I am the assessment lead for the new BSc in Clinical Science a Joint Education Program with Chongqing Medical University. I graduated in Cell Biology from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1986. Following a PhD in Cancer Research at the University of York (1991) I completed postdoctoral research fellowships at the NCI Frederick Cancer Research & Development Centre MD USA the University of York and the University of Leicester before joining the Biological Sciences Dept at De Montfort University in 1998. In 2000 I moved to the Molecular Epidemiology Unit in the School of Medicine at the University of Leeds. I stayed at Leeds until 2001 carrying out research and teaching year 1 medical students biological science students and MSc students. I am currently a member of the FSA Committee on Toxicity the Vice President of the UK Environmental Mutagen Society and a visiting professor at Jiangsu University China. I am a senior fellow of the HEA
My early research focused on measuring DNA damage caused by environmental carcinogens and understanding the induction of mutations by DNA adducts. I subsequently worked on oxidative DNA damage measurement and the induction of DNA damage and mutations by combined exposures of carcinogens (funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research). This research included being part of a NERC funded project on traffic pollution and an EU funded project on engineered nanoparticles. This led to research on the role of urban particulate matter in thrombotic disease. Since 2012 my research has focused on biomonitoring of mycotoxin exposure and understanding the health impact of mycotoxins in exposed populations especially children. Funding for this work has come from the Royal Society/DFID the WHO (IARC) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I have collaborated with colleagues in Gambia Tanzania Malawi China and Japan on this research. I have published over 100 papers and supervised 10 PhD students.
Mu Q, Hondow NS, Krzeminski L, Brown AP, Jeuken LJC and Routledge MN (2012) Mechanism of cellular uptake of genotoxic silica nanoparticles. Particle & Fibre Toxicology 9, article 29.
Routledge MN, Kimanya ME, Shirima CP, Wild CP and Gong YY (2014) Quantitative correlation of aflatoxin biomarker with dietary intake of aflatoxin in Tanzanian children. Biomarkers 19, 430-435.
Shirima CP, Kimanya ME, Routledge MN, Srey C, Kinabo JL, Humpf H-U, Wild CP, Gong YY (2015) A prospective study of growth and biomarkers of exposure to aflatoxin and fumonisin in early childhood in Tanzania. Environment Health Perspectives 123, 173-178
Hernandez-Vargas H, Castelino J, Silver MJ, Dominguez-Salas P, Cros M-P, Durand G, Le Calvez-Kelm F, Prentice AM, Wild CP, Moore SE, Henig BJ, Herceg Z, Gong YY and Routledge MN (2015) Exposure to aflatoxin B1 in utero is associated with DNA methylation in white blood cells of infants in The Gambia. International Journal of Epidemiology 44, 1238-1248.
Pan X, Gong YY, Martinelli I, Angelici L, Favero C, Bertazzi PA, Mannucci PM, Ariens RAS and Routledge MN (2016) Fibrin clot structure is affected by levels of particulate air pollution exposure in patients with venous thrombosis. Environment International 92-93, 70-76.
Pan X, Gong YY, Xu Y, Ariens RS and Routledge MN (2018) Urban Particulate matter induces changes in gene expression in vascular endothelial cells that are associated with altered clot structure in vitro. Thrombosis and Haemostasis 118, 266-278.
Xu Y, Gong YY and Routledge MN (2018) Aflatoxin exposure assessed by aflatoxin albumin adduct biomarker in populations from six African countries. World Mycotoxin Journal 11, 441-449.
Watson S, Moore SE, Darboe MK, Chen G, Tu Y-K, Huang Y-T, Eriksen KG, Bernstein RM, Prentice AM, Wild CP, Xu Y, Routledge MN and Gong YY (2018) Impaired growth in rural Gambian infants exposed to aflatoxin: a prospective cohort study. BMC Public Health 18; article 1247.
Zhang S and Routledge MN (2020) The contribution of PM2.5 to cardiovascular disease in China. Environmental Science and Pollution Research 27, 37502-37513.
Xu Y, Moore SE, Chen G, Nshe P, Faye-Joof T, Prentice AM, Gong YY and Routledge MN (2021) Impact of dietary aflatoxin on immune development in Gambian infants: a cohort study. BMJ Open 11, e048688.
I am teaching on the BSc Clinical Sciences JEP with CQMU
I am Vice President of the UK Environmental Mutagen Society
Member of the FSA Committee on Toxicity
Conference presentations (invited speaker)
“Epigenetic and transcriptomic responses to aflatoxin exposure in vivo and in vitro”
UK Environmental Mutagen Society Annual Meeting Oxford September 2018.
“Aflatoxin exposure assessed by aflatoxin albumin biomarker in six African Countries”
2nd African Symposium on Mycotoxicology Mombasa June 2018.
“Mycotoxins and the Double Burden of Malnutrition” The Double Burden of Malnutrition Vienna October 2017.
""Aflatoxin exposure in African populations; measurement and health impacts"" International Society of Mycotoxins Tokyo December 2016.
“Impaired Child Growth Associated with Aflatoxin Exposure in Gambian Children”
Gates Grand Challenges Meeting London October 2016.
“Aflatoxin exposure in utero is associated with DNA methylation and gene expression changes in infants from the Gambia” Epigenetics and Environmental Origins of Cancer IARC Lyon France June 2016.
“DNA methylation and gene expression changes associated with aflatoxin exposure in utero in infants from The Gambia” International Congress on Environmental Mutagenesis Iguassu Falls Brazil October 2013.