How are humans exposed?

Pillar Leader: Tor A. Strand, Innlandet Hospital Trust and Univ. of Bergen

Dorte Herzke, NILU

Senior researcher at NILU’s Environmental Chemistry department at the Fram Centre, Tromsø and Prof II at UiT, has been working with microplastics (MP) related research questions for more than a decade. Her research focus is on the development of methodologies for sampling MP in air and determination of MP in a variety of matrices, as well as investigating the role of MP as a vector for chemicals, including additives. Dr. Herzke also leads the INTPART project PlastPoll as well as the SIS CleanArctic. She participates in the NORRUS collaboration MALINOR on mapping marine litter in the Arctic, in addition to several smaller projects on plastic pollution funded by the FRAM Centre.

Alessio Gomiero, NORCE

Alessio Gomiero - is a Senior Researcher at NORCE and honorary associate researcher at CNR -IRBIM. His background is analytical chemistry, ecotoxicology, and environmental risk assessment. Since 2013, he has moved from the development of combined ecological-ecotoxicological and chemical oriented approaches assessing the oil and gas industry to the study of plastic pollution. He has contributed to the development of vibrational spectroscopy and thermo-analytical oriented analytical methods to characterize microplastics in terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments as well as investigating the biological effects of microplastics on different model organisms. He is involved in several national and international research projects related to microplastic and is a member of expert groups in relation to marine pollution and plastic litter. He acts as NAMC scientific coordinator supporting the development of the Centre.

Hubert Driven, FHI

Hubert Dirven is since 2013 employed at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health as department director and currently he is a Senior Toxicologist focusing on the delivery of EU projects. Before 2013, he was employed as toxicologist and project director in large and small pharmaceutical companies working with liposomes and ultrasound bubbles. He is a European Registered Toxicologist (ERT). He is involved as Principal Investigator in several EU projects like Eximious, POLYRISK, ONTOX, EXPOSIM and PARC. He is a member of the WHO committee on Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR). Related to plastics research, Hubert studied the exposure and the toxicity of the plasticizer Di(ethylhexyl)phthalate already during his PhD. Hubert is WP leader in the EU project POLYRISK to study human exposure to micro and nanoplastics in 5 real life studies in humans. Especially the effects of micro- and nanoplastics on the immune system are being studied in these humans. He is Project leader of the PlasticLeach project in the Partnership for the assessment of Risk of Chemicals (PARC), studying the effects of chemicals leaching from plastics on human health and the environment.