Toxicology News and Research

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Toxicology is the study of harmful interactions between chemical, physical, or biological agents and biological systems.

Study reveals the multi-dimensionality of microplastic pollution

Microplastics--small plastic pieces less than 5 millimeters in length--are ubiquitous in the environment, and they can have significant effects on wildlife.

21 Apr 2021

PrecisionTox aims to protect human health from the toxic effects of chemicals

A major research project to shape regulation and policy on chemical safety without the use of animal testing has been launched with the aid of €19.3M funding from the European Commission.

10 Mar 2021

Researchers find large quantities of previously undetected PFAS

Researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) found large quantities of previously undetectable compounds from the family of chemicals known as PFAS in six watersheds on Cape Cod using a new method to quantify and identify PFAS compounds.

8 Mar 2021

Commuters are inhaling chemicals at levels that increase cancer risk

A new study finds that California's commuters are likely inhaling chemicals at levels that increase the risk for cancer and birth defects.

16 Feb 2021

Caffeinated coffee helps to minimize reductions in attention and cognitive function

A new study exploring the impact of repeated sleep loss during a simulated working week has found that consuming caffeinated coffee during the day helps to minimize reductions in attention and cognitive function, compared to decaffeinated coffee.

22 Jan 2021

Study: Cattle feed yards emit synthetic chemical cocktails into the environment

A recent Point of Reference article, "The meat of the matter: Environmental dissemination of beef cattle agrochemicals," published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, points at synthetic chemical cocktails being emitted from cattle feed yards into the environment and how they can impact our ecosystem and our health.

15 Jan 2021

Glyphosate could be used as biomarkers to predict incurring diseases in future generations

Exposure to the widely used weed-killer glyphosate makes genetic changes to rats that can be linked to increased disease in their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, a new study has found.

10 Dec 2020

Environmental and exogenous compounds can interact with therapeutic drugs, shows study

According to scientific estimations, humans are exposed to at least 10,000 to 100,000 environmental and exogenous compounds in an individual lifetime, which are mainly absorbed through our dietary.

3 Dec 2020

Gaining new insights into bacterial pneumonia

Jacqueline Kimmey speaks to AZoLifeSciences about her research into bacterial pneumonia and the genes that drive its spread from the lungs into the blood.

23 Nov 2020

Study identifies genes and molecular pathways most sensitive to chemical exposures

A University of Massachusetts Amherst environmental health scientist has used an unprecedented objective approach to identify which molecular mechanisms in mammals are the most sensitive to chemical exposures.

30 Oct 2020

Developing a 'Trojan Horse' nanotherapy to fight breast cancer

With a nearly $2.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, Michigan State University researchers are using nanoscopic particles to turn the body's own cells into weapons that cancer won't see coming.

12 Oct 2020

Researchers discover a mechanism that leads to the growth of cell nuclei

By far the most important process in cell development is how cells divide and then enlarge in order to multiply. A research team headed by Freiburg medical scientist Prof. Dr. Robert Grosse has now discovered that bundled fibers of actin within a cell nucleus play an important part in how they enlarge after division.

23 Sep 2020

Increased blood lead levels in children are linked to reduced expression of genes

Researchers have revealed a connection between methylation of genes implicated in heme synthesis and carcinogenesis and high blood lead levels in children, signifying a previously unfamiliar mechanism for lead poisoning.

10 Aug 2020

Novel method can examine dangerous levels of heavy metals in food and water

Finding out if the food and water we consume are safe from toxic and carcinogenic metals can now be much faster and simpler.

5 Aug 2020

Konstanz biologists win Ursula M. Händel Animal Welfare Prize

Marcel Leist, Professor of In-Vitro Toxicology and Biomedicine at the University of Konstanz, and Thomas Hartung, Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Konstanz and Doerenkamp-Zbinden Chair of Evidence-Based Toxicology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, have been awarded the Ursula M. Händel Animal Welfare Prize 2020 of the German Research Foundation.

3 Aug 2020

Archaeologists use new protein method to determine the sex of human remains

A new method for estimating the biological sex of human remains based on reading protein sequences rather than DNA has been used to study an archaeological site in Northern California.

21 Jul 2020

UC Davis Health tests new antibody combination as potential treatment for COVID-19

Timothy Albertson, chair of internal medicine and specialist in pulmonary and critical care, is leading efforts at UC Davis Health to test a new antibody cocktail (REGN-COV2) as a prevention and treatment for COVID-19.

21 Jul 2020

Lab-grown 'mini-brains' can be infected by SARS-CoV-2 virus

A multidisciplinary team from two Johns Hopkins University institutions, including neurotoxicologists and virologists from the Bloomberg School of Public Health and infectious disease specialists from the school of medicine, has found that organoids (tiny tissue cultures made from human cells that simulate whole organs) known as "mini-brains" can be infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.

1 Jul 2020

Researchers discover receptor that regulates aging effects in mice

Increasing abdominal girth and shrinking muscles are two common side effects of aging. Researchers at the University of Bonn have discovered a receptor in mice that regulates both effects.

26 Jun 2020

Genetic dysfunction of brain astrocytes promotes head pain in familial migraine

Neuroscientists of the University of Zurich shed a new light on the mechanisms responsible for familial migraine: They show that a genetic dysfunction in specific brain cells of the cingulate cortex area strongly influences head pain occurrence.

25 Jun 2020