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In 2021, Prof. Domingo performed a review of the scientific literature on the origin of SARS-CoV-2 in Environmental Research. One year after, because of the important advances on the knowledge of this virus, he has published an updated review in Environmental Research.

According to the results of the review, the origin of SARS-CoV-2 cannot be not established yet, although most papers point out to a zoonotic origin of this coronavirus. In any case, the hypothesis of an unnatural origin of SARS-CoV-2 cannot be yet scientifically discarded. Imoprtantly, most of the available papers on the origin of SARC-CoV-2 are not experimental studies.

Bibliographic details on this publication can be found below:

Experts from all over Europe in research in the fields of toxicology and the environment have gathered in Tarragona to work together within the framework of the European Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC) project, which aims to study the impact that the chemicals present in our environment have on people’s health and to urge governments to improve their regulation.

Chemistry is present in our everyday life (in food, packaging, electronics, clothes…) and also in the air we breathe. It is essential, but so is ensuring that these products are safe for our health and the environment. The TecnATox research group of the Institut d’Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV-CERCA) and the Rovira i Virgili University (URV) has been conducting research in the field of toxicology and the environment for more than 3 decades and it is a reference in Spain.

The European Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC) project is coordinated by the Agence Nationale de Sécurité Sanitaire (ANSES) and nearly 200 key institutions work together in the field of research throughout Europe. In Spain, the Pere Virgili Health Research Institute, which participates in the study as an affiliated entity of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), is the one that has received the most funds from the European Commission (organization responsible for financing).

PARC is part of the Horizon Europe program, which aims to achieve a scientific, technological, economic and social impact of the European Union’s investments in the field of R&D.

Every year, Alzheimer’s World Day takes place on September 21. As this is one of the research areas of TecnATox, several investigators will attend an event at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, co-organized by URV, IISPV, St. Joan University Hospital, the Alzheimer's Association of Reus and Baix Camp, the Family Association of Alzheimer Costa Daurada,  and the Catalan Society of Biology, territorial section of Southern Catalonia. Dr. Mònica Bulló will be one of the invited speakers, while Dr. Jaume Folch will be the moderator of the round table.

DeepiKa Deepika successfully defended her doctoral thesis on 7th September 2022. She obtained the maximum qualification Excellent Cum Laude. Her thesis was entitled "Quantitative Systems Toxicology Modeling for Neuronal Adverse Outcome", and it was supervised by Dr. Vikas Kumar, Dr. Raju Prasad Sharma and Prof. Marta Schuhmacher.

Scientific research does not stop in Summer. In August, TecnATox researchers published two new articles in high-impact scientific journals on Environmental Sciences:

Dr. Venkatanaidu Karri, former researcher of TecnATox, was invited as a speaker for the Multidisciplinary Seminar Program by ETSEQ in May 2022. The title of his presentation was "Toxicological Risk Assessment of Medical Devices: An industry perspective".

Dr. Karri is currently a Biosafety Specialist at Coloplast A/S Global Med Tech Company, Copenhagen-Denmark. His current role at Coloplast A/S as a Biosafety Specialist focuses on writing safety assessment reports of medical devices as per EU, and FDA regulatory compliance, REACH Chemical Compliance assessment documentation, and stakeholder management. He performed his PhD between 2015 and 2018 at TecnATox, under the supervision of Prof. Marta Schuhmacher and Dr. Vikas Kumar. His dissertation focused on the “metal mixtures neurotoxicity using proteomics approach”. After his PhD, he worked as a Post-doctoral Researcher at Karolinska Institute (KI) Sweden (2019-2021) and Maastricht University (2018-2019) – The Netherlands.

TecnATox working group on micro- and nanoplastics continues very active. Dr. Rovira has been invited to participate in the workshop "IMPULSEM L'ECONOMIA BLAVA AMB MIRADA DE DONA", which will take place next July 25, 2022 at Centre Cívic - Montse Civit, Segur de Calafell.

More information on the workshop can be found by clicking here.

The online newspaper "El Español" recently published a very interesting article on the impact of microplastics on Tarragona coast. Dr. Joaquim Rovira was interviewed and presented the main findings of his scientific article, co-authored by other TecnATox researchers and published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

In June 14, Dr. Jaume Folch and Nora Expósito, researchers of TecnATox, participated at the round table The coastal environment: challenges and opportunities of natural spaces to the limit, co-organized by URV Environmental Office, Good Karma Projects, the Catalan Society of Biology and TecnATox.

The talk of both researchers was a great success, proving that TecnATox has become a world reference group in the analysis, exposure and risks of micro- and nanoplastics.

TecnATox is looking for a candidate to perform the PhD thesis in our Center. The provisional title of the PhD thesis is Exploring the role of chemical pollutants on the development of adverse health outcomes during pregnancy.

More information can be found at https://www.iispv.cat/oferta-de-treball/letter-of-interest-predoctoral-researcher-for-the-tecnatox-research-group/