Integrative Toxicology (iTox) - Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research

iTox – integrative toxicology

In iTox we aim to integrate data and knowledge from different fields of toxicology to investigate molecular toxicological events and their relation to adverse outcomes on the organism scale. The integration of own data with knowledge and data from databases and other sources is key in our research that aims at understanding general and specific toxicological processes relevant for human and environmental health.

In different projects we work on the investigation, modelling and visualisation of toxicogenomic effects in zebrafish embryos and study time and concentration dependencies as well as mixture and recovery effects (see also: https://web.app.ufz.de/itox/tfpbrowser/).

Biotox 6 — Picture: predicted (A) and observed (B) whole transcriptome effect patterns in the zebrafish embryo after mixture exposure (Smax=Sensitivity, sum(CI)=measure for significance)

Furthermore, we collect, investigate and apply mode of action knowledge and effect data of chemicals for environmental mixture risk assessment and develop tools for data management and data integration.

Tools and Software

Toxicogenomic Fingerprint Browser

a R Shiny tool for exploration and visualization of time and concentration dependent toxicogenomic data obtained with the zebrafish embryo model

INTOB-ZFE

Integrated software and database for effect observations on organism scale

Group members

If you are interested in joining the group please contact Wibke Busch

Dr. Wibke Busch
Group Leader
Phone: +49 341 6025 1581
E-Mail

Paul Michaelis
Bioinformatican
Phone: +49 341 6025 1823
E-Mail

Dr. Maryam Azarian
PostDoc
Phone: +49 341 6025 2868
E-Mail

Dr. Nils Klüver
Scientist
Phone +49 341 6025 1558
E-Mail

Janet Krüger
Technican
Phone: +49 341 6025 1480
E-Mail

Bente Nissen
Scientist
Phone +49 341 6025 2861
E-Mail

Lukas Nerlich
Student assistant
E-Mail

Berfin Erdogan
Student assistant
E-Mail

Maxi Steinmetz
Master student
E-Mail

iTox Alumni

Lena Kramer, Student Assistant 2021-2023, University Tübingen

Bernhard Kodritsch, PhD student 2020-2023, next position: Scientist at German Environmental Agency (UBA)

Konstantinos Gkrintzalis, Visiting Fellow (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation) 2021-2023, Assistant Professor Dublin City University, Ireland

Gianina Jakobs, PhD Student 2019-2022, next position: Sustainability Manager at Edelrid

Marco Rump, Master Student 2022, next position: PhD student at Alfred-Wegner Institute (AWI)

Paula Klein, Student Assistant 2022, Technical University Dresden

Maria Franz, Student Assistant 2021, Technical University Munich

David Leuthold, PhD Student 2017-2020, next position: PostDoc at UFZ

Sophie Scholz, Student Assistant 2020, University Potsdam

Andreas Schüttler, PhD Student and PostDoc 2016-2019, next position: Group Leader at German Federal Institute of Hydrology

Joseline Alt, Student Assistent 2019, FU Berlin

Jona Schulze, Master Student 2019, next position: Scientist at German Environmental Agency (UBA)

Marie Miotke, Master Student 2019, next position: GENEWIZ Germany GmbH

Stefan Krämer, Master Student 2018, next position: PhD student at UFZ

Marcella Bader-Blukott, Student Assistant 2018, University Leipzig

Jelena Fix, Master Student 2018, next position: GENEWIZ Germany GmbH

Department News

Staff News

ETOX PhD Student Nadia K. Herold and Postdoc David Leuthold honored at the 2024 Society of Toxicology Meeting in Salt Lake City, UT, USA

Nadia’s research (use of multi-behavioral fingerprints to identify neuroactive environmental chemicals) was honored with four awards including the Molecular and Systems Biology Specialty Section Graduate Student Research Award and the renowned Carl C. Smith Graduate Student Award and also recognized by the Toshio Narahashi Trainee Conference Endowment Award.
David's research (identifying and elucidating the mechanisms of chemicals that disrupt non-associative learning using a novel multi-behavioral assay battery in larval zebrafish) earned three awards including the Molecular and Systems Biology Specialty Section Postdoctoral Scholar Research Award, the Neurotoxicology Specialty Section Toshio Narahashi Postdoctoral Scholar Poster Competition Award and the Mechanisms Specialty Section Sheldon D. Murphy Postdoctoral Endowment Award.

ETOX PhD Student Nadia Herold, Postdoc David Leuthold and mentor Prof. Dr. Tamara Tal at the Society of Toxicology (SOT) Meeting in Salt Lake City, USA.

Projekte

The goal of PrecisionTox is to improve chemical safety assessment to better protect human health and the environment by using non-traditional test species, multiple fields of knowledge, and powerful computational approaches to understand which chemicals are toxic and why.

https://precisiontox.org/

With MANTRA - data on innovative materials for sustainability and transfer - the BMBF is funding a scientific communication project for 3.5 years from January 2024 for networking, public relations and the development of indicators for sustainability as well as industry/practice transfer. These topics will be communicated via a website, brochures and information flyers using an interdisciplinary approach. In addition to the UFZ, the project consortium consists of the partners DECHEMA (coordination), KIT, TU Berlin and the subcontractor NanoCASE.

Logo des Forschungsvorhabens

PlasticsFatE - Plastics Fate and Effects in the human body aims at improving our present understanding of the impact of micro- and nano-plastics (MP/NP) and associated additives/adsorbed contaminants (A/C) in the human body. To do so, reliable and validated methods will be developed that are able to generate the science-based data we need. PlasticsFatE is a 48-month project funded by the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme of the European Union. The project will run from 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2025.

https://www.plasticsfate.eu