eating habits are not yet fully understood.
Our aim is therefore to build a research capacity to examine the exposure of the population to the above-mentioned environmental factors (so-called exposome), to estimate the internal exposure and individual sensitivity of individuals, to predict risks to human health and to contribute to clarifying the etiology of chronic conditions.
Research programs
-
Environmental chemistry and modelling
The research programme focuses on understanding the mechanisms and processes affecting the emissions and fate of chemicals in the environment and further expands its interest in study of the exposure of individuals and populations to the environment in order to provide tools for common interpretation of data from environmental monitoring and human biomonitoring networks.
-
Environmental epidemiology
The new research program deals with biomarkers of exposure, effect and sensitivity of individual organisms, and other factors such as socio-economic determinants of health, nutrition or physical activity. In this context, we are strengthening technology capabilities for omics analyses, biobanking capacities and developing a bioinformatics platform to support the interpretation of multi-omics and epidemiological data.
-
Environmental Toxicology
Programme focuses on the environmental impacts of both acute and chronic chemical exposures. We use the Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) combining modeling and testing strategies to predict the environmental impacts of complex chemical mixtures. We investigate combined exposures to various factors that, based on individual susceptibility, can significantly contribute to an individual's excessive burden and lead to the development of pathologies.
-
Chemical Tools for Diagnostics and Therapy
The programme focuses on the development of new photoactivatable systems and supramolecular carriers as specific systems that exhibit specific biological activities or serve as auxiliary systems for biological or medical applications.
-
Protein Engineering
The research programme has been dealing with the basic principles of enzymatic catalysis and development of protein and cellular biocatalysts for environmental, chemical and biomedical applications. The program uses protein engineering, synthetic biology and analysis of large data stored in genomic databases to develop and prepare useful catalysts.
Research projects
RECETOX actively participates in dozens of research projects annually. In 2018 RECETOX researchers took part in :
- 17 European projects (H2020)
- 20+ national research projects (e.g., GAČR)
- 5 application projects (TAČR, MPO)
- 6 international contracts (OSN, WHP)
- 30 contract research projects.
Publications
Research results are published mainly in prestigious scientific journals. In 2018 RECETOX researchers published:
- 154 articles, of which
- 65 % in the first quarile (Q1),
- 31 % in the first decile.