The UJI professor Félix Hernández participates in an expedition in Antarctica to analyse the polluting effects of human activity



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## The UJI professor Félix Hernández participates in an expedition in Antarctica to analyse the polluting effects of human activity The samples taken will be analysed in the University Institute for Pesticides and Water at the Universitat Jaume I

09/02/2017 |
SCP

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The professor Félix Hernández, head of the Analytical Chemistry and Public Health research group at the University Institute for Pesticides and Water (IUPA) from the Universitat Jaume I, is participating in an Antarctic expedition to collaborate in the project "Xenobiotics in South Shetland Islands, Antarctica”. The project seeks to evaluate the impact caused by human activity on Antarctica, in order to know the current state in terms of the presence of xenobiotics and generate a wide database that can be taken as a basis for future studies. This will enable the study of trends in the levels of pollutants associated with human presence in the region, linked mainly to scientific bases and tourism.

This ambitious project contemplates the taking of numerous samples of sewage from the bases, surface water from lagoons used for water supply, snow, sea water, sediment and lichen. The analytical studies will be carried out in the IUPA, which has advanced methodologies capable of investigating numerous organic pollutants, coupled chromatography-mass spectrometry techniques, with high and low resolution. The range of compounds to be investigated is very broad, and it includes drugs, with special emphasis on antibiotics, hormones, flame retardants, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

Recent studies carried out by researchers in the field of microbiology have demonstrated the existence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in Antarctica. For this reason, it is necessary to know if these compounds are being released into the environment, and at what levels of concentration, because of human consumption.

The expedition in which Félix Hernández participates began on 12 January 2017, starting from Punta Arenas and taking as a point of reference for the stay the Chilean base Escudero, in the King Jorge Island. Over 40 days, the research team is sampling different environments on King George Island (Chilean bases of Escudero, Armada and Fach, and bases in Uruguay, Argentina, South Korea and China), as well as in the Nelson and Ardley islands. At the end of January, the expedition embarked on the Aquiles ship of the Chilean Navy to work in more distant places, such as Deception Island, which houses the Spanish base “Gabriel de Castilla”, and the Robert, Greenwich and Livingston islands, arriving finally to the Antarctic Peninsula.

The scientific expedition is composed by the researchers Mónica Montory, Javier Ferrer and Mariela Gómez, from the University of Conception, and by the lecturer Félix Hernández from the UJI. For the research of compounds used as flame retardants, they count also with the collaboration of Adrian Covaci, director of the Centre for Toxicology from the University of Antwerp and a recognized specialist in this field, who for several years has maintained a close collaboration with the group directed by Félix Hernández, including an exchange of researchers between both centres.

The Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH) funds the project, which has Monica Montory and Javier Ferrer as principal researchers. Looking ahead, the universities involved in the project will sign a collaboration agreement in order to enhance their collaboration and facilitate cooperative research in the Antarctic area. Their intention is to extend the collaboration agreement inviting the University of Magallanes, based in Punta Arenas, in order to extend the field of work to other areas, such as bacterial resistance to antibiotic compounds.

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