Aims and Tasks


  1. To identify the most likely ECs occurring in the water column of the selected estuarine and coastal zones . 
  2. To estimate the exposure of target organisms  to ECs  and to assess the most likely effects .
  3. To estimate the fraction of the most likely emerging contaminant that is available in the food chain and to end consumers (bioaccesibility and bioavailability) .



disruptive chemicals

  • Screening analysis of water and biota samples to identify hot-spots and priorize ECs.
  • Validated methods of analysis of target contaminants in water and biota to monitor the concentration of ECs in mussels.
  • Uptake calibration of passive samplers (PSs) according to the polarity of the target contaminants to estimate the bioavailable fraction.
  • The body burden of ECs and transformation products.
  • Exposure biomarkers to diagnose the type of effect (endocrine disruption, intersex, ....), and the metabolomic profiles to distinguish exposure levels and eventually to identify some mechanisms of toxicity.
  • PBET assays will be carried out through the development of validated batchwise oral bioaccessibility and miniaturized dynamic flow-through methods in seafood and fish and the automation of the gastrointestinal extraction process.
  • Develop 3D dispersion models of ECs in Galician Rias for backtracking the contaminants detected in the molluscs and fishes to potential contamination sources