Grant: Canada Research Chairs

The number and levels of contaminants in the environment have dramatically risen over the last 10 years. To address this crisis, there is an urgent need for innovative approaches to systematically characterize complex cocktails of environmental contaminants and determine their toxicity to aquatic and terrestrial organisms. This Research Chair uses state-of-the-art methodology in comparative ecotoxicogenomics and endocrinology to determine how environmental contaminants (alone and in mixtures) affect animal and ecosystem health from the molecular to population levels of organization. The goals of the research program are to 1) fundamentally rethink the way endocrine axes are currently understood to better interpret the harmful effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals; 2) determine the effects of emerging contaminants on animal health; and 3) characterize their potential toxicity on relevant indicator species, providing guidance for the development of rigorous cumulative effect risk assessments that will lead to the implementation of preventative and remedial policies and practices. This Chair is assisting Canada’s policy makers to better manage the risk of contaminants to environmental health.