Research Teams
- Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is an international leader in the scientific study of the natural world.Our science mission is to (1) explore the diversity of the natural world and the processes that generate this diversity (2) use the knowledge gained to promote responsible interaction with the natural world. Our mission is delivered in part by the collections of over 70 million specimens that we look after, and by the generation of new knowledge through research.
The Natural History Museum is a dynamic scientific research institution that has been gathering knowledge about the natural world for over 250 years. Science at the Museum is organised into 7 departments and includes a world-class natural history library. Our research tackles today’s issues of biodiversity decline, disease, climate change and environmental pollution and we are one the world’s premier institutions for naming, describing and classifying all life on Earth. Our collections of plant, animal, fossil, rock and mineral specimens are vital to our scientific research and our understanding of the natural world.
- Imperial College
Imperial College London was founded in 1907 and was recently ranked 5th in the international university league table. There are currently over 13000 students and approximately 1200 academic staff. The College is primarily science-based with faculties of Medicine, Engineering, and Natural Sciences at its core.
The Faculty of Medicine was established in 1997, bringing together all the major West London medical schools into one world-class institution. The Faculty is one of Europe's largest medical institutions - in terms of its staff and student population and its research income; at present there are over 700 Faculty members actively involved in research, with an annual research spend of over £140 million. Professor Teresa Tetley heads the Lung Cell Biology group within the National Heart and Lung Institute, one of the most successful divisions in the Faculty of Medicine. This group has a strong research background in the adverse health effects of inhaled particles with a particular focus on nanomaterials, air pollution and cigarette smoke. Professor Tetley’s group conducts research in to the mechanisms underlying cytotoxic and inflammatory responses of the peripheral gas exchange region of the lung and her group currently consists of one lecturer, two post-docs and three PhD students. She has developed techniques to isolate primary cells from human lung parenchyma and established novel in vitro models using these cells.
The Faculty of Engineering, together with the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, is one of the largest engineering faculties in the UK, with around 1,200 staff, over 5,000 students and research income of £60 million. Dr Mark Rehkamper is a Reader in Isotope geochemistry within the Department of Earth Science and Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering. His research interests include geochemistry and cosmochemistry and he is one of the pioneers of multiple collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICPMS).
The Faculty of Natural Sciences employs over 1,200 staff, teaches 3,000 undergraduates and 1,200 postgraduate students and has a research income totalling £57 million. Dr. John de Mello is a Reader in Nanomaterials in the Department of Chemistry at Imperial College, specialising in the experimental and theoretical characterisation of nanoparticles and molecular semiconductors and with particular emphasis on their use in optoelectronic devices. In the area of organic semiconductors, his research focuses primarily on the fabrication, analysis and optimisation of light-emitting diodes and solar cells. In the area of nanoparticles, he has pioneered the use of microfluidic reactors for the automation and controlled synthesis of nanoparticles.
- Roskilde Universitetscenter (Denmark)
The Ecotoxicology Unit is part of the Environmental Dynamics Research Group under the Department of Environmental, Social and Spatial Change. The Ecotoxicology Unit has many years of experience performing ecotoxicological studies with a variety of marine and freshwater invertebrates in the laboratory and the field. The group has particular expertise in aquatic sediments and the ecology and ecotoxicology of deposit-feeding invertebrates.
- Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis (France)
The team « Ecotoxicology » (partner 4 in NanoReTox project), that is directed by Dr M. Roméo, is a part of ECOMERS (Ecology of Coastal Marine Ecosystems and Response to Stress), headed by Professor P. Francour. Ecotoxicology team research deals with the biochemical responses of marine organisms to pollutants and includes two assistant- professors M. Guibbolini and C. Risso and a technician D. Habib. Other teams of ECOMERS work on the rôle of diversity and habitat in the structure of fish populations on the one hand and on the impact of global climate change on benthic macrophytes on the other hand. The website: www.ecomers.unice.fr is under construction after the renewal of research project in 2010.
