Head of the Department: PharmDr. Josef MAŠEK, Ph.D.
Phone: +420 773 775 481
E-mail: josef.masek@vri.cz
The Department is involved in the development of recombinant vaccines, adjuvants and carriers, the study of toxicological mechanisms of pharmacologically active substances and environmental pollutants and contaminants of foods and raw materials of animal origin, including their trace chemical analysis.
Head of the research group: RNDr. Miroslav MACHALA, CSc.
Phone: +420 720 544 799
E-mail: machala@vri.cz
The research group under the leadership of RNDr. Miroslav Machala, CSc. focuses on chemical analysis of complex mixtures of aromatic compounds in the environment and food chain using advanced analytical methods.
At the same time, they study toxicity mechanisms of organic xenobiotics (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, persistent organic pollutants such as dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls and polar aromatic compounds), especially the processes of chemical carcinogenesis and endocrine disruption, at both molecular-biological and biochemical levels (changes of gene expression, DNA damage and post-genotoxic responses, intracellular signal transduction, effects in the plasma membrane, and comprehensive lipidomic analysis), and at the level of cell populations (modulation of the cell cycle, proliferation, apoptosis and differentiation; intercellular communication, cell adhesion and transformation). Data produced by this Department are used by the European Agency for Food Safety and by the WHO for risk assessment of environmental and food contaminants.
Areas of research:
- Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) studies – modes of action, induction of XMEs, genotoxicity, relative effective potencies
- Endocrine-disrupting activities of environmental aromatic contaminants (PCBs, PAHs, PACs)
- Carcinogenesis, developmental biology and other processes related to tissue-specific toxicity
- Complex environmental mixtures - toxicology in vitro
- Nanotoxicology
- Lipidomics (modulations linked to carcinogenesis and toxicity of environmental contaminants, lipid biomarkers) – determination of SLs, PLs, FAs and eicosanoids
- Ecotoxicology
