Dr. Elisa Rojo Nieto
Adresse:
Permoserstr. 15
04318 Leipzig
Gebäude: 7.3
Raum: 1.034
Telefon: +49 341 6025-1567
elisa.rojo-nieto@ufz.de
Research Interests
Elisa joined the UFZ in September 2017. She has been part of the ERC project: “CHEMO-RISK”. Within this project, she focused on the development of “chemometers” (understood as a common and well-defined reference phase for passive equilibrium sampling in different phases) to broaden the scope and the applicability domain of current passive sampling devices and to study which processes drive the enrichment of pollutants in aquatic biota on a thermodynamic basis. In addition, she has been also part of the BMBF funded project "MICRO-FATE", where she was responsible of the analysis of pollutants in marine water and plastic samples (blog). Since 2020, she is involved in the HGF project "EXPOSO-METER", where she explores which processes drive the bioaccumulation of pollutants in top predators (incl. humans) on a thermodynamic basis. She is currently main supervisor of two PhD students and advisor of two junior postdocs. Since 2022 she is elected member of the Scientific and Technical Council of the UFZ and since 2024 she is part of the editorial board of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry journal.
She completed her Ph. D. in the program Marine Environment: Science and Sustainable Development at the University of Cadiz, studying the fate and effect of hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs) in the marine environment. Amongst others, she has proposed the use of passive sampling and dosing to 1) reconstitute complex environmental mixtures of HOCs in toxicity tests and 2) use freely dissolved concentrations in pore water and specific biota-to-sediment accumulation factors to estimate concentrations of HOCs in target organs of fish.
Besides her dedication to research and academia, she has also been working (2012-2013) as head of the analytical laboratory and related projects in CTAQUA (Andalusian Aquaculture Technological Centre, Spain). Furthermore she was a member of the coordination team of the International Campus of Excellence of the Sea, CEIMAR (2013-2016).
Previous positions
2016 - 2017
Independent Project Manager – Collaboration U. of Cadiz
▪ Project: Marine litter: The case of Spanish beaches
▪ Project: Environmental Impacts of marine litter
▪ Coordinator of the Course "Marine litter: the environmental challenge of this century for our oceans" in the Scientific Summer Camp (2017), University of Cadiz
2013 - 2016
Scientific Project Manager in the Coordination Team (90% Management, 10% Research)
International Campus of Excellence of the Sea (CEIMAR)
2012 - 2013
Head of the analytical laboratory in CTAQUA and related projects (90% Management)
Andalusian Aquaculture Technological Centre (CTAQUA), (Spain)
2008 - 2012
Researcher and University Lecturer (90% Research, 10% Lecturing)
University of Cadiz (Spain)
FPU program (competitive call, Spanish Ministry of Science)
2007 - 2008
Postgraduate Fellowship
"La Caixa" Foundation Fellowship, competitive call (Master studies)
2006 - 2007
Research collaborator Fellowship, during last year of BSc
University of Cadiz (Spain)
2005 - 2007
Student research collaborator
University of Cadiz (Spain)
Education
2012
PhD in Marine Pollution (Extraordinary Award for Doctorate in Sciences)
University of Cadiz
2008
Master in Oceanography
University of Cadiz
2007
Bachelor + Master in Marine Sciences
University of Cadiz
Current Projects
2024 - 2027
nanoINHALE: Inhalation as the major uptake pathway for micro- and nanoplastics in air-breathing organisms
Role: Part of the coordination team, and PI and main PhD supervisor of the subproject “Are we what we breathe? Plastic-associated chemicals in terrestrial biota, including simulated leaching”
2020 - 2026
EXPOSO-METER: Characterizing the environmental and human exposome of mixtures of pollutants at high trophic levels
Role: Senior Postdoctoral Researcher, focused on Human, Marine and Terrestrial Mammals Exposome and co-leading the research group.
