News

According to Google Academics, Prof. José L. Domingo, Emeritus Professor and co-Founder of TecnATox, has reached an h-index of 100. This is a great scientific achievement and it highlights the importance of Prof. Domingo’s research in the areas of toxicology, environmental health and food pollution.

Very recently, the Federation of European Toxicologists and European Societies of Toxicology announced that Prof. Domingo has been selected as the 2023 EUROTOX Merit Award recipient. This Award is presented annually to recognize professionals with a distinguished career in European toxicology. In this particular case, it was based on his professional career and his contributions in the field, as well as his extensive list of European and International publications.

Prof. Domingo was also included by Research.com, a leading academic platform for researchers, in the 2023 Edition of the Ranking of Best Scientists in the field of Chemistry, being ranked #18 in Spain and #1006 in the world. Therefore, he has been recognized with the Chemistry Leader Award for 2023.

The same platform identified Prof. Marta Schuhmacher, Emeritus Professor Francesc Castells and Dr. Martí Nadal as Best Scientists in the field of Environmental Sciences. URV was ranked as the 16th best University in Spain according to the Best Universities ranking, with 39 top researchers. TecnATox is one of the leading research centers at URV, as up to 4 researchers are included in this list of 39 members.

On April 10, Lara Dronjak gave a presentation within the MP Microplastics Workgroup Meeting (Regional monitoring program for water quality in San Francisco Bay) invited by the San Francisco Estuary Institute / Aquatic Science Center. Her talk was focused on her study of microplastics in Bay sediments to evaluate spatial and temporal trends.

Our colleague Judit Biosca defended her doctoral thesis on March 27^th,  at Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut, Reus. The thesis is entitled Influence of prenatal chlorpyrifos exposure, APOE genotype and sex on neurodevelopmental disorders: behavioral and biochemical abnormalities in mice, and it has been supervised by Dr. Teresa Colomina and Dr. Maria Cabré.

Prof. Mònica Bulló, current director of the Nutrition and Metabolic Health Research Group (NuMeH) and co-director of TecnATox, has received the ICREA Acadèmia 2022 award, a prestigious distinction given by Generalitat de Catalunya. The ICREA Acadèmia programme offers research intensification grants to outstanding university professors who already hold permanent positions in the Catalan research system and are in an expanding phase of their careers. Only 4 URV researchers have been awarded in 2022, so 14 URV researchers currently own this award, whose programme was started in 2008.

As part of the celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, several researchers of TecnATox participated in a number of dissemination events to promote and highlight the fundamental role of women and girls in science.

Dr. Montse Marquès and Jordina Balaguer did their respective talks in two schools in Reus: Escola General Prim and Escola Prat de la Riba, respectively. In turn, Ana Teresa González talked in front of the students of Escola Sant Jaume in Bràfim, while Melina Rojas did a videoconference for the students of Escola Les Pinediques (Taradell).

Beatriu de Pinós application process is open and we are looking for excellent candidates to apply for in any Area of TecnATox (Toxicology, Environment and Food). If you are willing to become a high level post-doc, do not hesitate to contact us.

Again, TecnATox will be fully committed with the celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science (February 11). Several of our researchers will be involved in a number of activities to promote full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls. These activities take place in the framework of the 100tifiques event, organized by the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation and the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology. At 11 am there will be simultaneous talks to give visibility to women in science.

Up to 60% of TecnATox staff members are women, being very well represented among scientists, technical staff and management team. We are proud to say that our Technological Center is co-directed by two women (Dr. Mònica Bulló and Dr. Montse Marquès). Furthermore, most of the SGR groups which compose TecnATox are also led by women.

"Air concentrations of heavy metals are significantly higher at El Morell than at a background site (Cambrils)". This is the main conclusion on a recenty presented investigation led by Dr. Joaquim Rovira and Prof. Marta Schuhmacher.

TecnATox researchers analyzed the presence of several trace elements (arsenic, cadmium, chromium, nickel, lead and vanadium) in air particulate matter (PM₁₀) for three consecutive weeks at 2 different sites (El Morell and Cambrils), and the results were of great concern.

The study was financially supported by El Morell Town Council, and it was executed in parallel of another investigation led by Dr. Eva Gallego and Dr. José Francisco Perales, researchers of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), who focused on another group of air pollutants of high concern: volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

More information can be found at https://www.ccma.cat/324/un-estudi-de-la-urv-determina-la-presencia-elevada-de-metalls-a-laire-al-morell-al-costat-de-la-petroquimica/noticia/3208771/

 

The Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR) has published the Proposal for the provisional resolution of SGR-Cat 2021 to support the scientific activity of research groups in Catalonia. We are pleased to inform that all TecnATox research groups have been recognised by AGAUR as SGR:

2021 SGR 00213 - Nutrition and Metabolic Health - NuMeH
2021 SGR 00105 - Laboratori de Toxicologia i Salut Mediambiental - LTSM
2021 SGR 00149 - Recerca en Neurocomportament i Salut - NEUROLAB
2021 SGR 00738 - Environmental Analysis and Management using Computer Aided Process Engineering - AGACAPE