Please contact Rose Branstrom at rbranstr@umich.edu for items you would like
included in our M-LEEaD Newsletter
M-LEEaD's recent renewal submission of the P30 Center Grant involved the re-design of our Translational Research Teams with the goal of accelerating public health impacts of the teams' work and promoting opportunities for collaboration.
The last of these teams to be featured in our monthly newsletter is the Toxicological Mechanisms and Improving Health Outcomes Team. This team, led by Dr. Vasantha Padmanabhan and Dr. Laurie Svoboda, seeks to advance mechanistic toxicology research that will inform behavioral, nutritional, and pharmacologic interventions aimed at mitigating the effects of exposures in human populations. This objective is met through the use of in vitro cell and tissue organoid models, animal models including sheep and mice, analysis of clinical specimens, mining of public databases, and epidemiologic studies.
Dr. Svoboda, who contributes to the team both as a co-leader and researcher, said, "Our work helps to facilitate the translation of fundamental questions into health impacts. This is a big part of the Translational Research Framework that the NIEHS encourages." Svoboda's research involves partnering with the UM Frankel Cardiovascular Center to investigate sex-specific effects of toxicants on cardiac differentiation.
Findings from Svoboda's and other Research Team members' work is ultimately used to inform risk assessment and intervention validation, with the wider goal of influencing public health practice and individual behaviors. In the long term, hopes are that these influences lead to mitigation of harmful environmental exposures and improvement in clinical outcomes.
Thank You and Best Wishes to M-LEEaD's Research Assistant Brianna Siracuse!
Brianna has graduated with a Master of Public Health Degree in Environmental Health Sciences. She will be starting a new job with Breast Cancer Prevention Partners later this month, where she will be working to address environmental exposures linked to breast cancer. M-LEEaD is so appreciative of your dedication over the past two years - Congratulations and wishing you all the best!
A recent study published by Sung Kyun Park, with contributions from additional M-LEEaD members Bhramar Mukherjee and Siobán Harlow, has gathered attention from several news outlets. The groundbreaking study found that high concentrations of PFAS are associated with increased risk of diabetes in midlife women, similar to the risks posed by cigarette smoking and being overweight. Read more about this amazing study in Michigan News, Endocrinology Network, Medscape, and Science Daily.
In a recent study, the BBC took 45 tap water samples from sites in England. 25 of the sample analyzed contained PFAS, and almost half of the samples exceeded the European Food Standards Agency tolerable limit of 2.2ng/l. Rita Loch-Caruso provided comment in an article covering these findings, saying, "We're finding health effects at lower and lower concentrations - in the single digits." Read the full article here.
A recent New York Times article laid out the timeline, symptoms, and what to expect during menopause. Siobán Harlow, women's midlife health expert, provided insightful comments to the article. Her recent research on racial disparities in menopausal timing was also discussed. Read the full story here.
M-LEEaD member Eva Feldman was recently featured on an episode of the Lancet Neurology's podcast, "In Conversation With...". She spoke about the latest advances in the genetics, risk factors, pathophysiology, therapeutic development, and the diagnosis and prognosis of ALS. Listen to the episode here.
DuBois Bowman was recently featured on an episode of UM SPH's podcast, "Ahead of the Curve," where he spoke with Helene Gayle, president of The Chicago Community Trust. Their conversation focused on leadership, the power of mentorship, the importance of storytelling, and how to develop effective partnerships. Listen here.
Congratulations to M-LEEaD members Sean Harris, Justin Colacino, Miatta Buxton, Rita Loch-Caruso, and Kelly Bakulski! Their paper, "A Data Mining Approach Reveals Chemicals Detected at Higher Levels in Non-Hispanic Black Women Target Preterm Birth Genes and Pathways," was recently selected by the NIEHS as a paper of the month. This paper sheds light onto the important issue of preterm birth disparities. Read more about the paper here.
A new study published in Environmental Research has uncovered an interesting relationship between exposure to pesticides among mothers and sleep patterns of their offspring. Using data from the ELEMENT Cohort, the study found that in utero exposure to chlorpyrifos, but not pyrethroids, was associated with longer sleep duration and later midpoint of sleep among adolescent offspring, but only among girls. Several M-LEEaD members contributed to this study, including Erica Jansen, John Meeker, Karen Peterson, and Deb Watkins. Read more about this exciting new research here.
