Martin Hassellöv

Biography

Martin Hassellöv leads the research group on marine environmental nanochemistry, studying marine pollution in its solid form, from nanometer scale to the ecosystem level. The marine environment is subjected today to multiple stressors, including ocean acidification, climate change, overfishing and pollution. The pollutants may consist of molecular contaminants, but also in solid forms. The solid forms of marine pollution includes both objects that are very real, as the massive plastic pollution of the oceans, including the smallest particles; the so-called micro-plastic, but also synthetic nanoparticles. Today we know that microplastics (<5 mm) is found in all sea basins, in deep-sea sediments, in isolated mountain lakes and even embedded in Arctic sea ice. In addition, microplastics is found in hundreds of different species of marine life including seabirds, fish and mammals. The extent to which synthetic nanoparticles involves or could involve an environmental impact is the focus of intensive research. Knowledge of nanoparticles occurrence, its environmental properties and toxicities were limited by major analytical challenges, which is one of the core activities of our research group, which has a unique set of instruments for the analysis and characterization of contaminant particles from the nano to the millimeter scale in real environmental samples.

Research Interest

Martin Hassellöv leads the research group on marine environmental nanochemistry, studying marine pollution in its solid form, from nanometer scale to the ecosystem level. The marine environment is subjected today to multiple stressors, including ocean acidification, climate change, overfishing and pollution. The pollutants may consist of molecular contaminants, but also in solid forms. The solid forms of marine pollution includes both objects that are very real, as the massive plastic pollution of the oceans, including the smallest particles; the so-called micro-plastic, but also synthetic nanoparticles. Today we know that microplastics (<5 mm) is found in all sea basins, in deep-sea sediments, in isolated mountain lakes and even embedded in Arctic sea ice. In addition, microplastics is found in hundreds of different species of marine life including seabirds, fish and mammals. The extent to which synthetic nanoparticles involves or could involve an environmental impact is the focus of intensive research. Knowledge of nanoparticles occurrence, its environmental properties and toxicities were limited by major analytical challenges, which is one of the core activities of our research group, which has a unique set of instruments for the analysis and characterization of contaminant particles from the nano to the millimeter scale in real environmental samples.