OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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Emily Bonner What is the goal of your research?
Firefighters are prone to developing various cancers and cardiovascular disease, raising concerns about the chemicals they are exposed to on the job. We ask firefighters to wear silicone wristbands and dog-tags that capture their chemical exposures so we can learn more about them. Understanding which chemicals are present could inform decontamination procedures after a fire and more effective design of firefighters' personal protective equipment. Research Project(s): |
Victoria Colvin What is the goal of your research?
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are commonly found in air pollution due to incomplete combustion processes. Typically, these chemicals need to be metabolized in the body to cause adverse effects in humans, and most established cell lines lack sufficient expression of appropriate metabolizing enzymes to observe PAH toxicity in vitro. We are working to characterize the metabolic capacity of primary human bronchial epithelial cells and describe their appropriateness for observing PAH toxicity in vitro. This information will allow us to more accurately describe the toxicity of PAHs in the human lung. Research Project(s): |
Dante Perone What is the goal of your research?
My research focuses on how genetic differences present between individuals alters their susceptibility to environmental contaminants. Small alterations in the genetic code may have a significant impact on protein production and function. This affects how we process chemicals and whether we experience toxicity. Research Project(s): |
Chloe Fender What is the goal of your research?
My current research uses high-resolution mass spectrometry as a tool to characterize chemical contaminants in natural and human-made aqueous systems, including irrigation canals, rivers, and drinking water. Chemical information, combined with in silico and in vitro toxicological approaches is used to evaluate potential toxic effects and to prioritize chemicals for further monitoring and regulation based on their risk for ecosystems health and affected human populations. Research Project(s): |
Annika Gehl What is the goal of your research?
I'm interested in exploring the effects of various environmental stressors (ie. light, thermal, and auditory stress) on early-stage development and how exposure to these stressors may change how toxic compounds affect the body. My research uses zebrafish as a model organism: because their development is similar to that of a human's, we can use data collected on zebrafish to potentially inform how similar environmental stressors may affect human development. Research Project(s): |
Juliana Huizenga What is the goal of your research?
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are common and widespread environmental contaminants that are produced from many daily activities such as burning fuel. My research aims to use microorganisms to clean up sites contaminated with PAHs while also ensuring that the overall toxicity associated with the sites is reduced by the clean up process. Research Project(s): |
Ian Moran What is the goal of your research?
Alkylated PAHs are derivates of the widely studied parent molecules and are abundant constituents of many petroleum products. While less is known about alkylated PAHs than their parent molecules we do know that they play an important role in the toxicity of PAH mixtures from legacy contaminated sites. Our research seeks to improve our understanding of the occurrence and toxicity of alkylated PAHs in field-collected mixtures. Research Project(s): |
Mackenzie Morshead What is the goal of your research?
My research is focused on Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs these are a common environmental pollutant resulting from the incomplete combustion of organic materials. PAHs occur in complex mixtures in the environment, making hazard assessment difficult. I am focused on finding links between structural features and the activity of these compounds to inform more precise and timely regulatory policy. Research Project(s): |
Christian Rude What is the goal of your research?
I am interested in understanding the reasons why some PAHs are very harmful and others are not so bad. Zebrafish are a great tool for this because we can use them to answer questions about the whole organism and about very specific molecular mechanisms. How much of the PAH do the fish absorb? Where does it go in the fish? What molecular process are being turned on and off in the fish because of the PAH? When we know these we will have a better shot at dividing the toxins from the mostly benign chemicals. That's what I'd like to solve. Research Project(s): |
Lindsey St Mary What is the goal of your research?
There are approximately 80,000 commercialized chemicals with only about 1% of the chemicals thoroughly tested for toxicity so my project aims to screen and categorize 6,000 distinct chemicals found in the environment, consumer products, or used in manufacturing processes in order to assess phenotypic and transcriptional changes relevant to human disease. Additionally, I am collaborating with AsedaSciences to integrate their high throughput in vitro screening system (SYSTEMETRIC®) and the Tanguay Lab's zebrafish screening assay (ZBEscreen ™) to predict chemical developmental/neurotoxicity. Research Project(s): |
Reese Valdez What is the goal of your research?
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are chemical contaminants formed by incomplete combustion processes. While there is a lot of ongoing research about the effects of a variety of PAHs in healthy individuals, there is little work done that attempts to understand how the presence of pre-existing conditions, like asthma, change the way PAHs induce toxicity. My research focuses on how the presence of asthmatic inflammation in human lung cells impacts the way cells respond to PAH exposure. Research Project(s): |
Lindsay Wilson What is the goal of your research?
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are environmental contaminants produced through common sources such as forest fires and cigarette smoking (among many others!). Some PAHs induce widespread toxicity. While we know quite a lot about PAH exposure and what effects they induce, we still don't fully understand how they cause toxicity at the molecular level and how much that varies across compounds. I aim to better understand how metabolism of PAHs mediates their toxicity using the zebrafish model. Research Project(s): |