World Environment Day - June 5, 2021

[PT] [EN]

 

 

Kranendonk's Lab - Xenobiotic Metabolism & Sebastião Rodrigues' Lab - Drug Response & Resistance

In our daily life, we are exposed to many different chemicals which are present in the environment, for example those in exhaust fumes, but also those that find their way in our diet, such as pesticides and insecticides. Additionally, we may be exposed to specific chemicals in our professional settings, e.g., industrial production plants, but these also include therapeutic drugs. These chemicals, designated xenobiotics are not constituents of the normal human physiology and can be potentially harmful to our health. The human body has different mechanisms to protect us from toxicity of xenobiotics, by their detoxification and excretion.

Within the R&D Unit ToxOmics, at CEDOC from NOVA Medical School, there are two research groups studying these two processes, namely the Xenobiotic Metabolism group and the Drug Response & Resistance group.

The first group, headed by Michel Kranendonk, focus on the study of cytochrome P450s, one of the major families of enzymes involved in xenobiotic detoxification processes. These enzymes have a high level of genetic variability among individuals, leading to a variability in the toxicity outcome in chemical exposure. The group performs toxico-genetic and functional studies of these enzyme variants, to obtain insight in molecular mechanism of function of these proteins, which additionally contributes to the understanding of this inter-individual differences in susceptibility for chemical toxicity.

The second group, headed by Sebastião Rodrigues, has studied the action of a variety of dietary constituents on the genome, provoking mutations and alterations that can have deleterious effects on human health if consumed through the diet. Generally, if these components react with DNA, then the risk of pathological consequences, namely cancer, increases. The protection of our genome is carried out by DNA repair processes, in which DNA lesions are identified and repaired, therefore reconstituting the information present.

The understanding of the deleterious effects caused by xenobiotics, whether through the diet, the environment, or occupational settings, is crucial to assess the risk associated with their exposure and in prevention.

[From left to right: Michel Kranendonk; Sebastião Rodrigues]

Find out more: Michel Kranendonk's Lab | Sebastião Rodrigues' Lab