Skip to main content
menu

Faculty

Primary Faculty

Deborah Cory-Slechta
Research Interest: Defining the impact of environmental chemicals (e.g., metals and air pollution) on brain development and behavior, with emphasis on attributable risk to neurodevelopmental disorders.
Alison Elder
Research Interest: Toxicology of inhaled ultrafine particles (UFPs) on the lung, cardiovascular and central nervous system
Katrina Korfmacher
Research Interest: Community outreach and engagement, role of science in public decision-making
B. Paige Lawrence
Research Interest:

Delineating mechanisms by which environmental exposures during different life stages alter immune function

Dina Markowitz
Research Interest: Developing and coordinating a wide variety of science education and outreach programs for students (elementary through high school), teachers, and the general community.
Hae-Ryung Park
Research Interest:

Identify new targets susceptible to environmental perturbation in relevance with neurodevelopment or neurodegenerative diseases by utilizing functional genetics/genomics (RNAi and CRISPR screens and Next-Generation sequencing), and molecular benchwork. Discover the link between genetic polymorphism of the targets and neurological diseases. Explore novel roles of extracellular vesicles (EV) in receptor signaling and cell communication. Identify EV-encapsulated biomolecules released by the placenta in response to environmental perturbation. Explore the roles of placenta-derived EVs on neurodevelopment or neurodegeneration

Irfan Rahman
Research Interest:

Redox signaling mechanism of Proinflammatory gene expression in pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory lung diseases caused by environmental toxicants

Matthew Rand
Research Interest: Mechanisms of toxicity of the environmental contaminant and neurotoxicant methylmercury (MeHg), defining MeHg effects on early life development of neural and muscular systems at the molecular, cellular, and organismal levels using invertebrate and mammalian models, and detailed characterization of MeHg metabolism and elimination kinetics in humans.
Souvarish Sarkar
Research Interest:

Develop a research program concentrating on identifying genetic modifiers of environmental factors in disease etiology using a combination of Drosophila genetics, cell culture, and rodent models

Marissa Sobolewski-Terry
Research Interest:

Neurotoxicology, Etiology of neurobehavioral disease, Endocrine dysfunction, Synergistic Toxicity.

Martha Susiarjo
Research Interest:

Our research program focuses on mechanisms underlying gene environment interaction in pregnancy. We are interested in elucidating how environmental factors influence epigenetic regulation of developmental-relevant genes including imprinted genes, and how exposure modulates maternal-fetal health.

Jacqueline Williams
Research Interest: Discovering the effects of high (therapeutic) and low (environmentally-relevant) doses of radiation and their interactions with other toxic elements, such as commonly encountered infections, and better understanding differential effects of radiation in adults versus children.

Research Faculty

Christina Post
Research Interest:

Effects of exposure to perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) on antiviral immunity

Secondary Faculty

Mark Frampton
Research Interest: Effects of particle exposure on lung function, airway inflammation, and cardiovascular function.
Steve Georas
Research Interest:

Defining molecular pathways by which allergens and particulates activate epithelia and dendritic cells in the lung immune system

Todd Jusko
Research Interest: Environmental and Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology: Defining the impact of environmental chemicals on immunity and immune-mediated diseases and as a mechanism for susceptibility to other disease outcomes, such as neurobehavioral disorders.
Thomas Mariani
Research Interest:

Genetic and environmental susceptibility to developmental lung injury

Richard Miller
Research Interest: Determining the impact of maternal stress and other maternal factors on the birth outcomes and in the children.
Gary Myers
Research Interest: Environmental toxins, specifically mercury; methyl mercury exposure
Michael O'Reilly
Research Interest:

Defining how an aberrant oxygen environment and oxygen-induced DNA damage signaling alter distal lung development, the host response to respiratory viral infections, and promotes cardiovascular disease later in life

Gloria Pryhuber
Research Interest:

Chronic lung disease of prematurity and lung development

J. Edward Puzas
J. Edward Puzas, Ph.D.

Research Interest: Molecular signals that govern osteoporosis and arthritis
David Rich
Research Interest:

Cardiovascular, respiratory, and perinatal/reproductive health effects of exposure to environmental agents, including ambient air pollution

Jacques Robert
Research Interest: Experimental platform using the amphibian Xenopus for research in immunotoxicology, fundamental and medical immunology
Sally Thurston
Research Interest:

Using statistics in environmental health, measurement error, multiple outcomes, Bayesian inference

Collynn Woeller
Research Interest: Understanding the key molecular and cellular pathways involved in eye disease, with a particular focus on Thyroid Eye Disease (TED)
Edwin van Wijngaarden
Research Interest: Environmental and Neurologic Epidemiology: Defining influences of environmental exposures, in particular toxic metals, on cognitive outcomes in children and adults.

Emeritus Faculty

Thomas Clarkson
Research Interest:

Understanding the toxicities, mechanisms of action, and dose-response relationship for methyl mercury and other heavy metals.

Jacob Finkelstein
Research Interest: Delineating the role of alveolar epithelium in modulating the pulmonary injury response to physiological and toxicological stimuli, including oxidant induced signaling in the pulmonary epithelium and macrophages, and epithelial production of mediators that regulate inflammatory functions of macrophages.
Günter Oberdörster
Research Interest: Biokinetics, Effects and Mechanisms of Inhaled Micro- and Nano- Particles: Dosimetry, Risk Extrapolation and Risk Assessment