Completed Projects
2019 - 2021
MICRO-FATE: Occurrence and fate of microplastic in the marine environment
Role: Senior Postdoctoral Researcher, focused on the study of pollutants in water and plastics.
My role in this project, where I was participating for few months, was to lead the analysis of pollutants in water and plastics, from leading the sampling group for water in the ocean during 5 weeks to coordinate the chemical analysis and interpretation of results (draft in preparation)
2017 - 2019
CHEMO-RISK – Starting Grant ERC project
Role: Senior Postdoctoral Researcher. My role in this project has been co-leader of the research group, being at the same time responsible of one of the 4 subprojects (thermodynamics of bioaccumulation in aquatic environments).
2017
Marine litter: The case of Spanish beaches
PI: Elisa Rojo-Nieto and Tania Montoto;
My role in this project has been coordinator, and direct responsible of the hired person.
Ecologistas en Acción, in collaboration with UCA and ULPGC
2016
Environmental Impacts of marine litter
PI: Elisa Rojo-Nieto and Tania Montoto;
My role in this project has been as researcher and coordinator; direct responsible of the hired person.
Ecologistas en Acción, in collaboration with UCA and ULPGC
2013 - 2016
CEI•MAR - International Campus of Excellence of the Sea
Scientific Project Manager; production of CEIMAR documentation and project management, analysis of indicators and data on strategic areas and areas of specialization, proposals and projects for the improvement of indicators and the production of information for different dissemination platforms.
2010 - 2011
Collaboration in "FP6 Integrated Project OSIRIS -Risk Assessment of Industrial Chemicals through Integration of Non-Test and Test Information [COGE-037017]"
Institution where project took place: National Environment Research Institute (Aarhus University) as a Partner of the Project; Supervisor: Philipp Mayer
2007 - 2010
Assessing the impact of pollution due to anthropogenic chronic activities in the coastal environment
Role: Researcher, studying environmental pollution of HOCs in biota, sediments and water, during my PhD (funding: FPU program).
2005 - 2008
Marine environmental diagnoses and acoustic pollution in the Bay of Algeciras and Strait of Gibraltar area.
Role: Researcher, studying environmental pollution of HOCs in sediments, during my Master Thesis (funding: La Caixa Fellowship).
Publications
Index:
You could use our publication index for further requests.
2025 (2)
- Allan, I.J., Miège, C., Jahnke, A., Rojo-Nieto, E., Vorkamp, K., Kech, C., Polesello, S., Perceval, O., Booij, K., Dulio, V., Estoppey, N., Mayer, P., McHugh, B., Munschy, C., Staub, P.-F., Vrana, B. (2025):
Passive sampling in support of biota monitoring of hydrophobic substances under the Water Framework Directive
J. Hazard. Mater. 483 , art. 136672 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.136672 - Muz, M., Jahnke, A., Rojo-Nieto, E. (2025):
Extraction, cleanup and recovery of trace organic pollutants in biota
In: Barceló, D., Pico, Y. (eds.)
