The objective of PLANKTONPOPs is to address the suspect and non-target analysis of organic pollutants in plankton (bacteria, phyto and zoo-plankton) of the global Oceans, as well perform exploratory work of the potential of single-cell and nano-sample approaches for POP analysis in planktonic organisms. Specific objectives are:
i) expanding the knowledge on the presence and distribution of new (or novel) pollutants in oceanic plankton by taking advantage of the full new analytical capacity of IDAEA (LC-TOF-MS and nano-capillary-µ-LC Eclipse-Orbitrap). The identified chemicals will be further confirmed and quantitated with standards when feasible.
ii) Evaluation of the differences (longitudinal and decadal) in the profiles of POPs in plankton from different oceans by analysing samples collected in three oceanic campaigns (Malaspina 2010 and ANTOM-1 and ANTOM-2 2020-2021) under the hypothesis that POPs in plankton reflect changes in primary sources from land.
iii) Assessing the potential of “single-cell” or “nano-samples (small number of particles)” approaches for POPs in phytoplankton and bacteria using the latest “single-cell analysis” technology (cell sorter – sample extraction- HRMS approaches) adapting and modifying the procedure reported for marine single-cell and –particle lipidomics.7 This will be applied to samples appropriately taken and conserved from the coastal Mediterranean and Southern Ocean.
Sinergia Project 2022
