Department of Genetic Ecotoxicology

The Department of Genetic Ecotoxicology (DGE) was formed from the Laboratory of Genetic Ecotoxicology, which in turn was founded in 1991 as a joint venture of the Institute of Experimental Medicine AS CR and the Regional Institute of Health of Central Bohemia with the aim of coordinating the international Teplice Program (1991–1999). This program, which studied the effect of air pollution on the health of the population living in the coal basin of Northern Bohemia, was carried out in collaboration with the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency and was supported by the EC program PHARE. This international collaboration helped to establish molecular epidemiology methods and to use them to assess the risk of exposure to air pollution.

The major findings included the fact that carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (c-PAHs) in the ambient air are responsible for most of the genotoxicity of complex mixtures and that exposure to c-PAHs in the early stages of pregnancy significantly increases intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR). Further, in polluted regions the relationship between c-PAHs exposure and DNA adduct levels, as well as the effect of genetic polymorphisms on DNA adducts, were studied.

The DGE participates in other international collaborative projects (EC, US EPA, HEI); among these, participation in the EC project EXPAH (Effects of PAHs in environmental pollution on exogenous and endogenous DNA damage, QLK4-CT-2000-00091) has been the most important.

Research in the DGE concentrates mostly on the effects of air pollution on genetic material, on the mechanisms of changes induced by environmental factors as well as modeling the relationships between individual factors (e. g. air pollution vs. life style), and the genetic damage caused by genotoxic and carcinogenic compounds, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, alkenes and other xenobiotics.