Toxicology: biomarkers of exposure to environmental aggression

Developing indicators or biomarkers of exposure and effect for

1) - monitoring the population individual exposures to carcinogenic and genotoxic chemical mixtures (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Ultra-Violet) and

2) – studying the metabolism and toxicokinetic as well as mechanisms of action (damages caused on the DNA at the cellular level) of pure compounds and complex mixtures for assessing the associated health risks.

The aim is to improve the identification of high-risk environments to implement primary prevention for reducing the incidence of diseases. Approaches employed are validating relevant biomarkers and measuring them in populations exposed to atmospheric concentrations. These exposure data and the information about the activity and the subject are then recorded in a database.

Clinic and Surveillance in Emerging

Developing tools and methods for the surveillance in emerging, i.e., the monitoring and early detection of emerging diseases from surveillance networks at the human (occupational diseases) and animal (climate-dependent diseases) levels.

The rise of RNV3P (National Network of Vigilance, Prevention of Occupational Diseases) allowed structure the surveillance in emerging of associations of exposures - occupational diseases around three complementary areas:

1. Clinical watch (based on medical experts and sentinel system “OccWatch”)
2. Statistical monitoring (focusing on single exposures and using data mining methods from the pharmaco-vigilance), and
3. Multi-exposures and statistical emergence from occupational exposome approaches.

Epidemiology et modeling of risks (toxicological, zoonosis)

At the interface of the two previous research axes, are developed and implemented

the methods for analyzing and modeling the exposures, risks and impacts on exposed populations in the areas of toxicology (urban and industrial pollutants), infectious diseases (including zoonoses such as Avian Influenza, Rift Valley fever, West Nile fever, ...) and the analysis of databases. In addition to this are the work developed on the themes of   the impact of variability (spatial, temporal and structural) of environmental factors on the emergence and establishment of diseases (occupational diseases, zoonoses), and   the development of methods for taking into account the heterogeneity of exposures (due to the heterogeneity of sources, the heterogeneity of individual responses, population mobility, scale changes, ...) in the risk calculations. This is methods of biomathematical modeling including mathematical developments, statistics, geo-statistics, numerical simulations, …

Strengths

• Research activities in “Health and Environment” through national programs (ANSES, INVS, INSERM, RRA) and collaborations with:
  • University teams from Montréal, Manchester and Lille and local laboratories of Grenoble working in the field of environment: CEA-LAN, LECA-PEX, LGGE, ISTERRE
  • Clinical services of occupational diseases under the French (RNV3P: 32 CHU) and European (Modernet) networks
  • Institutes CNES, Pasteur Institute, INRA, CIRAD, ONCFS, … on zoonoses
     
• Educational activity in developing and running research and professional master MREHTE “Research Methods for Research in Environment and Health, Toxicology and Ecotoxicology” for education of scientists, researchers and actors capable of dealing with issues of Health and Environment raised by both individuals and public authorities.
   
• Strong Valuation in terms of expertise in national (ANSES, InVS) and international (ECDC) agencies, industrial expertise and partnerships, actions in Continuing Education