Theme IV - Emerging Environmental Issues and Preparedness
Overview
Theme IV has a diverse portfolio of projects under the umbrella of emerging hazards and preparedness and aims to address issues of public concern. The Aims include:
To develop methods to assess emissions from waste fires and biomass-fuelled power stations; investigate the toxicity of microplastics in in-vitro models; investigate the effects of environmental exposures on fertility; collect data on the health impacts from exposures to perfluorinated chemicals and establish emergency preparedness through method development for quantification of emerging environmental hazards with an initial focus on fentanyls.

Theme Leads
Dr Tim Marczylo

Theme IV Co-Lead
UK Health Security Agency
Dr Tim Marczylo Ph.D., B.Sc. is a principal toxicologist and leads a small team within the Toxicology Department at the Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards, UK Health Security Agency. His main research focus is on the exposure of the public to potentially damaging environmental toxicants and their health consequences. Recently, research has focussed on biomarkers of electronic cigarette exposure and on evaluating mass casualty decontamination strategies.
EEH Themes:
Theme I Project 1: Human Biomonitoring
Theme I Project 2: Biomarkers in smoking and vaping populations
Theme I Project 3: Acute CO exposure
Theme I Project 6: indoor Air pollution
Theme III Project 4: E-cigarettes toxicity and health effects from second-hand exposures
Theme IV Project 2: Microplastics and health
Theme IV Project 3: Drugs of misuse
Theme IV Project 5: Understanding public exposures to toxicants from waste fires
Publications:
Dr Stephanie Wright

Theme IV Co-Lead
Environmental Research Group, School of Public Health, Imperial College London
Dr Stephanie Wright is a UKRI Rutherford Research Fellow and Lecturer in Environmental Toxicology at Imperial College London. Research in her lab focuses on the emerging topic of micro/nanoplastics and human health. With an emphasis on the air, her interests are in detection methods and exposures; biokinetics and -accumulation; and particle and chemical toxicology, all from a human health perspective.
EEH Themes:
Theme IV Project 2: Microplastics and health
Publications:
Theme IV Projects
Project outline: Perfluoroalkyls and polyfluoroalkyls (PFAS) are a large class of anthropogenic chemicals, consisting of around 4000 individual compounds that repel water and oils and have been used in a wide range of surface coatings from cooking utensils, food packaging to clothing, furniture and carpets. PFAS are persistent in the environment and are bioaccumulative. Although exposures to the UK public are expected to be low there is limited data on the toxicity for most PFAS. This project will address this emerging issue.
Project outline: Over time discarded plastic degrades into microplastic particles that enter the food chain resulting in oral human exposure. Microplastic particles and fibres released from fabrics are also aerosolised and there is a possibility these cause lung injury following inhalation. There are public concerns that microplastics have detrimental human health effects. We will investigate the effects of microplastics on human intestinal and airway cells using high-throughput toxicity assays. Connected projects include S Wright’s fellowship, T Gant and S Wright’s PhD project (oral toxicology), and the new HPRU PhD project (respiratory toxicology). The aim of this theme is to identify potential toxicological effects of microplastics on the human airway and gut.
Project outline: Co-use of fentanyl with heroin substantially increases the risk of overdose and death. Addiction to these prescription opioids is increasing. Fentanyl-related deaths in the UK are relatively rare at around 105 in 2018 when compared with the USA where 55 fentanyl-related deaths/day were reported in 2016. However, there are concerns that incidents in the UK may follow those in USA and this project will investigate the potential use of waste water sampling to monitor trends in fentanyl use. In addition, fentanyls could potentially be used in a CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear) attack. Establishing capacity through analytical method development for fentanyls and their urinary metabolites at NIHP will enable preparedness for such an incident.
Project outline: The UK is shifting electricity generation towards “renewable” energy sources including biomass. DEFRA (2017) advise that burning biomass “could have adverse air quality impacts”, particularly through PM and NO2 associated health outcomes, including acute exacerbations of asthma and COPD. We will model the ground-based exposures to air pollutants and investigate potential health impacts near biomass electricity generating installations using spatio-temporal epidemiological methods applied to SAHSU (Small Area Health Statistics Unit) data.
Project outline: A current front-line NIHP issue is understanding the health consequences of waste fires on local populations. Toxicant generation by fires under controlled laboratory conditions is well documented but there is little understanding of the toxicant emissions from waste fire incidents making management challenging. We will investigate toxicants formed by waste fires to inform the front-line management. In the first year, an evidence review for toxicant generation from waste fires will be conducted and methods to sample and quantify toxicants in air and particulates will be established.
Project outline: The incidence of male and female infertility has increased in recent years. Advanced maternal age is known to be the leading factor responsible but other factors that affect both men and women including air pollution, may contribute. Epidemiological evidence suggests linking exposure to ambient air pollution with fertility disorders in men (i.e. reduced sperm quality) and women (e.g. reduced fecundity demonstrated by time to pregnancy, TTP) is still inconsistent with many study limitations. We will evaluate the association between exposure to ambient air pollution and reduced fecundity by using UK COSMOS, an ongoing study that provides information on many potential confounding variables.
Theme IV Investigators
Dr Leon Barron

