University of Kalmar

Tomas Öberg, Associate Professor of Environmental Chemistry and Research Fellow in Environ­mental Risk Analysis, heads the research group at the University of Kalmar, School of Pure and Applied Natural Sciences (Research Unit in Environmental Risk Analysis). The research is focussed on hazard identification using QSPR/QSAR models, exposure assessment with probabilistic methods, and risk communication. Persistent organic pollutants and chemometrics are principal areas of interest, where individual group members have worked for more than 20 years.

The group runs several research projects with internal and external funding, and some examples are:
The PhD-project “Chemometrics for green chemistry”, that is focussed to the development of QSPR-models for environmentally relevant properties, principal property models for solvents, and virtual screening.
The project “Probabilistic risk assessment”, that is focussed to developing methods and collecting exposure factor data for risk assessment of contaminated land.
The PhD-project “Conjoint analysis as a decision tool for evaluation of environmental performance”, that aims to develop decision tools and improve risk communication within the steel industry.

The University of Kalmar is conducting research in a wide range of areas. The research in natural sciences is particularly intense; the University of Kalmar has the right to award doctoral degrees in this area and the School of Pure and Applied Natural Sciences have 23 full professors, together with 90 PhD-candidates. Environmental science is a strong field with six full professors, four associate professors, and twenty PhD-candidates. These researchers belong to the research groups of Environmental Chemistry, Environmental Geology, Environmental Risk Analysis, Environmental Technology, Environmental Terrestrial Ecology with GIS/­Remote Sensing, Natural Resources Management, and Palaeoecology/­Environmental History.

Within CADASTER, LIN will be the leader of WP4. Thereupon, LIN will characterize the variability and uncertainty in available experimental data and QSARs, perform sensitivity analyses of individual models with regard to their contributions in the overall risk assessment framework, perform QSAR modelling of variability in e.g. species sensitivity distributions (SSDs), and perform probabilistic evaluations for a representative set of chemicals for the ecotoxicological endpoints, as specified in REACH. This will culminate in an evaluation of methods and decision points for the establishment of scientific validity and applicability domains for QSAR models. Finally, the research findings will be quantitatively merged with other ongoing research and regulatory developments to supply recommendations on the optimized integration of the various available for use in REACH.

Tomas Öberg, PhD
Marianne Lindström, PhD
Tao Liu, MSc
Stina Alriksson, MSc
Monika Filipsson, MSc

1.Öberg, T. (2007) A general structure-property relationship to predict the enthalpy of vaporization at ambient temperatures. SAR QSAR Environ. Res. 18, 127-139.

2.Sander, P., Bergbäck, B., Öberg, T. (2006) Uncertain numbers and uncertainty in the selection of input distributions – Consequences for a probabilistic risk assessment of contaminated land. Risk Anal. 26, 1363-1375.

3.Öberg, T. (2006) Virtual screening for environmental pollutants - Structure-activity relationships applied to a database of industrial chemicals. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 25, 1178-1183.

4.Öberg, T., Bergbäck, B. (2005) A review of probabilistic risk assessment of contaminated land. JSS – J Soils & Sediments 5, 213-224.

5.Öberg, T. (2004) A QSAR for baseline toxicity: Validation, domain of application, and prediction. Chem. Res. Toxicol. 17, 1630-1637.

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