Dr. Ozmen's Environmental Toxicology and Nanotoxicology Laboratory investigates the environmental health and safety impacts of environmental pollutants such as pesticides, metals, endocrine disruptors and nanotechnology related materials using risk assessment assays and biochemical markers. Our laboratory is also specifically interested in environmental monitoring in freshwater and marine ecosystems that fish and mussels are using as monitoring organisms to determine effects of environmental pollution.  Our test organisms are Xenopus laevis and Danio rerio in the lab that we have two separate laboratory facilities to keeping frogs and zebrafish colonies to test embryotoxic and developmental toxicity studies. We use biochemical and molecular biology methods to tests of selected pollutants on these organisms. Our Xenopus lab was established in 2001 and zebrafish lab also established in 2013. The fish lab has fully automated zebrafish unit and a spawning system now. Our aquatic toxicology laboratories are able for;

- rapid assays to determine the toxic potential of xenobiotics and nanomaterials,

- arranging useful tools to evaluate toxic effects on biotransformation systems and stress enzymes,

- environmental behavior and photocalatytic degradation of xeneobiotics with  nanoparticles, and their biological interactions.

- We are also working to develop for some microcosm/nanocosm models to rapid toxicity testing of chemicals using invertebrate and vertebrate models.

 

Research Interests and Skills

Ecotoxicology and Environmental Monitoring

Environmental Toxicology

Biochemical and Molecular Toxicology

Ecological Risk Assessment

Toxicity Thresholds and Criteria

Endocrine Disrupters

Nanotoxicology and Nanoecotoxicology

Molecular Cell Biology