Dr Boim focuses her research on environmental geochemistry and its implications for human health, with an emphasis on soil contamination and the dynamics of potentially toxic elements from natural and anthropogenic sources. Her expertise lies in soil geochemistry, particularly the chemical processes at the soil surface, and their influence on contaminant behaviour and mobility. She holds a Master’s degree (2014) and a PhD (2018) in Science, with a focus on Soils and Plant Nutrition, from the University of São Paulo (ESALQ-USP). She recently completed a one-year postdoctoral internship (2023–2024) at the British Geological Survey (BGS), supported by the BEPE/FAPESP programme.

Her research addresses the limitations of traditional risk assessment methodologies by employing in vitro techniques to evaluate the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of toxic elements via ingestion and inhalation. These approaches provide more accurate human exposure assessments, ensuring effective and cost-efficient remediation strategies.

She applies innovative sequential extraction techniques and chemometric tools to study the chemical speciation and mobility of soil contaminants. These methodologies generate critical data for environmental risk assessments and support sustainable land management decisions.

Alexys integrates environmental and soil geochemistry with human health risk assessment, investigating how geochemical processes influence the behaviour of heavy metals and other toxic elements. She has extensive experience with classic and non-specific sequential extraction techniques, as well as advanced chemometric analysis. Her contributions span international collaborations and large-scale environmental projects, bridging scientific research with practical solutions in soil pollution, environmental health, and medical geology.

Research Interests:

• Soil contamination and pollution
• Environmental and soil geochemistry
• Dynamics of potentially toxic elements
• Geochemical processes in the surface environment
• Environmental health and medical geology
• In vitro techniques for bioaccessibility and bioavailability
• Chemometric analysis and sequential extraction methods