Masaryk University will study the impact of environment on humans

New labs and a biobank are being built at Masaryk University campus for the storage of environmental and human samples. The new facility will be located underground and is expected to be finished in 2020.

The Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment (RECETOX) began building new labs and a biobank in the northern part of the Bohunice campus. The new facility will be located between the RECETOX and INBIT buildings and will enable comprehensive research on the impact of the environment on people. The role of the environment in the development of chronic diseases, which are becoming increasingly more common, will be determined thanks to the research opportunities.

The construction of the new facility follows the long-term study of pregnancy and childhood, which studied the development of thousands of children from the Brno and Znojmo regions born in 1991. So far, the study included data on the children’s health as well as socioeconomic data of their families and other information. Now, the researches want to expand the available data by including biological information in order to understand how toxic substances in one’s body influence the development of diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and autoimmune disease.

Another phenomenon that will be studied in the new labs is the microbiome – the community of microorganisms naturally fond in human skin, mucous membranes, the oral cavity, and intestines, which can all influence one’s immune system.

RECETOX has celebrated its 35th anniversary this year and covers a wide range of basic and applied research focusing on toxic substances in the environment and their impact on people. The center provides information on the exposure of living organism to complex combinations of chemicals present in the internal and the external environment. The center also develops new ways of integrating data and makes the data available for innovative and informed decision-making at all levels.

The new facility built by RECETOX will include modern exam rooms which will be used for examining the volunteers participating in the study and for taking samples of saliva and blood. The data collected from large population studies will be available to the whole of Masaryk University and other research institutions as Masaryk university co-operates with many European higher education institutions. For example, RECETOX participates in the European project Human Biomonitoring for Europe, which allows members to share data collected on the populations of different countries and to use it in healthcare policies.