We study the relationships between chemicals, the environment, biological systems, and human health, and monitor their impacts at local, regional, and global levels.
Research is carried out by 19 research groups in five research programs.
RECETOX studies the behavior of contaminants and models their long-distance transport and bioaccumulation in living organisms; this includes evaluating the effects of toxic substances on the environment and health, and developing methods and tools to break them down.
Our extensive expertise enables us to explore the complex relationships between contaminated ecosystems and population health, biodiversity, and climate change, assess their local and regional impacts, and develop water and soil remediation technologies and tools.
In recent years, the Center's research focus has expanded to cover the various factors affecting human health and well-being, the so-called exposome, chemical safety, and the development of biotechnology, materials, and bioinformatics tools for biomedicine.
Due to the growing number of older adults and the resulting increase in the burden of chronic diseases and societal demands, most developed countries face long-term rises in healthcare costs and thus pressure on health insurance systems. This increase makes chronic diseases, together with health inequalities, two of the most challenging problems of the 21st century. To effectively address these problems, the factors that determine the health of humans and entire populations must be clarified and explored.
Individuals and populations are exposed to many environmental factors, such as heat, noise, light pollution, and a wide range of chemicals and their mixtures. These chemicals enter the body via the food and water we ingest, products we use daily (e.g., cosmetics), the air we breathe, and the indoor environments (buildings, offices) we work or live in. While many of these chemicals have been shown to interfere with the proper functioning of the endocrine and immune systems, causing neurodevelopmental, metabolic, and reproductive disorders, the combined effects of toxic mixtures and other environmental factors, which can also be influenced by stress, socioeconomic determinants, lifestyle or dietary habits, have not yet been fully elucidated.
Therefore, we aim to build research capacity for investigating the exposure of populations to the environmental factors (so-called Exposome) mentioned above, estimate internal exposure and individual susceptibility, predict the risks to human health, and thereby contribute to clarifying the etiology of chronic conditions.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
RECETOX actively participates in dozens of research projects every year. In 2025, a record number of project proposals (90) was submitted in the history of the institute. At the same time, a record number of project proposals (41) was submitted to the Horizon Europe programme.
We launched four new Horizon Europe projects. The DTRIP4H project focuses on the development of digital twin models for predictive, preventive, personalised, and participatory medicine. The EPIC and AQUAGloCon projects are part of the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships, while NeXED is an MSCA Doctoral Network.
We also secured three additional projects under the OP JAK programme. The sociological project SYRI continued, and the Open Science II project was launched, in which we are responsible for building national repositories for the storage of environmental data.
At the national level, our researchers obtained four new GAČR projects and three AZV projects.
Research results are published mainly in prestigious scientific journals. The year 2025 delivered interesting results from several key studies published in prestigious journals such as Nature Medicine, Nature Catalysis, The Lancet Regional Health, and Environmental Science & Technology. In 2025, RECETOX researchers contributed to 161 publications (according to WoS, not yet finally closed), of which: