Microplastics in the Environment: Occurrence, Fate and Distribution

Dr. González-Sálamo got his PhD in Chemistry (University of La Laguna, ULL) in January 2019 with international mention and the qualification of outstanding cum laude. In 2020, he obtained the Best PhD Thesis Award of the ULL in the branch of sciences and the Best PhD Thesis Award for graduates of the Section of Chemistry of the Faculty of Sciences of the ULL.

His research has focused on the development of new analytical methodologies for the determination of contaminants in samples of environmental, agri-food and biological interest, using miniaturized extraction techniques based on the application of novel extraction materials and solvents, combined with chromatographic techniques hyphenated with mass spectrometry. This has allowed him to make new relevant contributions in the field of sample preparation, proposing new highly efficient and selective methods based on the principles of "Green Analytical Chemistry". In parallel, he works on the analysis and determination of microplastics in environmental, agri-food and biological matrices, providing new relevant information on their possible sources, accumulation data, their ability to retain contaminants, and their potential effects on health and the environment.

Dr. González-Sálamo has participated in 15 regional, 6 national and 4 international research projects. In this sense, he has tried to open new research lines, leading different national and regional research projects on the development and application of self-immolative polymers in sample preparation, unexplored until then, and the determination and analysis of microplastics. After a postdoctoral stay at the Sapienza University of Rome (Italy), he got an Assistant Professor contract.

He has published more than 55 articles in JCR journals and 22 book chapters in prestigious Editorials. He has 115 communications in regional, national and international congresses (13 awarded), and has given several dissemination talks and official courses. Finally, Dr. González-Sálamo has taught in different degrees at ULL, UNED and Sapienza University, supervising several Final Degree and Master's Degree Projects and one PhD thesis (currently co-supervising 4 more). He is currently member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Adv. Sample Prep. and Front. Anal. Sci., and has also been Editor of several Special Issues for JCR journals. He has been part of the Organizing Committee of up to 6 international conferences in the Analytical Chemistry area (2^nd EuSP, 1^st GSAC, 25^th ExTech and 29^th ITP, among others) and is the Secretary of the Territorial Section of the Canary Islands of the Royal Spanish Society of Chemistry.

Dr. Javier Hernández-Borges is Full Professor of Analytical Chemistry (2022) of the Department of Chemistry at the University of La Laguna (ULL) in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain). He obtained his Bachelor in Chemistry at the ULL in 2001 as well as his PhD with European mention at that university in 2005 (obtaining also ULL’s PhD Thesis Extraordinary Award), after which, he carried out a postdoctoral stay at the Institute of Chemical Methodologies of the National Research Council of Italy (2006-2007), obtained a Juan de la Cierva contract at the Canarian Institute of Agrarian Research (2007-2008) and a Ramon y Cajal contract at the ULL (2009-2013). Afterwards, he was promoted to Associate professor (2014) and Associate Professor with tenure (2017).

He has published around 145 papers in international indexed journals and 32 book chapters, most of them dealing with analytical method development, in particular, with the determination of microplastics, pesticides, antibiotics, phthalates and estrogenic compounds residues in Environmental and food matrices using mainly chromatographic and electromigration techniques also coupled to mass spectrometry detection. He has been the PI of several international, national, regional and private foundations projects. He has also directed 9 PhD Thesis, 7 of them awarded with the ULL’s PhD Extraordinary Award, as well as an important number of Bachelor’s Final Degree and Master’s Degree Projects.