The main focus of my PhD studies is the understanding of how toxic pollution affects gene transcription in aquatic organisms. Generally, I am interested in how early transcriptional responses can be used to predict toxic effects on higher levels (organs, organisms, populations). However, in order for practical application of transcriptomics to be meaningful in the field of ecotoxicology, a basic understanding of the complexity of expression response is needed. Therefore, I am specifically interested in how expression patterns relate to pollution composition and vary with dose and exposure duration. By studying and quantifying transcriptional responses at different levels of complexity in exposure (doses, exposure durations, pollution compositions), my aim is to create an accurate expression model for a battery of selected genes in a model organism (a freshwater mussel, Anodonta anatina), which in turn could be useful in future predictions of toxicity and ecological effects of pollution.

My research is part of a project coordinated by the University of Skövde, WaterAssess - Multi-biomarker panel for environmental impact assessment of wastewater effluents. The project is a collaboration between researchers from both academia (Lund University, University of Skövde) and the industry (Toxicon AB, TATAA Biocenter). The ultimate goal is to integrate scientific expertise and practical application in order to develop and improve assessment methods to be used in characterization of industrial wastewaters and in environmental monitoring