Welcome to the Rochester Environment and Child Health Laboratory

As an environmental epidemiologist, Dr. Jusko's research interests concern the environmental causes of human disease. Within this broad area, Dr. Jusko's research primarily focuses on how environmental chemicals contribute to adverse immunological development over the entire lifespan. He is interested in the immune system as both a disease outcome (e.g., asthma, lowered vaccine response, development of autoimmunity), and as a mechanism of susceptibility for other disease outcomes, such as neurobehavioral development.

Dr. Jusko is exploring these questions in a diverse set of populations. For instance, he is investigating whether in utero and early postnatal exposure to persistent pollutants is associated with measures of immune system function in a cohort of children in eastern Slovakia. In adults, he is examining whether chemical exposures are associated with antinuclear antibodies (ANA), autoantibodies frequently observed in individuals with systemic autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). He is also a longtime collaborator on the Rochester Lead Study, which examines the potential neurobehavioral effects of early life lead exposure in a cohort of children in Rochester NY, and an NIEHS-led project examining neurodevelopment in a birth cohort of approximately 10,000 mother-infant pairs (the Generation R Study) in relation to in utero exposure to organophosphate pesticide metabolites.