(☼Director, *Executive Committee, # Internal Advisory Committee )
Sean Burgess, Professor, Molecular and Cellular Biology – Molecular mechanisms of chromosome organization and segregation during meiosis in yeast and zebrafish. Genetic and environmental effects resulting in aneuploidy and genome rearrangements.
*Chao-Yin Chen, Professor, Pharmacology - Investigates central neuroplasticity in cardiovascular regulation and cardiovascular consequences of exposure to environmental factors.
Hongwu Chen, Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine - Chromatin/epigenetic regulators in hormone signaling and in cancer
Sheila David, Professor, Chemistry - Nucleic acid chemistry and enzymology, DNA damage and repair
Bruce Draper, Associate Professor, Molecular and Cellular Biology – Biochemical and molecular mechanisms that regulate gonaldal development, sex determination/differentiation, reproduction and function of germline stem cells using the zebrafish as a model system.
# Dave Furlow, Professor, Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior - Molecular basis of hormone action, particularly during development. Analysis of gene expression cascades during morphogenesis. Mechanisms of skeletal muscle atrophy and death.
Melanie Gareau, Assistant Adjunct Professor, Anatomy, Physiology and Cell Biology – Studies the mechanism of development of the microbiota-gut-brain axis and Investigates microbiota-gut-brain axis in models of inflammatory bowel disease and following infection with an enteric bacterial pathogen.
Angela Haczku, Professor, Internal Medicine, Director of the Translational Lung Biology Program - My laboratory studies the effects of environmental exposures (allergen, ozone, cigarette smoke, psychosocial stress and infections). We focus on how the innate and adaptive immune systems cooperate during development and resolution of airway inflammation with the goal of identifying novel pathways that could be therapeutically targeted for preventing or reversing the adverse effects of environmental exposures.
Bruce Hammock, Distinguished Professor, Entomology and UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, PI NIEHS Superfund Program, Director NIH Training in biotechnology – Mechanisms of action and degradation of xenobiotics of natural and synthetic origin. Medicinal chemistry and pharmacology of novel drugs for pain and inflammation. Role of dietary lipids in inflammation and cancer. Biosensor development. Mass spectrometry and metabolomics of lipid mediators.
Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Professor, Public Health Sciences - Our research is in the area of environmental epidemiology and we examine environmental exposures, including metals, pesticides, air contaminants and endocrine disrupting compounds; their interactions with nutrition, genes or social factors; and their effects on pregnancy, the newborn, and child development.
Wolf-Dietrich Heyer, Professor, Microbiology - DNA repair, recombination, and how DNA damage check point signaling contributes to the molecular basis for studies in genetic toxicology.
Neil Hunter, Professor, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics - Homologous Recombination. The mechanism and regulation of chromosome repair by homologous recombination and its role in chromosome transmission and genome stability. Post-Translational Protein Modification in Meiosis. The nature and function of post-translational modifications of proteins involved in homologous recombination during meiosis.
# Nicholas Kenyon, Professor, UCDHS: Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine - Environmental effects on lung function, the role of nitric oxide in airway diseases, asthma, COPD and lung injury
Michael Kleeman, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering - Epidemiology of fine and ultrafine particles, influence of emissions on air quality
Janine LaSalle, Professor, Microbiology & Immunology - Pathogenesis and epigenetics of human neurodevelopmental disorders
☼ Pamela Lein, Professor, Molecular Biosciences - The role of inflammatory cells and cytokines in mediating the adverse effects of neurotoxic agents on the developing brain and altering nerve function in asthma
* Michele La Merrill, Assistant Professor, Environmental Toxicology – Biochemical, molecular and physiological mechanisms underlying susceptibilities to metabolic diseases evidenced in rodent models of human observational studies. These susceptibilities include environmental insults during the exquisitely sensitive developmental period, poor diet and ensuing metabolic diseases, and genetic and epigenetic predispositions.
