The sixth EXIMIOUS Symposium, titled “Emerging contaminants: health risks associated with microplastics and indoor air quality” will take place on 31st October 2024. Register now and join us online at 15:00 – 17:00 (CET) to learn more.
Emerging contaminants (ECs) constitute a wide range of chemicals, including flame retardants, perfluorochemicals, pharmaceuticals, microplastics and a wide range of personal care products. Many of these ECs may undergo various degrees of transformation in the environment and can often be more persistent and exhibit greater toxicity than the parent compound. In this symposium we ask ourselves what are the impact of air quality and EC exposure on human health? How do we assess the risks? And in doing so we hope to talk to the policy needs to tackle the challenges.
Our three invited experts will present their latest research on the topic, each highlighting a different aspect as shown in the programme below. A dedicated time for Q&A will follow each of the presentations. Like our previous symposia, this sixth EXIMIOUS Symposium is open to all audiences.
Programme EXIMIOUS Symposium
“Emerging contaminants: health risks associated with microplastics and indoor air quality”
| Time | Title | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
|
15:00 - 15:15 |
Welcome and introduction from the EXIMIOUS coordinator |
Prof. Peter Hoet |
|
15:15 - 15:50 |
Human risk assessment of microplastics |
Dr. Raymond Pieters |
|
15:50 - 16:25 |
Air quality and children's cognition, with a focus on school air quality |
Prof. Xavier Basagaña |
|
16:25 - 17:00 |
Living in the plastic age: chemicals leaching from plastic and possible health effects |
Dr. Hubert Dirven |
Speakers
Raymond Pieters is Associate Professor in Immunotoxicology at the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS) of UU (Faculty of Veterinary Medicine), and Professor in Innovative Testing in Life Sciences & Chemistry at Utrecht University of Applied Sciences Utrecht. His research focuses on assessment of effects of substances (e.g. drugs, pollutants, microplastics) on inflammatory processes and immune responses. He has been involved in several projects focusing on immune effects of airborne pollutants and recently started working on the effects of micro- and nanoplastics on the immune system. He leads the EC-HORIZON project POLYRISK, aiming at understanding human exposure and health hazards of micro- and nanoplastic contaminants in our environment.
Xavier Basagaña has a PhD in Biostatistics from Harvard University and is Research Professor at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal). His research lines include the effects of air pollution and temperatures on health, and the development of statistical models for epidemiology, having co-authored 270 scientific papers. He was the coordinator of the H2020 project CitieS-Health, which applied a Citizen Science approach to the study of the links between the environment and health. Currently, he is leading work packages and task in the European projects ATHLETE, on exposome research; INTERCAMBIO, on heat exposure and health in outdoor workers; InChildHealth, on indoor air pollution and children’s health; and RI-URBANS, on novel air quality metrics and health.
Hubert Dirven has been serving as the Department Director at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health since 2013. Currently, the Department of Chemical Toxicology, under his leadership, is responsible for providing evaluations on REACH chemicals to both the Norwegian Environment Agency and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). The research that is conducted in the department focusses on finding causal relationship (AOPs) for the effects of chemicals on the human body. Advanced in vitro models to study the effects of chemicals on the developmental nervous system and the immune system are established in the department.