Masaryk University establishes new centre for research of toxic chemicals

CETOCOEN – a new research centre at Masaryk University´s campus in Brno – will focus on research of toxic chemicals in the environment and their impact on our health. The centre is the first project from Masaryk University that has succeeded in the European Operational Programme Research and Development for Innovations, in its part for building centres of applied research. The workplace will cost more than 600 millions Czech crowns to establish. Many serious illneses could be connected with toxic chemicals in our environment. The new research centre will obtain data concerning environment pollution by toxic matter and add information about the behaviour and effects on the basis of knowledge from laboratory experiments, toxicologic tests and mathematic models. Then the scientists in the centre will create complete databases of pollution in a particular area.

But databases are just the basis. “Our main goal is to create a new system that finds out how the polluted environment is related to health problems of the population. This information is very important for the governing and decision-making sphere of the private and public sector,” said Ivan Holoubek, director of the Masaryk University´s research institute RECETOX, which guarantees the project and has more than 25 years of experience in the field of enviromental pollution by toxic chemicals. Results of the projects will serve to companies as an objective tool for evaluation how their technologies burden environment.

Public sphere representatives will have necessary information about conditions in their region to objectively decide about planning new buildings in industrial areas. Citizens will obtain simple and free information about the local environment and its influence on the presence of different diseases. The scientists then tell e.g. if the increases of oncological and respiratory diseases or allergies in given areas of the Czech Republic are connected with bad conditions of the environment there.

Masaryk University will use finances from the programme for construction of a new building and equipment for  its top laboratories that will become a part of the university campus and creating of inspiring and stimulating environment for promising young scientists. New building for more than 50 highly specialized scientists and the same number of PhD students, which will fill the space between the Incubator for Biomedical Technologies and the Faculty of Sports Studies, is planned to be opened in January 2012.