Bermuda will be the first stop for a mobile laboratory that is conducting a world tour to assess environmental threats to coastal areas.

The Bermuda Biological Station for Research (BBSR) has confirmed it will host the Atlantis Mobile Laboratory for two months starting tomorrow.

Atlantis is a multidisciplinary scientific research facility that consists of three self-reliant portable laboratories.

Seven of the 15 scientists already involved in the Atlantis programme will travel to Bermuda, along with postdoctoral researchers, technicians and students, to work with BBSR's faculty members, the Bio Station said in a press release.

"The scientists use new, easy-to-use techniques to measure the concentrations and effects of contaminants, natural toxins and pathogens that may threaten public health and the ecosystem.

"Local senior school students will have a chance to visit with the scientists and get involved in their research, which includes studies of human toxicology, marine ecotoxicology and environmental microbiology," the Bio Station said.

Bermuda was chosen for the Atlantis programme's first mission because it is an island nation with a well-equipped research station for field support, said Atlantis programme organiser Dr. ?ric Dewailly, of Laval University in Qu?bec City.

"BBSR invited us through a grant from the XL Foundation. This grant made it possible for us to bring Atlantis to Bermuda," said Dr. Dewailly.

"Actually, the Atlantis project was conceived after my sabbatical year in 1999, which I spent at BBSR, and through work initiated by Tony Knap (BBSR's director) trying to link ocean and human health."

Atlantis organisers are planning an open house at the end of their visit that will feature tours of the laboratories, displays of the students' experiments, and the results of the scientists' research.