Current Grant-funded Projects
Lateral view of a zebrafish developmentally-exposed to nonylphenol ethoxylate and aged to 30 days. Nile Red stain fluorescently labels the fat cells throughout the fish.
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Metabolic Disruption Potential of Organic and Inorganic Contaminant Mixtures
Currently funded via an NIEHS P30 Center Pilot award through the Center for Urban Responses to Environmental Stressors. This project aims to explore the potential hormone receptor activation/inhibition and metabolic disruption of organic and inorganic pollutant mixtures relevant to Michigan. Our goals are to:
1) Characterize concentrations of inorganic pollutants in household dust and examine associations with organic pollutants/bioactivities. 2) Assess adipocyte development and receptor disruption following exposure to select organic/inorganic contaminants and mixtures. 3) Assess adipocyte/adipose tissue development following exposure to select organic/inorganic contaminants and mixtures in zebrafish. |
Visualization of differentiated 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes. Green = Nile Red lipid stain; blue = Hoechst DNA stain (cell number).
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Other Projects/Broad Research Interests
Liquid crystal monomers (LCMs) are chemicals used in liquid crystal device (LCD) screens and have been shown to leach out and end up in both humans and the environment (sediment, household dust, etc.).
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Characterizing Liquid Crystal Monomer ToxicityStarted as a rotation project for Samantha Heldman, we have been working to characterize the endocrine toxicity and metabolic disruption potential of chemicals used in the LCD screens of your favorite devices. Samantha's first project profiled endocrine activity across diverse nuclear hormone receptors and examined the ability to promote fat cell development in a pre-adipocyte cell model. Our future projects intend to dig into mechanisms, metabolism of these chemicals, effects in a zebrafish model, and trying to better understand human exposure to these chemicals in the US.
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Metabolic Disruption by Environmental
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Visualization of differentiated 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes. Yellow = Nile Red lipid stain; blue = Hoechst DNA stain (cell number).
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A natural gas well in Garfield County, Colorado, an extremely dense unconventional oil/natural gas production region.
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Assessing Health Risks from Exposure to
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Humans and animals are regularly exposed to complex mixtures of hundreds/thousands of chemicals, most of them not regulated, with uncertain health effects.
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