Investigator
Environmental Research Group, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, Imperial College London
Dr Leon Barron moved to King’s College London as a Lecturer (in 2009) and then Senior Lecturer (in 2015) in Forensic Science, where he led the Environmental & Forensic Chemistry group for 11 years. In 2020, he moved to Imperial College London as a Senior Lecturer in Analytical & Environmental Sciences. He has published >75 peer-reviewed articles in the fields of analytical chemistry, environmental pollution, ecotoxicology and forensic science.
EE&H Projects:
Theme I Project 1: Human Biomonitoring
Dr Sean Beevers

Investigator
Environmental Research Group, School of Public Health, Imperial College London
Dr Sean Beevers leads the Environmental Research Group’s Air Pollution Modelling team, and is a member of the MRC Centre for Environment and Health.
EEH Themes:
Theme II Project 1: Air pollution and adverse birth outcomes
Theme II Project 2: Air pollution/impacts on the brain across the life course
Theme IV Project 6: Air Pollution and Infertility
Publications:
Dr Bethan Davies

Investigator
School of Public Health, Imperial College London
Dr Bethan Davies is a Senior Clinical Lecturer in the School of Public Health and an Honorary Consultant in Public Health Medicine at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Bethan is the Deputy Director of the UK Small Area Statistics Unit (SAHSU). She was previously the Deputy Director of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Imperial BRC Patient Experience Research Centre (PERC). Bethan’s research interest is in the use of routine healthcare data to build the evidence base for public health policy.
EEH Themes:
Publications:
Professor Paul Elliott

Investigator
School of Public Health, Imperial College London
EEH Themes:
Theme III Project 1: Understanding key molecular events following pollutant exposures
theme IV Project 6: Air pollution and infertility
Publications:
Dr Atallah Elzein

Investigator
UK Health Security Agency
Dr Atallah Elzein carried out his PhD in chemistry and environmental sciences in CNRS/Orléans – France, where I studied the interaction of gas pollutants on the surface of mineral oxides. Following my PhD, I took up a postdoctoral position at ULCO University in France where I expanded my experience in atmospheric science and air pollution and investigated the VOCs reaction kinetics and product formation using simulation chamber. I moved to York in the UK in 2016 and took up a postdoctoral position in WACL at the University of York where I focused on studying the chemical composition of PM2.5 in Beijing and Delhi and health risk assessment from carcinogenic compounds. Currently working at the UK Health Security Agency in the department of toxicology in Chilton-Harwell Campus where I’m involved in different projects within the HPRU focusing on health protection from toxicants in indoor and outdoor air.
EEH Themes:
Theme I Project 1: Human Biomonitoring
Theme I Project 3: Acute CO exposure
Theme III Project 4: E-cigerettes toxicity and health effects from second-hand exposures
Theme IV Project 5: Understanding exposures to toxicants from waste fires
Publications:
Dr David Green

Investigator
Environmental Research Group, School of Public Health, Imperial College London
Dr David Green is a Senior Research Fellow in the Environmental Research Group where he leads the Aerosol Science Team. Research interests focus on the measurement of particles and gases, and their use in source apportionment and health studies, to improve our understanding in both the urban and global environment.
EEH Themes:
Theme II Project 4: Exposures in transport microenvironments and their impact on health
Publications:
Dr Valentina Guercio

Investigator
UK Health Security Agency
Dr Valentina Guercio works at the UK Health Security Agency as a senior environmental scientist. After obtaining her PhD she worked for 6 years as a research fellow at the University of Milan and Mario Negri Institute in Milano. Her research interests are in the epidemiology of cancer and other chronic diseases and the identification of the major risk factors, including air pollution and environmental chemicals. This has been done by carrying out observational studies and systematic reviews and meta-analyses. She was also involved in national and international projects that aimed to combine the epidemiological and toxicological evidence in order to establish a causal relationship between exposures and outcomes.
EEH Themes:
Theme 2 Project 1: Air pollution and adverse birth outcomes
Theme 2 Project 2: Air Pollution/impacts on the brain across the life course
Theme IV Project 6: Air pollution and infertility
Publications:
Dr Marion MacFarlane

