Research Focus
My research focuses on understanding how plastic pollution in aquatic environments intersects with ecosystem functioning and human health. Within a Planetary Health framework, my work investigates how environmental contamination with micro- and nanoplastics can influence biological systems across multiple levels of biological organization, from aquatic organisms to potential human exposure pathways. A key component of my research examines plastics in complex environmental contexts, where they co-occur with other emerging stressors and form part of multifactorial exposure scenarios. By combining environmental monitoring, experimental biology, and toxicological approaches, my group studies how plastic particles and associated chemicals interact with biological processes, ranging from molecular responses to population-level effects across generations. More recently, my research also explores how plastics may contribute to complex exposure mixtures in environments closely connected to human activities, including potential implications for environmental and public health. This work aims to bridge traditionally separate fields, including environmental toxicology, microbiology, and human health sciences. Ultimately, the goal is to better understand how changes in the health of aquatic ecosystems may translate into consequences for human well-being, while identifying pathways for mitigation and sustainable management of plastic pollution within a broader Planetary Health perspective.