Mercè Garí de Barbarà
Beatriu de Pinós Research Fellow
437800
merce.gari@idaea.csic.es
http://mercegari.net/
ORCID:
0000-0001-6903-0732
Research group: Geochemistry and Pollution
Mercè Garí has focused her research career on the study of environmental pollutants and their effects on the human health. Her main research line focuses on the Exposome, a core topic of the current research on environmental health. It includes 3 main sub-lines:
1) The innovative development and validation of new sampling techniques for the study of new pollutants or mixtures in human samples;
2) The evaluation of health outcomes in human populations associated to the pollutant's exposures; and
3) The incorporation of computational tools, namely machine learning, on the Exposome research.
She joined the IDAEA-CSIC in 2022 with a Talent Attraction Grant from the Severo Ochoa Excellence Program. Previously, she was a Research Fellow at Helmholtz Zentrum Munich for Environmental Health (2018-2022), Research Assistant at the University Hospital LMU-Munich (2017-2018), 'Juan de la Cierva' Fellow at the University of Barcelona (2016-17) and PhD candidate (JAE-CSIC fellowship) and early postdoctoral researcher at IDAEA-CSIC (2006-2015). She holds a Degree in Human Biology (2005, UPF), a Diploma on Public Health (2007, UAB), a Master's degree in Laboratory Analysis (2009, UPF) and a PhD in Biomedicine (2013, UPF).
Dr. Garí has received several research awards and distinctions, including the Extraordinary PhD Award for her thesis "Patterns of accumulation of persistent organic pollutants in human populations" (UPF, 2013), the Environmental Science Award of the Catalan College of Environmentalists for the publication "Impacts of atmospheric chlor-alkali factory emissions in surrounding populations" (COAMB, 2014); the Seal of Excellence (European Commission, 2018) and the Critics Award for Research (Sciences) for the book "Natura, ús o abús (2018-2019) Llibre Blanc de la Gestió de la Natura" (Serra d'Or Journal, 2021). She is an 'Add-on Fellow for Interdisciplinary Science' of the Joachim Herz Foundation since 2019.
CIRCULATE
Ciència ciutadana per conèixer l’exposició humana a additius del cautxú dels pneumàtics
CIRCULATE aims to monitor the environmental fate of tire wear particles in an urban environment and elucidate the routes of exposure in humans, while creating a research community with the public that will co-design and implement the study in the city of Barcelona. The project will elaborate a first participative and structured diagnosis of the presence of these chemical compounds in Barcelona using citizens science and social innovation with a planetary health approach that aims to raise community awareness of an environmental pollution problem not associated with the use of fossil fuels.
Funding: Ajuntament de Barcelona – Fundació “la Caixa”: Convocatòries per a l’atorgament de subvencions de recerca, creació artística i transferència de coneixement en el camp de la ciencia 2023
Reference: 23S06161-001
Start Date: 10/11/2023 – End Date: 10/05/2025
Project Leader: Mercè Garí de Barbarà , Nicola Montemurro
Support: Francesca De Angelis
Funding: Regional Project
TRANSIT
Tire Rubber Additives on the environment and wildlife and implications for the human health
TRANSIT is aimed to perform a broad environmental and human exposure assessment to Tire Wear Particles (TWPs) and related chemical compounds by the collection and analysis of air, water, biota and human samples from the Llobregat River Delta and surroundings. This is a unique area comprising the second biggest Spanish airport surrounded by urban, agricultural, industrial and natural protected spaces to study the fate of TWPs in the environment and their impact on the human health.
Funding: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
Reference: PID2022-138623OA-100
Partners: Agència Catalana de l’Aigua (ACA); Consorci del Delta del Llobregat; Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona (ASPB); Generalitat de Catalunya.
Start Date: 01/09/2023 – End Date: 31/08/2026
Project Leader: Mercè Garí de Barbarà , Nicola Montemurro
Researchers: Carolina Muñoz Bustamante , Diana Manjarrés López
Support: Natalia Bravo Villarraso , Xavier Borrell Díaz , Francesca De Angelis
Funding: National Project
An Integrated and Comparative Health Risk Assessment of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals across European Populations
The project aims to enhance the quality, scope and efficiency of the assessment of human health risks posed by the use and presence of endocrine disrupting chemicals in the environment. For that purpose, the project will design and employ an innovative analytical methodology, based on a new generation of instruments (HRMS), compare the exposure levels across different population groups from Eastern, Central and Southern Europe, and assess the health risks related to these toxic compounds. This proposal is therefore in line with the EU strategy for Human Biomonitoring in Europe.