Investigator
University of Cambridge
Marion MacFarlane is Deputy Director of the MRC Toxicology Unit and Programme lead for the Molecular mechanisms of cell death Programme and the cross-Unit Fibre Toxicity Programme
EEH Themes:
Theme IV Project 2:Microplastics and health
Publications:
Dr Fred Piel

Investigator
School of Public Health, Imperial College London
Dr Fred Piel’s research uses rigorous spatial quantitative methods to study a range of epidemiological questions related to non-communicable disease, global health and low- and middle-income countries. He is leading on disease specific projects looking at environment-health associations, including on cystic fibrosis and sickle cell disease, as well as on methodological projects such as a comparison of space-time methods for non-communicable disease surveillance; the development of a software for disease mapping and risk analysis, the Rapid Inquiry Facility 4.0; and a modelling of spatial uncertainty at small-area level with Emory and Harvard collaborators, funded by NIH. He is part of the UK Small Area Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU) and the MRC Centre for Environment & Health. Dr Piel is also the Director of the Joint Training Programme for the MRC Centre for Environment & Health, the National Institute for Health and Care Research NIHR HPRU in Environmental Exposures & Health, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research NIHR HPRU in Chemical & Radiation Threats & Hazards. I am part of the Postgraduate Research Studies Committee of the School of Public Health.
EEH Themes:
Theme I Project 5: Bioaerosol quantitation and effects
Theme II Project 3: Indoor exposures and health
Theme IV Project 1: Human health impacts from exposures to perfluorinated chemicals
Publications:
Dr Rachel B Smith

Investigator
Imperial College London
Rachel is a postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Imperial College London.
EEH Themes:
Theme II Project 1: Air pollution and adverse birth outcomes
Theme IV Project 6: Air pollution and infertility
Publications:
Dr Rachel Smith

Investigator
UK Health Security Agency
Dr Rachel Smith had led the multidisciplinary Nanoparticle Inhalation Research Group at the UK Health Security Agency’s Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards for the past decade. Key research interests are lung deposition, clearance, translocation and toxicity of inhaled nanoparticles and other air pollution components, including their impact on pre-existing health conditions. She provides advice to UK Government on Nano safety and is a member of the OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials.
EEH Themes:
Theme III Project 3: The role of AhR in Asthma
Theme IV Project 2: Microplastics and health
Publications:
Professor Mirielle Toledano

Investigator
School of Public Health, Imperial College London
Professor Mirielle Toledano is an investigator on Theme II and Theme IV projects.
EEH Themes:
Theme II Project 2: Air pollution/impacts on the brain across the life course
theme IV Project 6: Air Pollution and Infertility
Publications:
Dr Matthew Wright

Investigator
UK Health Security Agency
Dr Matthew Wright is a Senior Aerosol Scientist within the Nanoparticle Inhalation Research Group, Toxicology Department, UK Health Security Agency. His main area of research involves studies on the aerosol characteristics, composition, lung deposition and toxicological effects associated with exposure to a range of agents including aerosolised carbon nanotubes, e-cigarette aerosol, nanoparticle-enabled consumer products and 3D printing emissions. He is partly responsible for the design, maintenance, operation and data analysis associated with aerosol generation, measurement instrumentation, and in vitro and in vivo exposure systems.Matthew previously worked as Senior Research Associate in the Atmospheric Chemistry Research Group, University of Bristol, having obtained Ph.D. (2011) and M.Sci. (2004) degrees in Physics, also at Bristol, where research focused on a range of topics including submicron and ultrafine aerosol size distributions in urban, rural, indoor and transport environments, development of gas and aerosol tracer technologies to study dispersion (including infiltration into buildings) and chemical reactivity in the urban atmosphere. Whilst at Bristol he was also involved in studies involving air pollution measurements in a SE Asian megacity (Bangkok, Thailand), ambient aerosol electric charge state and the potential influence on lung deposition in human volunteers, and the relationship between air ions, aerosols and atmospheric electricity in urban and other environments.
Matthew has been involved with a number of outreach activities to share the group’s research with the public, including New Scientist Live and Oxford Ideas Festival, and is active within the UK Health Security Agency on the Environmental Sustainability Champions Group. He has also been an active member of the Aerosol Society throughout his postgraduate and postdoctoral career, and has served on the Committee for several years, most recently taking up the role of Treasurer in November 2020, and as a member of the Institute of Physics.
EEH Themes:
Theme III Project 4: E-cigerettes toxicity and health effects from second-hand exposures
Theme IV Project 2: Microplastics and health