About RECETOX

Founded in 1983, RECETOX is an independent department of Masaryk University’s Faculty of Science. We are engaged in research and education in the fields of environmental and health. Our main activities comprise of monitoring toxic compounds in the environment, various products and human tissues, and evaluating the risks they pose, as well as their associated toxicological and ecotoxicological health effects; developing new sampling and analytical methods; developing new chemical tools and methodologies, biotechnologies and software tools. We are equipt to rapidly respond to new challenges concerning environmental contamination monitoring and exposure of the population to toxic compounds and their mixtures, and propose preventive and legislative measures, and offer appropriate interventions for chemicals management.

We work closely with various industrial partners to safeguard human health and ecosystems from the effects of toxic compounds,. Furthermore, through hosting of the National Center for Toxic Compounds, and the Stockholm Convention Regional Center (SCRC) for capacity building and transfer of technology, we support countries in Europe and Africa, as well as international institutions in the region.

RECETOX’s Research Infrastructure, is a centralized facility for the implementation of interdisciplinary research projects, and is divided into individual core facilities that analyze a wide range of anthropogenic natural substances and toxins in environmental or biological matrices, conduct long-term environmental and population studies, and develop sophisticated software tools for management, analysis, interpretation, and visualization of data.

RECETOX provides multidisciplinary education in bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs in the fields of environmental health, mathematical biology, and biomedicine.

RECETOX in numbers

RECETOX: RECETOX in numbers.

“Our vision is to become an internationally recognized Centre of Excellence that promotes and implements education and research aimed at understanding how environmental factors affect human health, aging and well-being, and developing innovative approaches for environmental and health protection, and interventional tools for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.”

• Prof. Jana Klánová (Director of the RECETOX Centre)

Science and Research

We study the relationships between chemicals, the environment, biological systems, and human health, and monitor their impacts at local, regional, and global levels.

Research is carried out by 19 research groups in five research programs.

Research Agenda

RECETOX studies the behavior of contaminants and models their long-distance transport and bioaccumulation in living organisms; this includes evaluating the effects of toxic substances on the environment and health, and developing methods and tools to break them down.

Interdisciplinary Approach

Our extensive expertise enables us to explore the complex relationships between contaminated ecosystems and population health, biodiversity, and climate change, assess their local and regional impacts, and develop water and soil remediation technologies and tools.

Environment and Health

In recent years, the Center's research focus has expanded to cover the various factors affecting human health and well-being, the so-called exposome, chemical safety, and the development of biotechnology, materials, and bioinformatics tools for biomedicine.

Our motivation

Due to the growing number of older adults and the resulting increase in the burden of chronic diseases and societal demands, most developed countries face long-term rises in healthcare costs and thus pressure on health insurance systems. This increase makes chronic diseases, together with health inequalities, two of the most challenging problems of the 21st century. To effectively address these problems, the factors that determine the health of humans and entire populations must be clarified and explored.

Individuals and populations are exposed to many environmental factors, such as heat, noise, light pollution, and a wide range of chemicals and their mixtures. These chemicals enter the body via the food and water we ingest, products we use daily (e.g., cosmetics), the air we breathe, and the indoor environments (buildings, offices) we work or live in. While many of these chemicals have been shown to interfere with the proper functioning of the endocrine and immune systems, causing neurodevelopmental, metabolic, and reproductive disorders, the combined effects of toxic mixtures and other environmental factors, which can also be influenced by stress, socioeconomic determinants, lifestyle or dietary habits, have not yet been fully elucidated.

Therefore, we aim to build research capacity for investigating the exposure of populations to the environmental factors (so-called Exposome) mentioned above, estimate internal exposure and individual susceptibility, predict the risks to human health, and thereby contribute to clarifying the etiology of chronic conditions.

Research programs

Environmental chemistry and modelling

• The research programme focuses on understanding the mechanisms and processes affecting the emissions and fate of chemicals in the environment and further expands its interest in study of the exposure of individuals and populations to the environment in order to provide tools for common interpretation of data from environmental monitoring and human biomonitoring networks.

Environmental health

• The new research program deals with biomarkers of exposure, effect and sensitivity of individual organisms, and other factors such as socio-economic determinants of health, nutrition or physical activity. In this context, we are strengthening technology capabilities for omics analyses, biobanking capacities and developing a bioinformatics platform to support the interpretation of multi-omics and epidemiological data.

Environmental Toxicology

• Programme focuses on the environmental impacts of both acute and chronic chemical exposures. We use the Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) combining modeling and testing strategies to predict the environmental impacts of complex chemical mixtures. We investigate combined exposures to various factors that, based on individual susceptibility, can significantly contribute to an individual's excessive burden and lead to the development of pathologies.

Chemical Tools for Diagnostics and Therapy

• The programme focuses on the development of new photoactivatable systems and supramolecular carriers as specific systems that exhibit specific biological activities or serve as auxiliary systems for biological or medical applications.

Loschmidt laboratories of Protein Engineering

• The research programme has been dealing with the basic principles of enzymatic catalysis and development of protein and cellular biocatalysts for environmental, chemical and biomedical applications. The program uses protein engineering, synthetic biology and analysis of large data stored in genomic databases to develop and prepare useful catalysts.

Studying at RECETOX

Multidisciplinary study programs incorporating a vast array of fields, were specifically designed to address the highly complex interactions between environment and health.

Successful completion of the programs paves the way to countless career opportunities in the public (research, government) as well as private sectors.

2 new study programs

• To better meet the growing social, scientific, and corporate demand for professionals in the environment and health, and associated fields, two new study programs were introduced in 2018

500+ Graduates

• Since RECETOX’s inception, more than 500 students have successfully graduated from the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs. Many more are joining thanks to their increasing popularity

Modern research infrastructure

• Studying is supported by state of the art equipment. The center operates 50 high-end laboratories occupying an area of 4,000m2, several accredited laboratories, and a biobank

Research Infrastructure (RI)

The state-of-the-art Research Infrastructure, consisting of three main Core Facilities, supports the Center’s research activities; It operates in Open-Access, providing services to internal and external users from academia and industry.

The composition of core facilities forming the Research Infrastructure provides the basis for the implementation of interdisciplinary research projects which incorporate:

1. Analysis of a wide spectrum of anthropogenic and natural toxins in various environmental and biological matrices

2. Long-term environmental and population studies

3. Development of comprehensive software tools for data management, analysis, interpretation, and visualization

RECETOX Research Infrastructure in 2023

RECETOX: RECETOX Research Infrastructure in 2023.

Infrastructure Users

The RECETOX Research Infrastructure, including its facilities and services, is available to both internal users and the broad scientific community (external users). Users from academia and research can apply for access to the infrastructure under the “Open Access” project, which covers most of the related costs and provides access through a competitive selection process.

Industrial and commercial users can also use the RI; however, they are ineligible for funding through the Open Access project.

Researchers and scientists

• Access through a merit-based selection process
• State-of-the-art facilities and unique expertise
• Training
• Various open access schemes

Industrial users

• Contractual and collaborative research
• Single analyses or long-term collaboration
• Accredited laboratories
• Competitive selection process