- Université Catholique de l’Ouest (France)
Université Catholique de l’Ouest (UCO) is a private university in west France (Angers). UCO is 130 years old and today has some 11,500 students, 180 full-time teachers and 1,000 professionals providing specialist teaching. University courses can be taken in the following areas: Literature, languages, teaching French as a foreign language, fine-arts, history, music, Psychology, sociology, personnel management, communication, education, management, Mathematics, computer studies, statistics, biology, environmental studies, Theology and religious studies.
The research department: CEREA (Centre d’Etude et de Recherche sur les Ecosystèmes Aquatiques) has a long experience on the study of aquatic ecosystems at different biological integration levels taking into account the concept of sustainable development and the biodiversity conservation (use of bioindicators and biomarkers for pollution assessment and anthropogenic impact, genetic variability of populations, management of invasive or protected plants). Moreover, the CEREA has been associated to the research group “Sea, Molecules, Health” from the Nantes University. This latter group is recognized since 1996 as consolidated research group by the French Ministry of Research and Education. This group develops research within the marine field. One of field expertise concerns marine ecology and ecotoxicology and is composed by 7 university lecturers and researchers, 2 researchers (CNRS), 5 PhD students and 2 technicians. This group is specialized in the response of aquatic organisms to natural and chemical stress (metals in particularly.
- Universidad del Pais Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (Spain)
Since 1985 the group of Cell Biology in Environmental Toxicology (CBET) at the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU (Bilbao) develops research and teaching activities within the Environmental Toxicology field. The group is composed of 10 university lecturers and researchers, 3 postdocs, 13 PhD students, 1 lab technician and 1 administrator. The group´s lab contains facilities for histology, light, fluorescence and electron microscopy, image analysis, cell fractionation and biochemistry, cell culture and molecular biology. The lab also has aquaria facilities for development of large experiments. The group coordinates two Masters (Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, Marine Environment and Resources) and gives several international postgraduate courses. Web page: www.ehu.es/GrupoBCTA
- Commission of the European Communities – Directorate General Joint Research Centre JRC (Belgium)
The Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (http://ihcp.jrc.ec.europa.eu)
is one of the seven scientific institutes of the Joint Research Center (JRC)
of the European Commission. Its mission is to protect the interests and
health of the consumer in the framework of EU legislation on chemicals,
food and consumer products. One of the most relevant areas in which the IHCP applies its scientific experience is Nanotechnology, object of the studies of the Nanobiosciences
Unit (NBS), held by Hermann Stamm. Within the NBS unit, the Nanobiotechnology competence Group Leader is François Rossi. - Universita di Pisa (Italy)
The University of Pisa was officially established in 1343, and today it boasts eleven faculties and fifty-seven departments, with high level research centres in the sectors of agriculture, astrophysics, computer science, engineering, medicine and veterinary medicine, with nearly 50 thousand students. Furthermore the University has close relations with the Pisan Institutes of the National Board of Research, with many cultural institutions of national and international importance, and with industry, especially that of information technology, which went through a phase of rapid expansion in Pisa during the nineteen sixties and seventies. The Department of Human and Environmental Science includes the group of Genetics, active since the 1970s, who performed a series of important studies on environmental mutagenesis - in vitro, in vivo and ex vivo. These include cytogenetic surveillance of individuals selected due to occupational, therapeutic or dietary exposure to xenobiotics, drugs or physical mutagenic agents. Following several projects on the genotoxic effects of environmental agents, the emphasis has in recent years moved towards gene-environment interactions, in particular investigation of environmental factors involved in complex disorders, especially cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. Recent studies have addressed the potential genotoxic impact exerted by newly synthesised nanoparticles towards human cells. The Department of Human and Environmental Sciences is well equipped with modern analytical instrumentation, and for this project, facilities available include cytogenetics and a molecular genetics laboratory.
- Ahava – Dead Sea Laboratories Ltd (Israel)
DSL is a leading Israeli skin care manufacturer, dedicated to bringing the treasures of the Dead Sea to people throughout the world. DSL encourages responsible and sustainable development of the resources found in the Dead Sea region in harmony with the surrounding natural wonders.
DSL R&D team takes part in national and European research projects. Our expertise is in developing high electrolyte formulations, as well as protocols for testing topical effects on skin models. The team enjoys close collaborations with leading universities and hospitals.
- King's College London
Details to follow
- USGS
Details to follow
- Intrinsiq UK
Details to follow