News
In recent decades, there has been a significant decline in the quality of semen among healthy men, correlating with an increase in male infertility rates. The evidence points towards a connection with lifestyle habits and current environmental pollution. Now, in collaboration with the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA) of the Spanish Research Council (CSIC), TecnATox researchers have developed an innovative method to directly detect organic contaminants in sperm. The study has been led by Dr. Pablo Gago-Ferrero, and it involved the participation of Elena Sánchez-Resino, PhD student of TecnATox, and Dr. Montse Marquès.
Published in Environmental Science & Technology, the study involved semen samples from 10 men and revealed the presence of plastic additives such as phthalates or bisphenols. These substances pose potential risks to human health, along with chemical additives added to tires, industrial perfluoroalkylated compounds or surfactants, among others.
This evidence underscores the need for stricter legislation regarding the marketing and use of these compounds. Such measures are essential to safeguard the health of the population.
Prof Aïda Valls, who recently received the DonaTIC 2023 Award, was also invited to the Round Table "Amb Veu de Dona", an event organized by SER Tarragona to make Tarragona women visible who are leaders in different fields.
Port of Tarragona was the scene of several debates in which women from different economical sectors participated, who for more than two hours talked about inequality, wage gap, the lack of female references and the need to promote global policies to reverse certain realities.
The presence of women in the industrial sector is only 28%. This was the starting point of the first round table, which co-chaired Prof. Aïda Valls together with Mercè Puig, general secretary of CCOO Tarragona, and Anna Navarro, head of strategy, quality and innovation at Port of Tarragona. They talked about the sorority, the empowerment to be on the front line or the incentives and workshops held in schools to encourage scientific and technological vocations.
Generalitat de Catalunya awarded Prof. Aïda Valls, director of the ITAKA research group and researcher of TecnATox, with the DonaTIC2023 Award in the academic/researcher category. Prof. Valls is one of the seven women distinguished in the different categories among the 86 presented candidates.
DonaTIC2023 awards recognize the talent of women in the professional, business and academic world of new technologies and the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, humanities and mathematics) disciplines. These leaders offer contemporary references to girls and girls in order to encourage them to dedicate themselves to these areas and to assume leadership positions.
More information about the event can be found at https://diaridigital.urv.cat/aida-valls-premi-dona-tic-2023/.
Dr. Joaquim Rovira has been invited by the Association of Dietitians-Nutritionists of Catalonia (CoDiNutCat) as a speaker of a conference about the consumption of microplastics and health effects. The conference will take place at November 25 (9 h) in the framework of the XI Meeting of the CoDiNutCat held in BCIN, Badalona Centre Internacional de Negocis, Badalona (Barcelona).
In October 26, our colleague Marta Herrero defender her PhD thesis, entitled Exposure to chemicals through textiles: Health risk assessment and supervised by Dr. Joaquim Rovira and Dr. Martí Nadal. The thesis was awarded with an overall classification of excellent and the cum laude distinction.
The thesis is the final outcome of the EarlyCLOTHES project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (PID2019-104443GB-I00).
Congratulations to Dr. Marta Herrero!
The Erasmus + Project “DISCERN-A customised Digital Space to Foster Circular Economy Entrepreneurship with SMEs” has released the fifth newsletter. We invite you to read it in Spanish or English by clicking on this news.
The report includes a double analysis: on one hand, it takes into account the activity of the last year (citations received in 2022) and, on the other, data from the entire academic career (citations received until 2022). In the first case, the 2 former co-Directors of TecnATox, Prof. José Luis Domingo and Prof. Marta Schuhmacher, were ranked in the 1st and 16th positions. Additionally, Prof. Mònica Bulló, current co-director of our institution was also included as the 14th most influential researcher according to the number of accumulated citations in 2022
Furthermore, all of them were also included in the ranking according to the number of citations received in 2022, a list which also adds Dr. Montse Marquès, co-director of TecnATox and current Marie Curie Research Fellow at Columbia University (New York).
As abovementioned, TecnATox is the URV technological center with the highest rate of researchers: 4 in the fist list and 5 in the second one, as Dr. Martí Nadal has been also ranked there (21st and 15th, respectively)
The conclusion is clear: the fact that not only the former co-directors of TecnATox but also the current ones are in the databases of standardized citation indicators is a clear indication that TecnATox future is in good hands.
Nerea Carrión and David Mateo, postgraduate students of TecnATox, presented their posters at the 10th Annual World Meeting on Targeting Microbiota between October 17-19 in Venice, Italy. Hosted by the International Society of Microbiota, the event has covered the latest breakthroughs in this evolving and fascinating field.
Both Nerea and David conduct their research in the framework of the official project entitled DEM-BIOTA (DEMentias and microBIOTA composition: Microbiota in dementias. Is possible to revert the dementia symptoms reverting the microbiota composition?), which is led by their PhD supervisor Dr. Marga Torrente.
Dr. Montse Marquès will be chairing the session entitled “Unveiling the chemical exposure: Insights from human biomonitoring and its influence on adverse health outcomes” announced within Track 3 “Environmental Chemistry and Exposure Assessment: Analysis, Monitoring, Fate and Modelling” at the SETAC Europe 34th Annual Meeting. We encourage all exposome enthusiasts to submit an abstract before 29 November 2023.
We hope to see you in Seville from 5 to 9 May 2024!
