Next-generation approaches for integrative food toxicology

Trace Elements group performed since 1990 integrated assessments of risk/benefit associated with the presence of toxic trace elements and their chemical species in foods, being remarkable the research conducted for arsenic and mercury. The group works in various fields: development of analytical methods, characterization of trace elements in food consumed by the population, intake assessment, bioavailability studies using in vitro models, studies of uptake and intestinal transport, evaluation of the toxic effects on the gastrointestinal tract of toxic elements. In addition to the characterization of the processes that occur prior to the arrival of the toxic element into the systemic circulation, also evaluates biomarkers of exposure. The group also conducts research aimed at counseling public and private agencies, national and international, in the fields mentioned above.