Download “expression of interest” for hosting marie s. curie

“EXPRESSION OF INTEREST” FOR HOSTING MARIE S. CURIE
FELLOWS IN SPANISH INSTITUTIONS (CALL MSCA IF 2015)
1. Interested institution:
INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE INVESTIGACION Y TECNOLOGIA AGRARIA Y ALIMENTARIA
(INIA)
Endocrine Disruption and Toxicity of Contaminants (DETC) laboratory
Department of Environment
Ctra. De la Coruña Km 7.5
E-28040 Madrid
2. Brief Description of the Institution
The National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (INIA) is a Public
Research Organization (OPI) of the State Secretariat of Research of the Ministry of Economy and
Competitiveness.
Its unique mandate entails a dual responsibility. As coordinator of the national network of agrifood
research centres is responsible for the harmonization, resource allocation, monitoring and
evaluation of scientific and technical research activities under the Deputy Directorate General of
Prospective and Program Coordination and as an agrifood research institution, is responsible for
the execution of its own research and technology projects (including technology transfer) under
the Deputy Directorate General of Research and Technology (SGIT).
3. Please tick the areas of research (as established in Marie Sklodowska Curie
Actions)
☐ Chemistry (CHE)
☒ Environmental Sciences and Geology (ENV)
☐ Social Sciences and Humanities (SOC)
☒ Life Sciences (LIF)
☐ Economic Sciences (ECO)
☐ Mathematics (MAT)
☐ Information Science and Engineering (ENG) ☐ Physics (PHY)
4. Research / Project Description
At the Department of Environment of the INIA the group of Endocrine Disruption and
Toxicity of Contaminants (DETC) deals with the study of the mechanisms underlying the
toxic action of contaminants. We work using in vitro approaches based on the use of cells
(isolated fundamentally from fish and maintained in primary cultures) or cell lines of
piscine origin although some mammalian cell lines are also utilized. This in vitro work is
complemented with in vivo work performed in fish (we have facilities for the exposure of
rainbow trout fingerlings), in which we can study bioaccumulation processes, the induction
of particular metabolic pathways or the interaction with the immune system. The
“EXPRESSION OF INTEREST” FOR HOSTING MARIE S. CURIE
FELLOWS IN SPANISH INSTITUTIONS (CALL MSCA IF 2015)
observations made in the laboratory serve to develop some markers of pollution that
thereafter could appear in fish exposed to pollutants in the wild or in fish farms.
We are interested in some particular groups of substances, as endocrine disrupters,
nanomaterials or mycotoxins. For the study of endocrine disruption we have availability of
several cell lines transfected with hormone receptors (estrogen receptor, androgen
receptor, thyroid receptor) and reporter genes that are activated after exposure to the
substance of interest. These cell lines can also be applied to extracts of environmental
samples (water, soil, sediment) in order to establish the total endocrine activity present. In
addition, we dispose of chemical analyses systems (liquid chromatography coupled to
different detectors including triple quadrupole) to determine the presence of particular
substances in these samples. This analytical approach is also used to observe levels of
hormones or other markers in plasma of fish, which are informative of endocrine
disruption. In the case of nanomaterials we perform thorough physicochemical
characterizations of the suspensions determining shape (by electron microscopy),
frequency size distributions (by dynamic light scattering or electron microscopy), or actual
concentrations (by ICP-MS or other chromatography approaches). Not only for
nanomaterials, but also for any other substance, we carry out cytotoxicity analysis using
different assays that reflect a variety of mechanisms of toxicity. In addition, we can apply
biochemical or molecular biology analyses that inform us about the induction of particular
enzymes or cellular receptors. We are particularly interested in the phase I and II
detoxification enzymes (as those dependent on cytochromes P4501A or P4503A) and
related nuclear receptors (as the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, the pregnane-X-receptor or
the peroxisome proliferator activated receptor). Finally, we carry out studies about
oxidative stress that is also essential to understand the toxicity of nanomaterials or of any
other kind of contaminant.
We could therefore develop a variety of research projects related with the mentioned
areas. But we could also propose some particular areas of work: (1) interactions of
graphene with biological systems, including studies about penetration in cells,
metabolization and possible interaction with other substances or contaminants and (2)
metabolism and bioaccumulation of contaminants using comparatively in vitro – in vivo
systems.
5. Who can apply?
At the deadline for the submission of proposals (10/09/2015), researchers (*):
 shall be in possession of a doctoral degree or have at least four years of full-time
equivalent research experience.
 must not have resided or carried out their main activities in the country of Spain for more
than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the abovementioned deadline.
“EXPRESSION OF INTEREST” FOR HOSTING MARIE S. CURIE
FELLOWS IN SPANISH INSTITUTIONS (CALL MSCA IF 2015)
6. Contact person
Dr. José M. Navas
Endocrine Disruption and Toxicity of Contaminants (DETC) laboratory
Department of Environment
INIA
Ctra. De la Coruña Km 7.5
E-28040 Madrid
Spain
e-mail: [email protected]
Tel: +34-913474155
Fax:+34-913474008
7. Applications: documents to be submitted and deadlines
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Curriculum Vitae
Letter of interest
Please note that:


Deadline of the next call for proposals for Marie Sklodowska – Curie Individual Fellowships
is September, 10th 2015.
Oficina Europea is only responsible for the display of the expressions of interests received
by the institutions; further contact and information requests will take place directly
between the host institutions and the interested researchers.
(*) Further details on the Call and additional eligibility criteria can be found at the Participants´Portal