Catherine Mouneyrac

Catherine Mouneyrac is a Professor at Université Catholique de l'Ouest (UCO), Angers, France, and serves as Vice-Rector for Research and Valorization. She is affiliated with the Faculté des Sciences, leading the BIOSSE research team. Her work focuses on ecotoxicological responses of aquatic organisms to chemical and natural stressors, including nanomaterials, microplastics, and trace elements. She has coordinated major international projects such as NanoSalt (ANR), NanoReg, and NanoReg II, addressing nanomaterials' environmental risks. She chairs sessions at SETAC conferences, advises the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES), and chairs the French working group on pollution mixtures (ECRIN/CNRS). She received the Palmes Académiques (Officer) in 2018.

Education: Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches (2002, Université de Nantes) and PhD (1993, Université Lyon I). She has supervised numerous PhD/postdoc researchers and Masters students. Her research emphasizes bridging fundamental and applied ecotoxicology, contributing to EU environmental directives like the Water Framework Directive. Key areas include biomarker development, environmental risk assessment, and nanosafety. She collaborates internationally with agencies like AUF, FP7, and H2020.

Research highlights include studies on microplastic toxicity in marine organisms, nanomaterial bioaccumulation, and ecological impact assessments in estuaries. She co-leads the MIPLAqua program on microplastic environmental impacts and participates in the Plastic-Seine project analyzing microplastic fluxes in the Seine estuary. Her work integrates multi-biomarker approaches and mesocosm studies to evaluate environmental exposure scenarios.