22/11/2023
ICRA-CERCA hosts the kick-off meeting of the coordinated project EXPOWASTE
On Monday, November 20th, ICRA hosted the kick-off meeting of the project EXPOWASTE (“Integrating human biomonitoring and wastewater-based epidemiology to assess exposure to harmful chemicals and biological agents”) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. EXPOWASTE coordinates two subprojects: Subproject#1 is led by researchers from ICRA, whereas Subproject#2 is led by researchers from IDAEA-CSIC. The project also has the participation of specialists in public and environmental health from the Autonomous Public Health Organization of the Girona County Council (Dipsalut).
The meeting was attended by José L. Balcázar and Lluís Corominas (PIs of Subproject#1), Carles Borrego, Anna Pico, and Lluís Bosch from ICRA; Sergi Díez and Pablo Gago Ferrero (PIs of Subproject#2) from IDAEA-CSIC; and Angi Vilà and Alba Tarrés from Dipsalut, which presented their contribution to the different tasks and decided on several coordination issues regarding sampling campaigns and distribution of tasks for the first year of the project.
EXPOWASTE aims to provide a comprehensive picture of the exposure to harmful chemicals and life-threatening antibiotic-resistant pathogens by combining human biomonitoring (HBM) and wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) at both local and regional scales. Given this, both subprojects will be grounded in a cross-sectional cohort of individuals with different socioeconomic statuses and will combine the analysis of chemical and biological markers in human and sewage samples. The outcomes of this research are expected to provide a valuable and timely surveillance tool to public health and water agencies in charge of coordinating and implementing health policies and initiatives.
