Research

My research is currently focused on four main areas:

  1. Developing alternatives to animal toxicity testing in environmental science (such as in vitro toxicity testing), and particularly for water quality assessment (drinking water and human health, as well as wastewater and ecological health)
  2. Understanding the effect of low concentration of endocrine active chemicals in water, both in terms of drinking water and human health as well as wastewater discharges and aquatic organisms
  3. Understanding the occurrence, fate and effects of microplastics on humans and aquatic ecosystems
  4. Developing advanced decision support systems that help practitioners (water industry, environmental health regulators etc) apply the latest science to make more informed decisions

See below for a list of projects, publications, and posters.

Researcher ID

My ResearcherID is A-2806-2011 and my ORCID is 0000-0002-6934-4587.
You can also find me on ResearchGate, Google Scholar and Griffith Experts.

In the news

18 June 2019: Are chemicals in our daily life making us sick?, Radio interview on Sydney 2ser

25 July 2018: These scientists think plastics are shrinking penises, by Liam Mannix, Sydney Morning Herald

25 July 2018: Water scientist puts bottled brands to test in ABC’s War on Waste, by Stephanie Bedo, news.com.au

25 July 2018: Water joke: Most bottled water is LESS healthy and worse for your teeth than the stuff that comes out the tap, by Brooke Rolfe, Daily Mail Australia.

24 July 2018: “Plastic bottles” episode of War on Waste Season 2

20 May 2017: Is your house making you sick? Endocrine disrupting chemicals. Science Friction, ABC.

19 May 2017: Endocrine disrupting chemicals: Is your home making your sick? ABC News.

27 March 2017: World Science Festival: Why do people buy bottled water when it’s free from a tap. ABC News.

1 September 2016: Environmentalists say a rubbish pile up at a Brisbane creek could cause ecological damage. Quest Newspaper.

27 April 2016: Cells act as early danger alarm for marine wildlife. Australian Geographic.

23 October 2014: Tracking contaminants in Australia’s rivers. American Society of Agronomy.

Project highlights

Please visit my ARITOX staff page or Griffith Experts for more information about current and past projects.

On this site, you can find more information about the projects I undertook for my BSc, MSc, PhD and postdoc, below.

Postdoc (2005-07): EDC Toolbox I, supported by the Global Water Research Coalition. The project focused on developing a robust and reliable battery of bioassays to detect estrogenicity in environmental waters. Click here for more information.

PhD in Toxicology (2001-04) at Lincoln University, New Zealand, with Dr Louis Tremblay. My thesis focused on detecting and identifying endocrine disrupting substances in sewage and wastewater in Australia (South-East Queensland) and New Zealand (around Christchurch). Click here for more information.

MSc in Environmental Toxicology (1999-2001) at the University of New Brunswick, Saint John, NB, Canada, with Dr Deborah MacLatchy. My thesis attempted to determine the mechanism of action of beta-sitosterol on goldfish (Carassius auratus) gonadal steroidogenesis. Click here for more information.

BSc in Ecology (1995-98) at McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada. During my BSc, I did an independent studies thesis with Dr Roger Buckland, Miss Sophie Czetwertynski, and Mr Rolland Lemieux on the diet, range, and impact of ecotourism on wolf (Canis lupus) populations in the Parc-des-Grands-Jardins, QC, Canada. Click here for more information.

Resources

Deriving guidelines for chemicals in recycled water: An online decision tree and calculator that takes you through the framework for deriving guidelines for chemicals in recycled water for potable reuse described in the Australian Water Recycling Guidelines (2008).

List of publications

I have more than 150 publications over the past 20 years on the themes of:

  • Application of effect-based methods (EBM) to environmental monitoring
  • Water quality assessment, including recycled water for reuse
  • Occurrence, effects and removal of contaminants of emerging concern, including microplastics, pharmaceuticals and personal care products, pesticides, industrial chemicals

See a full list on my ARITOX staff page, Griffith Experts or on Google Scholar.

Don’t hesitate to contact me if you would like a reprint of any of these papers.

Poster board

Visit the ARITOX virtual conference to download posters presented at scientific conference.