Research - Our Team

Gemma Castaño Vinyals got a bachelor in Environmental Sciences (2000) from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and did her PhD (2007) at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra within the program of Health and Life Sciences.

During her predoctoral studies, she spent some periods abroad in the University of California San Francisco, University of Cincinnati and at the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences from Utrecht University.
Her doctoral thesis was based in the association between air pollutants and bladder cancer risk, including studies in molecular epidemiology.

She is involved in several projects regarding non-communicable diseases and environmental exposure, specifically working in the multicase-control study including high incidence tumors in Spain (MCC-Spain), and in studies on circadian disruption (HORMONIT and EPHOR). After the COVID pandemic, she started the COVICAT/CONTENT project, to assess the long-term effects of COVID-19, the immune status of the study population, mental health, and social inequalities in the post-COVID-19 lockdown period.

In the radiation programme, she is the scientific coordinator of the Mobi-kids study, an international case-control study to examine the potential associations between use of communication devices and other environmental factors and risk of brain tumours; GERoNiMo project, aiming to close gaps in knowledge on EMF and health and reduce exposures, and GOLIAT project, to characterize and monitor RF-EMF exposure, in particular 5G, provide novel insights into potential causal neuropsychological and biological effects, and understand risk perception and communication through citizen engagement.

Lines of research

• Circadian disruption
• Occupation
• Cancer
• Exposome and molecular epidemiology
• Electromagnetic fields

Main publications

• Castaño-Vinyals G, Sadetzki S, Vermeulen R, Momoli F, Kundi M, Merletti F, Maslanyj M, Calderon C, Wiart J, Lee AK, Taki M, Sim M, Armstrong B, Benke G, Schattner R, Hutter HP, Krewski D, Mohipp C, Ritvo P, Spinelli J, Lacour B, Remen T, Radon K, Weinmann T, Petridou ET, Moschovi M, Pourtsidis A, Oikonomou K, Kanavidis P, Bouka E, Dikshit R, Nagrani R, Chetrit A, Bruchim R, Maule M, Migliore E, Filippini G, Miligi L, Mattioli S, Kojimahara N, Yamaguchi N, Ha M, Choi K, Kromhout H, Goedhart G, 't Mannetje A, Eng A, Langer CE, Alguacil J, Aragonés N, Morales-Suárez-Varela M, Badia F, Albert A, Carretero G, Cardis E. Wireless phone use in childhood and adolescence and neuroepithelial brain tumours: Results from the international MOBI-Kids study. Environ Int. 2022 Feb;160:107069. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2021.107069.
• Kogevinas M, Castaño-Vinyals G, Karachaliou M, Espinosa A, de Cid R, Garcia-Aymerich J, Carreras A, Cortés B, Pleguezuelos V, Jiménez A, Vidal M, O'Callaghan-Gordo C, Cirach M, Santano R, Barrios D, Puyol L, Rubio R, Izquierdo L, Nieuwenhuijsen M, Dadvand P, Aguilar R, Moncunill G, Dobaño C, Tonne C. Ambient Air Pollution in Relation to SARS-CoV-2 Infection, Antibody Response, and COVID-19 Disease: A Cohort Study in Catalonia, Spain (COVICAT Study). Environ Health Perspect. 2021 Nov;129(11):117003. doi: 10.1289/EHP9726
• Harding BN, Castaño-Vinyals G, Palomar-Cros A, Papantoniou K, Espinosa A, Skene DJ, Middleton B, Gomez-Gomez A, Navarrete JM, Such P, Torrejón A, Kogevinas M, Pozo OJ. Changes in melatonin and sex steroid hormone production among men as a result of rotating night shift work - the HORMONIT study. Scand J Work Environ Health. 2022 Jan 1;48(1):41-51. doi: 10.5271/sjweh.3991
• Zumel-Marne A, Castaño-Vinyals G, Alguacil J, Villanueva CM, Maule M, Gracia-Lavedan E, Momoli F, Krewski D, Mohipp C, Petridou E, Bouka E, Merletti F, Migliore E, Piro S, Ha M, Mannetje A', Eng A, Aragones N, Cardis E. Exposure to drinking water trihalomethanes and nitrate and the risk of brain tumours in young people. Environ Res. 2021 Jun 1;200:111392. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111392.
• Papantoniou K, Castaño-Vinyals G, Espinosa A, Turner MC, Martín-Sánchez V, Casabonne D, Aragonés N, Gómez-Acebo I, Ardanaz E, Jimenez-Moleon JJ, Amiano P, Molina-Barceló A, Alguacil J, Fernández-Tardón G, Huerta JM, Hernández-Segura N, Perez-Gomez B, Llorca J, Vidán-Alli J, Olmedo-Requena R, Gil L, Castañon-López C, Pollan M, Kogevinas M, Moreno V. Sleep duration and napping in relation to colorectal and gastric cancer in the MCC-Spain study. Sci Rep. 2021 Jun 3;11(1):11822. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-91275-3