Dr. Silvia Balbo

• Associate Professor, Division of Environmental Health Sciences, Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, USA

Dr Balbo’s work focuses on studying mechanisms of chemical carcinogenesis deriving from environmental and life-style related exposures. She is developing high resolution mass spectrometry based methods for exposure assessment and for the identification and quantitation of DNA addition products (DNA adducts). Dr Balbo is developing innovative analytical methods to investigate the interactions of the exposome with DNA in various animal and human specimens. The overall goal of her work is to develop biomarkers for the detection of specific DNA adducts which may give information about the mutagenic significance of the exposure and provide tools for a better understanding of mechanisms of carcinogenesis, for measuring biological effective doses, for quantifying effects of exposures in risk assessment and for identifying cancer risk susceptibility.