Laura Carteris a University Academic Fellow at the University of Leeds, UK. Laura’s research focuses on understanding the fate and uptake of emerging contaminants in the natural environment, with particular focus on soil-plant systems. Since completing her PhD at The University of York, Laura has spent time as a Risk Assessor at Unilever’s Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre (SEAC) and as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Adelaide, Australia where she investigated the biological effects of pharmaceutical uptake into plants. From 2016 – 2018 Laura worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of York, UK where she contributed to the European iPiE project on the intelligent assessment of pharmaceuticals in the environment, developing soil sorption models and monitoring pharmaceuticals in river catchments. At the University of Leeds, Laura is currently working on projects to increase our understanding of the effects of pharmaceuticals on soil and plant health.
Read Laura’s Emerging Investigator article “迈向建立药品在废水灌溉系统对农业生态系统和人类健康影响的框架” and find out more about her in the interview below:
您最近的新兴调查员系列文件侧重于药品在农业生态系统和人类健康上的废水灌溉系统中的影响。您的研究如何从您的第一篇文章中演变为这篇最近的文章？
来自我的博士学位的第一次出版物旨在探索化学命运在植物摄取药物中的作用。这涉及罐实验，以考虑土壤系统中药物的吸附，持续性和生物利用度以及对植物摄取的影响。然后我的研究继续探讨了控制陆地系统中药品的命运和摄取的因素和过程，包括药物诱导患亚致死的毒性的可能性。我们最近发表的文章采取了更加全面的方法来考虑农业生态系统中的药物暴露，核算不同来源和受体之间的复杂性和连通性。拟议的框架使我们能够开始将个别研究产出组成，以量化与农业生态系统中药物暴露相关的农业和人类健康风险。
你工作的哪个方面是你最兴奋的？
我最近开始在利兹大学作为大学学术研究员。我很兴奋有机会开发自己的研究小组以及集中在探索陆地系统中的污染物的命运和吸收的独立研究计划。
In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?
As highlighted in our recent publication we are unable to currently assess the risk of pharmaceuticals in agro-ecosystems because we do not have a high level of understanding of many of the processes and compartments involved in the exposure of pharmaceuticals. Work is urgently needed to understand the fate and transport of pharmaceuticals in arable soils systems and the effects of chronic, low level exposure to these substances on microbes, invertebrates, plants, wildlife and humans. In addition, research pertaining to the fate, uptake and effects of pharmaceutical mixtures and metabolites is lacking.
最终,这不是可行的实验etermine all the data we need to fill the identified knowledge gaps, so a key focus is the need to develop and validate models to predict the uptake of pharmaceuticals by non-target organisms. This will enable us to have a better understanding of the exposure of pharmaceuticals in terrestrial systems and provide basis for understanding any potential risk.
What do you find most challenging about your research?
我发现实验室实验中的翻译结果了解药品在我们的自然环境中的影响是我的研究的特别具有挑战性的方面。这是一个固有的复杂话题，并试图考虑环境矩阵的空间和时间尺度的复杂性，例如土壤属性的差异，使其成为一个重要的，但有趣的，挑战。
在哪些即将到来的会议或事件可能会遇到你？
I will be attending the2019 Society of Toxicology and Environmental Chemistry(SETAC) conference in Helsinki where I will be presenting some recent work on the potential for pharmaceutical translocation to beehives.
How do you spend your spare time?
I love to spend my spare time exploring new places with my family; this usually involves a lot of ice cream and trying to keep up with my two-year-old son.
Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?
我是一个自然的好奇的人，当我在学校时，我希望在新闻中追求职业生涯，但这很快就改变了追求科学职业的热情。新利手机客户端
您可以与其他早期职业科学家分享一件相关的建议或智慧吗？
追求多学科合作的机会，以促进互补主题领域的专业知识。这使您能够开发新颖和有趣的假设。一些最有趣的研究涉及与植物生物学家，分析化学家和数学制动器合作。
