Toxicology

The Toxicology RG (TOXI) comprises 6 Research Labs distributed in the Lisbon and Porto poles with a total of 51 integrated members (30 permanent faculty & research staff, 13 non-permanent faculty, 8 non-permanent research staff) who directly supervise 45 PhD students, excelling in the field of Toxicology.

One of the group aims is to identify chemoresistance mechanisms and early toxicity and biomarkers in cancer survivors, particularly related to cardiotoxicity, for enhanced diagnosis and personalized interventions. Across preclinical to clinical translation, the group contributed to Alzheimer's disease treatments targeting the BACE-1 and GSK-3β pathway.

Collaborating with the pharmaceutical industry, such as Avextra Pharma GmbH, we aim to investigate the toxicological impacts of psychedelic drugs like psilocybin, psilocin, and N,N-dimethyltryptamine, to enhance their safety profile. We also aim to explore the neurotoxicology of psychoactive substances using an Adverse Outcome Pathway-based approach on both developing and mature brains, including epigenetic signatures and changes in aging biomarkers to understand individual susceptibility and implications in neurodegenerative diseases. Additionally, we seek insights into the toxicity mechanisms of emerging drugs of abuse using new experimental models like C. elegans and zebrafish. We will delve deeper into the forensic impact of legal and illegal psychoactive substances on driving safety and causes of death, aiding in more informed court decisions. Collaborating with the Forensic Research Center of Simon Fraser University, we will expand the use of new techniques for analyzing alternative samples like bones and teeth, which are more resistant to decomposition.

In the environmental field, we focus our research on developing methods for analyzing microplastics and the enantioselective toxic impact on aquatic organisms and microorganisms and to understand the physiology of stress and disease caused by environmental stressors.