Research summary
With an estimated 350,000 chemicals in use today, chemical contamination is one of the greatest threats to our planet. It’s important to know what the risks are, but current chemical risk assessment practices are time-consuming, costly and rely on the sacrifice of huge numbers of live animals. As Canada Research Chair in Predictive Toxicology and Chemical Safety, Dr. Markus Hecker is trying to transform these practices.
He and his research team are conducting baseline research using whole transcriptome, proteome and metabolome investigations paired with traditional biological studies to better understand critical toxicological processes in vertebrates. They are also developing new mechanism-based methods that can predict the health risks of chemicals across species (including humans) in an economic, reliable and ethical manner. In addition, they are establishing a collaborative toxicology research stream that assesses chemical safety for humans and wildlife using a design-thinking approach.