Chemistry and Toxinology
Chemistry is the science of the properties, composition and reactions of substances, while toxicology deals with the harmful effects of chemical or physical agents. Toxinology is the research area within toxicology that deals with natural toxins.
The health significance of toxins and toxicants depends on how toxic the substances are (toxicity), how much humans and animals ingest (exposure) and the organisms' ability to handle toxic substances (metabolism and kinetics).
Focus on natural toxins
In the Chemistry and Toxinology research section, one of our main activities is to study the hazards related to natural toxins and how they contribute to harmful health effects in animals and humans. We study natural toxins and allergens in food and feed, algal and cyanobacterial toxins and determine their occurrence, chemistry, and toxicity profiles, and the ecological roles and biology of the toxin producing-organisms. For many years, our main focus has been on the occurrence of mold toxins (mycotoxins). The Norwegian Veterinary Institute is Norway's National Reference Laboratory (NRL) for the analysis of mycotoxins and carries out surveillance analyses for the Norwegian Food Safety Authority.
Toxicants and residue analysis
We also analyze a number of other compounds that are relevant in connection with the poisoning of livestock, such as the mycotoxin penitrem, which is a neurotoxin, anticoagulants (rat poisons), the tire rubber-derived chemical 6PPD-quinone, etc.
In addition, we analyze rotenone in water samples. These analyses are used both to control the dosage of rotenone treatment of water and watercourses and to investigate when the rotenone has disappeared after such treatment.
Research
We conduct basic research related to natural toxins and conduct interdisciplinary work in a variety of research areas such as analytical chemistry, toxicology, mycology and cell biology.
We use modern, advanced equipment and methodology and are at the forefront of in-vitro toxicological research.
The research group is active in biomedical research and development with a special emphasis on animal health, fish health and feed and food safety. We work in the field of mycology (including oomycetes) and natural toxins (biotoxins) such as mycotoxins and toxins from marine and freshwater algae (phycotoxins). We have state-of-the-art equipment and broad expertise in analytical methods to study the organisms and their biomolecules; chemistry, mode of action, and ecological roles.
Parts of our research focus on more basal topics that may increase the general knowledge on microbiology and the chemistry of natural toxins, their biological effects and ecological roles. We are currently working on the content on this page.
Being such a unique assemblage of scientists allows us to approach research topics in a multidisciplinary manner. The Toxinology research group is active in biomedical research and development activities with a special emphasis on animal health, fish health and feed and food safety.
We are able to isolate, purify and chemically characterize almost any biomolecule from living organisms, develop quantitative assays for that molecule, study its biological effects and determine its biotransformation pathways in animals and humans.
We have a broad expertise specialized in feed and food mycology, as well as in the field of medical mycology, applying both traditional and molecular methods.
