Analysis and Fate of Contaminants of Emerging Concern

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The research in my group is currently focused on the analysis and environmental fate on contaminants of emerging concern. Contaminants of emerging concern include both truly new contaminants for which little published scientific data are available (e.g., many pharmaceutical products, perfluorinated surfactants, plasticizers), along with legacy contaminants which are regaining “popularity” because of newly discovered issues and potential effects and problems (e.g., Pb and Mn in drinking water, As in rice). In most of these situations, the research work in my group is divided into the development of the appropriate analytical chemistry/sample preparation methods, environmental applications to real-world samples, and the studies of the fate and potential effects of those compounds in the environment. The work aims to be multidisciplinary to account for an excellent analytical chemistry development, combined with the ruggedness to cope real world sample and the risk analysis required to properly interpret the meaning of such results (analytical tools have attained such performances that detecting the presence of a contaminant is not enough to conclude about the potential risks that it may represent). We then follow with environmental fate of such contaminants across a variety of media (soil, water, sediments, air).