Research in the Brinkmann Lab is anchored in Aquatic Toxicology and focuses on uptake and effects of contaminants in aquatic organisms under realistic exposure scenarios. Research questions include: What is the influence of environmental and physiological factors on chemical uptake and effects in aquatic organisms, and how can we predict these using computational models? How do findings from the lab translate to the field situation? What are relevant parameters in the field, e.g. during flood events or as a result of global change? To answer these and other questions, we use a blend of lab and field research and computational models, and combine knowledge from different disciplines, including toxicology, environmental chemistry, and hydrology.
The Brinkmann Lab has only been around since August 2018, and currently has the following lab members: three students in the Toxicology MSc Program (Chelsea Grimard, co-supervised with Dr. Markus Hecker; Stephanie MacPherson, co-supervised with Dr. Graham Strickert; Jocelyn Thresher, co-supervised with Dr. Natacha Hogan), one MSc student in engineering (Hayley Popick, co-supervised with Dr. Kerry McPhedran), as well as one undergraduate research assistant (Niteesh Jain), and a varying number of professional Masters students and visiting research students from across the globe. In early 2020, the lab will be joined by two more PhD students.
The Brinkmann Lab is currently working on five main projects: (1) Understanding the impacts of environmental factors on uptake and effects of ionizable organic chemicals in aquatic organisms (NSERC) ; (2) Combined hydrological, exposure and risk assessment models in support of environmental risk assessment (CFI, Global Water Futures); (3) Chemical and toxicological characterization of stormwater quality; (4) Searching for refined in vitro approaches to predict bioconcentration in fish (CEFIC); (5) Understanding the bioconcentration and bioaccumulation of organics from oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) (COSIA).
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