Margareta TörnqvistProfessor

The core aim of my research is to develop and apply methods to detect and measure human exposure to reactive chemicals/metabolites and to make improved cancer risk assessments of exposures to such chemicals which could be genotoxic and carcinogenic.

The analytical approach concerns measurement of adducts (reaction products) with blood proteins by mass spectrometry methods, an approach which also could be used to detect unknown exposure to such reactive chemicals. Another focus is how to apply protein adduct measurement as a tool for estimation of internal dose (AUC), metabolism etc., and how to use such information for improved cancer risk assessment with different models. Mostly small alkylating chemicals/metabolites, including benzo[a]pyrene, have been studied. Applications have concerned studies of exposure to such chemicals in work-place, from urban air pollution and from food, as well as from endogenous formation. In recent years collaborative studies have been more focused on children’s exposure and its relation to food habits, and prenatal exposure and its relation to birth outcomes.