Risk assessment – Mattias Öberg's research group

Towards a safe and sustainable use of chemicals. We want to give the scientific support needed to ensure a high level of protection of human health and to promote new approaches for assessment of hazards of chemicals.

Part of the Institute of Environmental Medicine

Research outline

Our research group is dedicated to studying the process of health risk assessment of chemicals across various contexts, including emergency toxicology, occupational settings, and environmental pollutants. A key focus lies in hazard characterization, particularly through mathematical modeling of dose-response relationships. Perfluorinated chemicals (PFAS) currently serve as our central substance group for linking human health risks to complex mixtures, adverse outcome pathways, and the influence of different stakeholders on regulatory decisions (referred to as "captured science"). 

Moreover, we actively prioritize outreach to society, engaging in extensive communication efforts and fostering direct collaborations with national and international agencies. We also work to reduce, refine, and replace animal models, drawing from extensive experience in this area (i.e. the 3R). Through our multifaceted approach, we aim to advancing the understanding of chemical health risks and informing policy decisions.

In order to develop better interventions and regulations there is a need to combine new approach methods with biomarkers of exposure and health. Computational models and relevant mixtures help us to understand the health risks. The figure summarizes the framework of our recent publication in Science (Carporale et al., 2022).

Publications

All publications from group members

Staff and contact

Group leader

All members of the group

Visiting address

Institutet för miljömedicin (IMM), Enheten för integrativ toxikologi, Nobels väg 13, Stockholm, 17177, Sweden