* Lisa Miller, Professor, Anatomy/Physiology and Cell Biology: Vet Med -My research program is focused on understanding the relationship between early life environmental exposures, immunity and chronic disease. We study how mucosal and systemic immunity is established during infancy, and determine the impact of air pollutants, allergens, and infectious disease on childhood health. A major emphasis has been in the elucidation of mechanisms for immune susceptibility that lead to pediatric airways dysfunction, which may ultimately lead to generation of new diagnostics and preventative medicine.
Patricia Oteiza, Professor, Nutrition - Characterization of the effect of trace mineral deficiencies and trace mineral toxicities on early development.
# Isaac Pessah, Professor, Molecular Biosciences, Vet Med – Mechanisms of calcium signal regulation and its perturbation by halogenated xenobiotics in neural development
Kent Pinkerton, Professor, Pediatrics, Med and Anatomy, Physiology and Cell Biology, Vet Med – Inhalation and respiratory toxicology, effects on lung growth, development, metabolism and disease.
Birgit Puschner, Professor, Molecular Biosciences - Diagnostic Veterinary Toxicology; Poisonous Plants; Algal toxins; Natural toxins
# Robert Rice, Professor, Environmental Toxicology, A&ES – Differentiation of cultured human epidermal cells and its perturbation by metals (arsenic) and chlorinated aromatics (dioxin)
Rebecca Schmidt, Assistant Professor, Public Health Sciences - My research goal is to advance understanding of how environmental exposures, primarily those occurring during gestation, interact with genetic susceptibility to influence neurodevelopmental outcomes for children, using a mechanistic and pathways perspective. Because nutritional factors, especially B-complex vitamins needed for one-carbon metabolism and methylation reactions, have prominent influences on gene expression and are especially important during gestation and early life, my research has largely focused their effects on neurodevelopment and risk for autism.
Jill Silverman, Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences - My expertise is in preclinical translational evaluation of pharmacological treatments for autism spectrum disorders and our research focus encompasses behavioral phenotypes of autism in genetic mouse models, environmental toxin effects on rat behaviors, interpretation of rodent behavioral data, pharmacological treatment reversals in mouse models of autism and the development of complex rodent behavioral tasks of executive function.
Carolyn Slupsky, Professor, Departments of Nutrition and Food Science and Technology - My research is focused on understanding the impact of diet on human health from the perspective of nutrition, the gut microbiome, and host-microbial co-metabolism. We use a multi-discplinary research approach that integrates metabolomics with clinical measures, global gene expression profiles, as well as microbial community analysis to understand the intimate link between our gut microbiome, metabolism, and health.
*Ameer Taha, Assistant Professor, Food Science and Technology – My research program is directed toward understanding environmental risk factors for autism and developmental and neurodevelopmental disorders. We are examining the relationship between maternal pesticide exposure and risks of autism and neurodevelopmental delays as well as investigating the role of maternal obesity on lipidomic markers of inflammation and social behaviors in non-human primates to determine whether obesity alters maternal lipidomic markers of immunity and risk of autism-like behaviors.
Judy Van de Water, Professor, Rheum/Allergy - Immunopathology and the cellular and molecular basis of autoimmunity. Current research addresses the biological aspects of autism spectrum disorders including immune function, cellular mechanisms of immune dysregulation, and autoimmunity.
*Laura Van Winkle, Adjunct Professor, Anatomy/Physiology and Cell Biology: Vet Med - Pulmonary cell biology and toxicology. Epithelial injury and repair. Airway remodeling in response to air pollutants (ozone, tobacco smoke, particulate matter and nanoparticles) and during postnatal lung development (naphthalene and bisphenol A). Naphthalene metabolism and toxicity.
Andrew Whitehead, Assistant Professor, Environmental Toxicology - Environmental, ecological, and evolutionary genomics, population genomics, conservation genetics, stress physiology, and ecotoxicology.
Qi Zhang, Professor, Environmental Toxicology – Investigates the chemistry and physics of atmospheric particulate pollutants with a primary goal of understanding the emissions sources, atmospheric processes, and mechanisms that form and transform inorganic and organic matter in airborne particles and water droplets and the impacts of these substances on climate, human health, and air quality.