The Laboratory of Aquatic Contamination Biomarkers (LABCA) is located at the Department of Chemistry and Environmental Sciences of IBILCE - UNESP, under the coordination of Prof. Dr. Eduardo Alves de Almeida. In the LABCA are studied the effects of different water contaminants such as pesticides, metals, endocrine disrupters, oil derivatives, etc., on biochemical systems of different aquatic animal models. Our studies basically involve exposure of the animals in controlled conditions to these contaminants, alone or in mixtures, and after variated exposure periods we examine a series of biochemical parameters (biomarkers) in tissues of animals, in order to observe the animal's response to the tested contaminants.

In general, our studies includes the evaluation of phase I and II biotransformation enzymes, oxidative stress parameters (antioxidant enzymes, lipid peroxidation, oxidative DNA damage, GSH/GSSG levels), metallothionein levels, esterase inhibition, micronucleous analysis, and comet assays.

The LABCA is divided into two laboratories, one being for the development of experiments with aquatic animals, and the other for biochemical / molecular analises. The experimental laboratory has several aquariums where the animals are exposed to contaminants, and eight 500 L tanks, where we kept stocks of aquatic species for the experiments. The animal models employed in our studies are fish (tilapia, catfish, zebrafish, tetra, tuvira), tadpoles of amphibians, bivalve molluscs, turtles, and sometimes, some species of crustaceans. The analytical laboratory has a lot of equipments such as freezer-80oC, centrifuges, spectrophotometers, spectrofluorometer, electrophoresis systems, microscopes and  HPLC systems, coupled to UV-Vis, fluorescence and electrochemical detectors, and also accessories such as pH meters, agitators, icemaker, among others.

The projects in LABCA are developed by undergraduate students (Biology, Environmental Chemistry), and post-graduation students (Genetics, Animal Biology and Chemistry) from IBILCE-UNESP, and have also de collaboration of post-doctoral fellows and technical training students.