Funding: AGAUR. Beatriu de Pinós Programme. 2021_BP_00152
Start Date: 01/04/2023 – End Date: 31/03/2026
Project Leader: Mercè Garí de Barbarà
Funding: Regional Project
PARC
Partnership for the Assessment of Risk from Chemicals
The European Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (#EU_PARC) aims to advance research, share knowledge, and improve skills in chemical risk assessment. By doing so, it will help support the European Union's Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, paving the way for the "zero pollution" ambition announced in the European Green Deal.
Main objectives:
- Develop the scientific skills needed to address current and future challenges in chemical safety
- Provide new data, methods, and innovative tools to those responsible for assessing and managing the risks of chemical exposure
- Strengthen the networks which bring together actors specialised in the different scientific fields contributing to risk assessment
PARC represents a campaign of unprecedented scale, since it brings together 200 partners from 28 countries, as well as three EU agencies (the European Environment Agency – EEA, the European Chemicals Agency – ECHA, and the European Food Safety Authority – EFSA). The partnership encompasses all aspects of chemical risk assessment, aiming in particular to: better anticipate emerging risks, better account for combined risks, and underpin the concrete implementation of new orientations in European public policies to safeguard the health and the environment in response to important issues for health, the ecology and citizens' expectations.
The Spanish coordination was assigned to the IDAEA's Geochemistry and Pollution group (Joan Grimalt) and the Instituto Carlos III.
HORIZON-HLTH-2021-ENVHLTH-03: 101057014
Start Date: 01/05/2022 – End Date: 30/04/2029
Project Leader: Joan Grimalt Obrador
Researchers: Sandra Pérez Solsona , Marinella Farré Urgell , Marta Llorca Casamayor , Nicola Montemurro , Mercè Garí de Barbarà
Support: Arianna Bautista Gea (Ari) , Julen Segura Abarrategui
Funding: European Project
https://www.eu-parc.eu/
Integrated study of the exposure to glyphosate and its metabolite in a region with high agricultural activity in the province of Córdoba (Argentina)
Environmental and occupational risk analysis
Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in agriculture worldwide. Numerous studies have revealed the presence of glyphosate and its main metabolite, AMPA, in air, surface waters and soils, especially in agricultural areas, as well as in processed foods and human urine samples, in increasing concentrations during the last years. All of this has raised great concern about exposure to glyphosate and its effects, especially after its classification as a probable human carcinogen. The economic importance of the agricultural sector and the possible risk to the health of the ecosystems and the exposed population make it necessary to study the presence of these substances in the different environmental compartments, which will provide new data to carry out environmental risk assessments, establish maximum acceptable intake levels and promote sustainable agricultural models. The present project proposes the study of the presence of glyphosate and AMPA in samples of irrigation water, agricultural soils, drinking water, and human samples in a region of Córdoba (Argentina) with important agricultural activity. From the data obtained, an analysis of the associated risk will be carried out, both at the level of occupational exposure and of the general population.
Start Date: 01/01/2021 – End Date: 31/12/2023
Project Leader: Joan Grimalt Obrador
Researchers: Pilar Fernández Ramón , Mercè Garí de Barbarà
Funding: National Project
EDCMET
Metabolic effects of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: novel testing METhods and adverse outcome pathways
Endocrine disruptors (EDs) are defined as exogenous chemicals that alter functions of the endocrine system, thereby causing adverse health effects in an organism or its progeny. The project brings together experts in various research fields, including systems toxicologists, experimental biologists with a thorough understanding of the molecular mechanisms of metabolic disease and comprehensive in vitro and in vivo methodological skills and ultimately, epidemiologists linking environmental exposure to adverse metabolic outcomes. This proposal focuses on developing novel test methods and models to assess the metabolic effects of EDs. Combined in silico methods, in vitro and in vivo methods are developed with an emphasis on liver and adipose tissue and endocrine pathways related to their metabolism. In addition, epidemiological and field monitoring data is used to gain information regarding the exposure to chemicals and ED-related metabolic effects. The interdisciplinary approach and complementary expertise of the participants will identify novel mechanisms of action and provide an interface for regulatory purposes.
Funding: Horizon 2020. Grant agreement ID 825762
Participants: OULUN YLIOPISTO - Finland | EUROSAFE - France | PAMGENE INTERNATIONAL BV - Netherlands | EBERHARD KARLS UNIVERSITAET TUEBINGEN - Germany | UNIVERZITA KARLOVA - Czechia | WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY - Netherlands | UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS - United Kingdom | CSIC - Spain | BUNDESINSTITUT FUER RISIKOBEWERTUNG - Germany | NORGES TEKNISK-NATURVITENSKAPELIGE UNIVERSITET NTNU - Norway