Professor Christopher Collins

Biography

"Professor Christopher Collins, Currently, working as Professor of Environmental Chemistry , School of Archaeology, Geography & Environmental Science, University of Reading, United Kingdom. My research and teaching addresses the fate of pollutants in the soil-plant system. This has been developed through multidisciplinary collaborations with industry, regulators and academics nationally and internationally, to determine the impacts of environmental exposure of humans and other biota to these toxic chemicals. The outputs from my group's research have been used to validate models and quantify exposure pathways. Recently we developed an in-vitro gut system (CEPBET) for the determination of the bioaccessibility of organic pollutants. Additionally they have produced a framework for exposure models for the Intergovernmental Group on the Risk to Health from Chemicals so that the large number of models available could be used in a structured way across government. These are simple robust tools with the potential to have a significant impact on regulatory decisions. More recently he reviewed the plant uptake model for The Environment Agency's Contaminated Land Exposure Assessment model (CLEA), to determine the most appropriate approach. Many models had unjustifiable complexity and none truly quantified the soil-air-plant pathway. Other key findings of his research to date have been: • Isotope ratio methods can validate chemomimetic methods for determining bioavailable fractions in soils. • The metabolism of the recalcitrant compound MTBE is enhanced when present with other petrol constituents. • The gaseous speciation of radioiodine is a key driver in human exposure. • Simple plant growth models developed in agriculture can act as the engine for models predicting deposition and transport of the radionuclides 14C, 35S and 3H which are readily mobile in the plant. "

Research Interest

The main aim of my research is to reduce the risks from pollutants to humans and the wider ecosystem.Risk assessment of chemicals, Modelling plant uptake of organic and radioactive contaminants for risk assessment, Fate, transport and remediation of organic contaminants in soils, Reed beds for the treatment of waste waters