Michael Bertram, Assistant Professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, has been named the 2024 Rising Star in Environmental Research. Behind the award are the scientific journal ACS Environmental Au and the prestigious organization American Chemical Society.
Michael Bertram, Assistant Professor at the Department of Game, Fish and Environment in Umeå, is one of 18 young researchers recognized by the journal. The awards justification reads:
They are outstanding early career researchers in fields from across environmental research. In the face of today’s multiple environmental challenges, their research deepens our understanding of complex environmental issues and offers new technologies to solve or mitigate pollution at city, national, and global scales.
-It's a great recognition and an honor. For me it's special because most of the other recipients are chemists and the journal has a chemistry focus. It shows that, although I am not a chemist, I do studies that interest chemists, environmental scientists and ecotoxicologists, says Michael Bertram.
Michael Bertram's research focuses on how different types of chemical pollutants, such as pharmaceuticals, affect wildlife behavior and the consequences for animals living in polluted ecosystems. Most studies in this field have been conducted under controlled laboratory conditions. Today, there is a lack of knowledge about the impact of pharmaceuticals on animals in their real-life environments.
To find out, Michael Bertram combines lab tests with field-based methods and uses new technologies to investigate the effects in as realistic an environment as possible. This includes the use of implants containing small doses of different pharmaceuticals, which have been inserted into free-living fish to see how their behavior is affected when the small doses enter the body.
-With more advanced and more realistic methods, we can provide better information to decision-makers on what is needed to protect the environment, says Michael Bertram.
The award was accompanied by an article in which Michael Bertram writes about his research.
Founded in 1876, the American Chemical Society (ACS) is one of the world's largest scientific organizations. ACS brings together chemists at different levels and in different fields to advance scientific knowledge. ACS Environmental Au, which recognizes "rising stars" in environmental research, is one of the organization's journals.