Goals: to provide expert evaluation and support for intra- and inter-programmatic research initiatives related to oxidative stress and other molecular mechanisms associated with environmental exposures.
Focus: motivating new research initiatives by enabling technologies, and providing SWEHSC investigators access to scientific and educational activities as well as nurturing research opportunities with environmental health experts.
Environmental exposures on the reproductive system have been recognized as significant threat to human health. Primary damage to DNA and cell cycles & strutures is of primary concern.
Hypochlorous acid an active oxidizing molecule and present at swimming pool poses ‘chlorination stress’ poses a major public health concern.
Obesity rates have risen along with pesticides and herbicides used. This study hopes to identify whether increased exposure to glyphosate, the active ingredient in RoundUp, increases susceptibility to metabolic disease via alterations in the gut microbiota.
Identified critical genes and gene networks involved in fatty liver disease.
Discovered that exposing human cells to levels of arsenic often found in real world situations produces new pathologic epigenetic landscapes that participate in the malignant transformation of human cells.
Identified the role of oxidative stress in an animal model of UV-induced carcinogenesis, leading to the identification of small molecule interventions that block solar UV-induced skin cancer by activating the NRF2 antioxidant response pathway as a cytoprotective adaptive response of human skin to solar exposure.
Development of a novel miRNA promoter microarray platform, which was subsequently used in an epigenomic analysis of human cancers and provided the foundation for a Cancer Disparities U01 grant.
Identified a mechanism by which arsenic exposure induces unique changes in gene expression using bioinformatics resources in the IHSFC and Genomics FC that is being developed into a biomarker for arsenic-mediated cancers.
