Dr. Ikonomou currently manages the Regional Dioxin Laboratory (R.D.L.) at the
Institute of Ocean Sciences, Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The R.D.L. was set up
at I.O.S. in 1990/91 and its mission was to carry out dioxin/furan analyses on
west coast environmental samples of interest to the Department. It also served
as an analytical QA/QC facility for the department for dioxin/furan analyses.
Dr. Ikonomou expanded the analytical capabilities of the R.D.L. by developing
novel, improved, and cost effective methods for measuring pollutant residues in
environmental samples at trace levels. Today, the R.D.L. is a multi-purpose,
multi-residue, environmental chemical analysis laboratory which is involved in
measurements of persistent contaminants in tissues of marine and freshwater
biota and other environmental matrices such as sediments, water, and industrial
and municipal effluents. The facility provides ultratrace analyses for
dioxins/furans, PCBs, pesticides, polychlorinated and polybrominated diphenyl
ethers, resin acids, sterols and endocrine disrupting chemicals such as
phthalates, non-ionic surfactants and certain pharmaceuticals. Metal binding
proteins, marine toxins, and metabolites of non-bioaccumulative contaminants are
measured as well. The facility provides analytical support to numerous
departmental projects at the national level and to collaborative research Dr.
Ikonomou conducts with university professors and colleagues from other
government departments and international institutions.
Dr. Ikonomou's research interests encompass the
disciplines of mass spectrometry, environmental analytical chemistry, and
environmental pollution as it relates to freshwater and marine ecosystems. In
the past few years his research has concentrated on two fronts: (1) developing
efficient and accurate mass spectrometry-based analytical methodologies for the
determination of environmentally significant contaminants including
organohalogen compounds (conventional and new), endocrine disrupting chemicals
present in industrial and municipal effluents, and investigating metal
speciation by LC/ESI-MS; (2) conducting research into the sources, distribution,
and fate of target environmental contaminants in the aquatic ecosystem. Among
others projects, Dr. Ikonomou is a collaborating partner in four TSRI projects
and he is leading two projects funded by the department's
Toxic Chemical Program: a) Impact of Polybrominated and Polychlorinated Diphenyl
Ethers and Polybrominated Dioxins and Furans on the Aquatic Environment; and b)
Biological and Chemical Effects Monitoring of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals.
Dr. Ikonomou has authored and co-authored over 70 peer-reviewed papers and more
than 120 abstracts in analytical, environmental chemistry and toxicology
conference proceedings. He also holds a patent on a novel ESI device. With
professors from Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia, and
the University of Victoria, he co-supervises the research of graduate students
and post-doctoral associates. Dr. Ikonomou holds two adjunct professorship
appointments, one with the Department of Chemistry, University of Victoria, and
the second with the School of Natural Resource & Environmental Management,
Simon Fraser University. He is a member of the Chemical Institute of Canada, the
American Society of Mass Spectrometry, and the Society of Environmental
Toxicology and Chemistry.
Dr. Ikonomou received his B.Sc. (Hons.) in Chemistry from Trent University in
1983, and his M.Sc. in Physical Chemistry (1986) and Ph.D. in Analytical
Chemistry (1990) from the University of Alberta. His Ph.D. dissertation involved
the development of a novel electrospray ionization (ESI) interface for coupling
liquid chromatography to mass spectrometry (MS), and he contacted pioneering
research on the processes associated with electrospray ionization. For his
graduate research in 1990, he received the best Ph.D. thesis award from the
Analytical Division of the American Chemical Society.
After a short P.D.F. term at the University of Alberta in 1991, Dr. Ikonomou was
employed by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans as an analytical mass
spectrometrist at the newly created Regional Dioxin Laboratory located at I.O.S.
For the first few years Dr. Ikonomou was responsible for the HRGC/HRMS
instrumentation, and he established all the instrumental analysis protocols and
related QA/QC for the determination of dioxins/furans and related compounds in
environmental samples at ultra trace levels. With the support of upper
management and colleagues he was able to obtain major funding from the
department's Toxic Chemicals Program and he expanded
the analytical capabilities of the I.O.S. mass spectrometry laboratory by adding
to the facility a tandem mass spectrometer with electrospray and APCI
capabilities, a bench-top HRGC/LRMS system, several HPLC and GC systems, and a
CZE instrument. In 1994, Dr. Ikonomou became Head of the Regional Dioxin
Laboratory and he continued to manage the mass spectrometry facility at I.O.S.
Currently, he is a research scientist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and he
also manages the R.D.L .and the mass spectrometry facility.
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Regional
Contaminants Analysis Laboratory
Assess dioxin/furan, PCBs, PBDEs and pesticide contamination in
environmental samples from the Pacific Region and elsewhere in DFO.
The data produced are used to: a) monitor water quality and
regulate fisheries and b) to project contaminant fate and
pathways. The lab provides analytical support to: a) contaminants
monitoring program of HEB Water Quality Unit; b) regional research
projects; c) to collaborative projects the Pacific region has with
all other DFO regions, Universities and other national and
international research establishments. Our analytical facility has
the capacity to analyze hundreds of environmental samples annually
for more than 20 classes of environmental contaminants. This
provides the opportunity for other DFO sectors nation-wide to have
samples analyzed in our laboratory on a cost-recovery basis, an
undertaking that facilities inter-regional collaborative research
in a very cost-effective way. The RDL also develops novel GC/HRMS
and LC/ESI-MS/MS based analytical methods for the determination of
"new-era"
contaminants in complex environmental matrices.
Analyze a wide range of environmental samples (including QA/QC and
inter-calibration samples) for dioxins/furans and other
organohalogen contaminants and "new-era"
endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) for DFO Pacific Region
(science, HEB-WQU and other sectors), and other DFO sectors from
across the country.
The Regional Dioxin Laboratory has been providing analytical
support to HEB Water Quality Unit in the Pacific region since
1992. Samples from the HEB contaminants monitoring program are
analyzed for dioxins/furans, PCBs and PBDEs. The data are
submitted to Health Canada for evaluation and based on the
findings fisheries openings and closures are regulated
accordingly. The data are also published in DFO technical or data
reports and in the open literature. The RDL also provides
analytical support to numerous regional and national contaminants
related projects and the findings are primarily published in the
open literature.
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Examine the presence, environmental pathways and
fate of classical (dioxins/furans, PCBs) and new-era (PBDEs, PCDEs,
NP, PEs and other EDCs) environmental contaminants from combustion
processes and industrial and municipal discharges in cooperation
with a large number of government and non-government agencies:
Health Canada, Environment Canada, Alberta Health, Alberta
Environment, City of Calgary, University of British Columbia,
Simon Fraser University, Pohang University, Trent University,
University of Toronto, Institute of Marine Resources and
Environment in Japan, Korea Oceanographic Research and Development
Institute (KORDI), Center for Disease and Prevention Control
China. Also, through these collaborations we provide
ultra-trace contaminants analyses training to scientists,
chemists, graduate students and support staff from the
organizations we collaborate with.
Analyze representative samples from combustion processes and
industrial and municipal discharges. Identify characteristic
dioxin/furan, PCBs and PBDEs congener patterns produced by various
combustion and industrial processes. Examine the fate and
impacts of classical and new-era contaminants of interest in
industrial and municipal discharges. Develop an understanding of
contaminant pathways through ecosystems of interest to DFO,
through analyses of samples not normally available to DFO from
internal programs
Numerous research papers reflecting the collaborative work
undertaken have been published in the open literature.
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