Dr Daniel Drage BSc. (Hons), PhD

Dr Daniel Drage

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Lecturer in Environmental Health

Dr Drage has a range of experience using mass spectrometry techniques to investigate the presence and effects of persistent and emerging organic contaminants in a range of indoor and outdoor environments. He has made contributions to the fields of human exposure, wildlife exposure as well as waste management.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Environmental Chemistry – University of Birmingham, UK – 2013
  • BSc. (Hons) in Environmental Science – University of Birmingham, UK - 2009

Biography

Daniel finished his BSc in Environmental Science in 2009 at the University of Birmingham where he focused his final year on in-stream ecology and environmental chemistry. He remained at Birmingham to study for his PhD, which was awarded in 2013. He investigated the presence of brominated flame retardants and by-product emissions in the steel industry and their fate in the environment – which resulted in several publications in high impact scientific journal

Upon receiving his PhD he accepted a job as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Here he worked on several projects including the modelling of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and emerging contaminants in wastewater and landfills.

Since returning to the University of Birmingham, Daniel has worked on a range of projects funded by the Environmental Protection Agency of Ireland – including WAFER, SAFER and FUEL which have investigated brominated flame retardants (BFRs), organophosphorus flame retardants and perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) in the waste industry, as well as ELEVATE which investigated human exposure to BFRs and PFAS in indoor environments.

Daniel is currently the Programme Lead for MSc Environmental Health and MSc Public and Environmental Health Sciences, both accredited by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH). He is involved in teaching on these programmes as well as the MSc Health, Safety and Environment Management; and BSc Environmental Science.

Daniel is also a Member of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (MCIEH), holds a postgraduate certificate in higher education (PGCHE) and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).

Postgraduate supervision

Dan is interested in the monitoring and assessment of human exposure to environmental contaminants in indoor and outdoor environments. If you are interested in studying a PhD then please get in touch.

Research

Dan is interested in the interactions between the environment and human health, and is particularly interested in the exposure of humans and the environment to harmful and toxic chemicals.

Dan has a wide range of experience investigating the presence and effects of emerging and legacy environmental organic contaminants (including persistent organic pollutants (POPs)) in humans, and various other environmental compartments. He has expertise in environmental and analytical chemistry, applying mass spectrometric techniques for the analysis of ultra trace levels of pollutants in abiotic and biotic matrices including human and animal tissues. 

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Brennan, E, Butler, AE, Nandakumar, M, Drage, DS, Sathyapalan, T, Atkin, SL, Murdaca, G (ed.) & Gangemi, S (ed.) 2023, 'Association between Organochlorine Pesticides and Vitamin D in Female Subjects', Biomedicines, vol. 11, no. 5, 1451. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines11051451

Butler, AE, Brennan, E, Drage, D, Sathyapalan, T & Atkin, SL 2023, 'Association of flame retardants, polybrominated diethyl ethers (PBDEs), with vitamin D in female subjects', Chemosphere, vol. 338, 139488. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.139488

Butler, AE, Brennan, E, Drage, D, Sathyapalan, T & Atkin, SL 2023, 'Association of polychlorinated biphenyls with vitamin D in female subjects', Environmental Research, vol. 233, 116465. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2023.116465

Harrad, S, Sharkey, M, Stubbings, WA, Alghamdi, M, Berresheim, H, Coggins, M, Rosa, AH & Drage, D 2023, 'Chlorinated organophosphate esters in Irish waste foams and fabrics: Concentrations, preliminary assessment of temporal trends and evaluation of the impact of a concentration limit value', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 859, no. 1, 160250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160250

Waiyarat, S, Boontanon, SK, Boontanon, N, Harrad, S, Drage, DS, Abdallah, MAE & Santhaweesuk, K 2023, 'Concentrations of Tetrabromobisphenol-A and hexabromocyclododecane in Thai child daycare centre dust and the exposure risk for young children', Emerging Contaminants, vol. 9, no. 3, 100229. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emcon.2023.100229

Harrad, S, Drage, D, Sharkey, M, Stubbings, W, Alghamdi, M, Berresheim, H, Coggins, M & Rosa, AH 2023, 'Elevated concentrations of halogenated flame retardants in waste childcare articles from Ireland', Environmental Pollution, vol. 317, 120732. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120732

Butler, AE, Brennan, E, Drage, DS, Sathyapalan, T & Atkin, SL 2023, 'Exploration of the correlation of serum polychlorinated biphenyl levels with luteal phase hormonal parameters and infertility in women with or without polycystic ovary syndrome', Frontiers in Endocrinology, vol. 14, 1270949. https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2023.1270949

Harrad, S, Abdallah, MA-E, Drage, D & Meyer, M 2023, 'Persistent Organic Contaminants in Dust from the International Space Station', Environmental Science and Technology Letters, vol. 10, no. 9, pp. 768-772. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.3c00448

Drage, DS, Sharkey, M, Berresheim, H, Coggins, M & Harrad, S 2023, 'Rapid Determination of Selected PFAS in Textiles Entering the Waste Stream', Toxics, vol. 11, no. 1, 55. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics11010055

Brennan, E, Butler, AE, Drage, D, Sathyapalan, T & Atkin, SL 2023, 'Serum polychlorinated biphenyl levels and circulating miRNAs in non-obese women with and without polycystic ovary syndrome', Frontiers in Endocrinology, vol. 14, 1233484. https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2023.1233484

Brennan, E, Kumar, N, Drage, DS, Cunningham, TK, Sathyapalan, T, Mueller, JF & Atkin, SL 2022, 'A case-control study of polychlorinated biphenyl association with metabolic and hormonal outcomes in polycystic ovary syndrome', Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part C, vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 86-105 . https://doi.org/10.1080/26896583.2022.2043135

Waiyarat, S, Boontanon, SK, Boontanon, N, Harrad, S, Abdallah, M & Drage, D 2022, 'Concentrations and human exposure to hexabromocyclododecane and tetrabromobisphenol A from the indoor environment in Bangkok metropolitan area, Thailand', Journal of Environmental Exposure Assessment, vol. 1, no. 2, 11. https://doi.org/10.20517/jeea.2022.06

Waiyarat, S, Boontanon, SK, Boontanon, N, Fujii, S, Harrad, S, Drage, DS & Abdallah, MA-E 2022, 'Exposure, risk and predictors of hexabromocyclododecane and Tetrabromobisphenol-A in house dust from urban, rural and E-waste dismantling sites in Thailand', Chemosphere, vol. 302, 134730. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134730

Drage, D, Sharkey, M, Al-Omran, LS, Stubbings, WA, Berresheim, H, Coggins, M, Rosa, AH & Harrad, S 2022, 'Halogenated flame retardants in Irish waste polymers: Concentrations, legislative compliance, and preliminary assessment of temporal trends', Environmental Pollution, vol. 309, 119796. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119796

Sharkey, M, Drage, D, Harrad, S, Stubbings, WA, Rosa, AH, Coggins, M & Berresheim, H 2022, 'POP-BFRs in consumer products: evolution of the efficacy of XRF screening for legislative compliance over a 5-year interval and future trends', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 853, 158614. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158614

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