Covering various sessions, such as environmental toxicology and stress response, Aquatic Toxicology, Ecology, wildlife, chemistry and exposure assessment, risk assessment, remediation, restoration etc ... the SETAC North America meeting will gather the community of researchers having concerns towards our environment.

The role of zebrafish and other aquatic species as model organisms in ecotoxicology research is very important to understand the consequences of human activities on the environment.

Whether you are working on nanoplastics, pesticides, pfas or chemical cocktails, on metallic nanomaterials or any toxic substance or contaminant that might be harmful to our health and our environment,  you may have to conduct behavioural analyses to assess the risks.

As the leader in aquatic and airbornes species high throughput automated videotracking (zebrafish, danio rerio, killifish, drosophila, bees, fathead minnow, c-elegans, gammarus, daphnia etc ...),  ViewPoint Behavior Technology will be exhibiting at SETAC North America 2023, held in Louisville, Kentucky.

Let's meet on booth 45.

Products showcase :

ViewPoint will also be presenting ToxMate, a real-time on-site micropollutant detection station in wastewater effluents or drinking water plant, based on the avoidance behaviour of aquatic macroinvertebrates.

Don't miss George Ruck presentation during the 4 - Chemistry and Exposure Assessment

4.01.T-04 - Operational Invertebrate Behaviour Videotracking for Chemical Identification and Real-Time Wastewater Surveillance and Management

Monday, November 13, 2023 - 11:00 AM - 11:15 AM - Ballroom E (Kentucky International Convention Center)

Abstract

"As availability of water resources decreases, the apparition of new contaminants of emerging concern identified in water networks continues to increase. Current wastewater monitoring of contaminants in treatment plants (WWTP) relies on interval based grab sampling measurements, which omit both a vast proportion of micro-pollutants and CECs as well as the high temporal variability associated with CEC discharge concentrations. The objectives of this communication, by means of our real-time approach to WWTP biomonitoring using the videotracking device ToxMate, are 1/ to show how we defined locomotor behavioural fingerprinting for micropollutants and emerging contaminants based on data accumulated for controlled exposure to 80 compounds ; 2/ to illustrate how this method has been applied at long-term WWTP monitoring sites to offer information on contaminant discharges to receiving water bodies and identify upstream sources of contamination .

The tracking of organism movement, specifically avoidance behaviour, is carried out in the ToxMate device used for videotracking of locomotor behaviour of three species of invertebrate (Gammarus, Erpobdella, Radix). Organisms were exposed to chemicals either in a closed water circuit for laboratory experiments (for a range of classes of micropollutant) or a diluted bypass of the WWTP effluent (for urban and industrial WWTPs across France and Switzerland).

The behavioural time series data was effectively modelled with multivariate functional data analysis for fingerprint definition. Initially, good fingerprint discrimination was observed for a subset of contaminants with K-Means clustering, which has recently been broadened to the full dataset, showing distinct clusters of chemicals with similarity in behavioural response. This method was extended to the on-site WWTP data, using events collected at moments of naturally occurring micropollutants discharge, which in the case of a recently analysed industrial site showed how upstream pollution events were grouped to help identify sources of contamination.

Laboratory results show that contaminants can be linked even in the case of novel emerging contaminants, while on-site use of fingerprinting to identify recurring and similar events at WWTP effluents has not only allowed clients to better understand sources of pollution, but also offers concrete indicators in critical moments of discharge for the suitability of relevant applications such as water re-use."

 

Latest publications related to ecotoxicology with Zebralab :

Publications related to ToxmateLab :

 

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