Research into Environmental Toxicology in the RESC began in the late 1990s with involvement in a number of EU projects. This work focussed on establishing the toxic effects of contaminants of environmental concern on established cell lines and primary cell culture systems developed in the Centre.
In recent tears, tests with singular chemicals progressed to assessing the potential toxicity of environmentally relevant complex mixtures of contaminants and sediments and to the environmental impacts of nanomaterials and microplastics.
A multi-trophic battery of freshwater and marine test species, comprising of the Microtox® test system and several algal, copepod, and amphipod cultures are available currently in the RESC for ecotoxicity tests. A range of freshwater fish cell cultures are also established and up and running in the RESC.