Applications of Biotechnology on Monitoring of Environmental Quality and Related Diseases

Call for Papers

The use of advanced molecular diagnostic tools has opened a new horizon for novel approaches on the use of markers of environmental quality. These advances have allowed the inclusion in the routine monitoring of detection and characterization of pathogens previously little studied in environmental matrices, including emerging bacteria, viruses, and protozoa. Moreover, molecular tools have been more and more used for the analysis of genetic damage, effects of pollutants on gene expression as well as the study of the influence of polymorphisms on the susceptibility to environmental contaminants have also developed rapidly on the recent decades.

We invite investigators to contribute original research articles as well as review articles about the use of biotechnology and molecular biology on environmental monitoring and health problems related to pollution. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Cost-effective molecular techniques for the routine diagnosis and monitoring of pathogens on water and soil
• The use of micro- and macroarray to study the effects of intoxication by heavy metal, organic pollutants, and other contaminants on human beings and animal models
• Innovative methods for the measurement of damage to the genetic material on human beings and sentinel animals
• The relationship between genetic polymorphisms and the susceptibility to diseases caused by pollution of air, water, and soil
• Use of next generation sequencing and other techniques on the study of environmental microbiomes

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/bmri/biotechnology/abm/ according to the following timetable:

Lead Guest Editor

• Fernando Rosado Spilki, Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Universidade Feevale, Novo Hamburgo, RS, Brazil

Guest Editors

• Fabiana Michelsen de Andrade, Health Sciences Institute, Feevale University Center, Novo Hamburgo, RS, Brazil
• Caroline Rigotto, Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, Brazil
• Silvia Bofill Mas, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 645, 08028 Barcelona, Spain