At this year’s SETAC Europe meeting in Vienna, Marco Franco was awarded the Rifcon Early Career Scientist Award for his work: “Differential biotransformation ability may alter fish biodiversity in polluted waters”, recently published in Environment International. This research provided a significant contribution to the understanding of how biotransformation, a critical defense mechanism against the effects of chemical pollutants, varies significantly across species, potentially making some species more susceptible to chemical pollution and eventually leading to important alterations to fish biodiversity. This work also expanded the applicability of in vitro systems, thus contributing to a reduction of animal experimentation while maintaining environmental relevance.

Publication

Franco, M. E., Hollender, J., & Schirmer, K. (2025). Differential biotransformation ability may alter fish biodiversity in polluted waters. Environment International, 195, 109254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2025.109254