Sample handling and trace analysis of pollutants: Innovations to determine organic contaminants (Second edition)
Elsevier Science, Oxford, p. 65 - 134 10.1016/B978-0-323-85601-0.00014-X
2024 (1)
- Rojo-Nieto, E., Wernicke, T., Muz, M., Jahnke, A. (2024):
From trophic magnification factors to multimedia activity ratios: chemometers as versatile tools to study the fate of hydrophobic organic compounds in aquatic ecosystems
Environ. Sci. Technol. 58 (47), 21046 - 21057 10.1021/acs.est.4c07940
2023 (5)
- Carmona, E., Rojo-Nieto, E., Rummel, C.D., Krauss, M., Syberg, K., Ramos, T.M., Brosche, S., Backhaus, T., Carney Almroth, B. (2023):
A dataset of organic pollutants identified and quantified in recycled polyethylene pellets
Data Brief 51 , art. 109740 10.1016/j.dib.2023.109740 - Carmona, E., Rojo-Nieto, E., Rummel, C.D., Krauss, M., Syberg, K., Ramos, T.M., Brosche, S., Backhaus, T., Carney Almroth, B. (2023):
A dataset of organic pollutants identified and quantified in recycled polyethylene pellets [Dataset]
Zenodo 10.5281/zenodo.8367104 - Reiter, E.B., Escher, B.I., Rojo-Nieto, E., Nolte, H., Siebert, U., Jahnke, A. (2023):
Characterizing the marine mammal exposome by iceberg modeling, linking chemical analysis and in vitro bioassays
Environ. Sci.-Process Impacts 25 (11), 1802 - 1816 10.1039/D3EM00033H - Rojo-Nieto, E., Jahnke, A. (2023):
Inside front cover: Chemometers: an integrative tool for chemical assessment in multimedia environments (ChemCom 22/2023)
Chem. Commun. 59 (22), 3150 - 3150 10.1039/D3CC90094K - Rojo-Nieto, E., Jahnke, A. (2023):
Chemometers: an integrative tool for chemical assessment in multimedia environments
Chem. Commun. 59 (22), 3193 - 3205 10.1039/D2CC06882F
2022 (1)
- Wernicke, T., Rojo-Nieto, E., Paschke, A., Nogueira Tavares, C., Brauns, M., Jahnke, A. (2022):
Exploring the partitioning of hydrophobic organic compounds between water, suspended particulate matter and diverse fish species in a German river ecosystem
Environ. Sci. Eur. 34 , art. 66 10.1186/s12302-022-00644-w
2021 (3)
- Arp, H.P.H., Kühnel, D., Rummel, C., MacLeod, M., Potthoff, A., Reichelt, S., Rojo-Nieto, E., Schmitt-Jansen, M., Sonnenberg, J., Toorman, E., Jahnke, A. (2021):
Weathering plastics as a planetary boundary threat: Exposure, fate, and hazards
Environ. Sci. Technol. 55 (11), 7246 - 7255 10.1021/acs.est.1c01512 - González-Fernández, D., Cózar, A., Hanke, G., Viejo, J., Morales-Caselles, C., Bakiu, R., Barceló, D., Bessa, F., Bruge, A., Cabrera, M., Castro-Jiménez, C., Constant, M., Crosti, R., Galletti, Y., Kideys, A.E., Machitadze, N., de Brito, J.P., Pogojeva, M., Ratola, N., Rigueira, J., Rojo-Nieto, E., Savenko, O., Schöneich-Argent, R.I., Siedlewicz, G., Suaria, G., Tourgeli, M. (2021):
Floating macrolitter leaked from Europe into the ocean
Nat. Sustain. 4 (6), 474 - 483 10.1038/s41893-021-00722-6 - Muz, M., Rojo-Nieto, E., Jahnke, A. (2021):
Removing disturbing matrix constituents from biota extracts from total extraction and silicone-based passive sampling
Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 40 (10), 2693 - 2704 10.1002/etc.5153
2019 (1)
- Rojo-Nieto, E., Muz, M., Koschorreck, J., Rüdel, H., Jahnke, A. (2019):
Passive equilibrium sampling of hydrophobic organic compounds in homogenised fish tissues of low lipid content
Chemosphere 220 , 501 - 504 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2018.12.134
2018 (1)
- Varela, J.L., Rojo-Nieto, E., Sorell, J.M., Medina, A. (2018):
Using stable isotope analysis to assess trophic relationships between Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) and striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) in the Strait of Gibraltar
Mar. Environ. Res. 139 , 57 - 63 10.1016/j.marenvres.2018.04.016
2017 (1)
- Sánchez-Nieva, J., Perales, J.A., González-Leal, J.M., Rojo-Nieto, E. (2017):
A new analytical technique for the extraction and quantification of microplastics in marine sediments focused on easy implementation and repeatability
Anal. Methods 9 (45), 6371 - 6378 10.1039/c7ay01800b