The Environmental Toxicology Graduate Student Association is hosting an outreach event on Tuesday, Jan. 20 from 5 to 6:30 pm at the Student Recreation Center for K-12 students. The event is entitled Tox Squad and will engage the students in solving a toxic mystery. We hope it is an enjoyable success. [The screenshot above is from an ETOX miniGSA Instagram post.]
A new study led by Linlin Zhao, Professor of Chemistry and Director of the ETOX program, that also involved Professors Yinsheng Wang and Chia-En Chang, two other ETOX faculty members and other students and collaborators, identified a previously unknown type of DNA damage within the mitochondria. It is believed that the newly identified glutathionylated DNA adducts may provide insights into how our bodies sense and respond to stress. The study was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and was spotlighted in a UCR News article. This work builds upon earlier work conducted by an earlier ETOX graduate student Jiakei Yin and his advisor Yinsheng Wang in which they had identified GSH-DNA adducts in nuclear DNA. Our congratulations to Linlin, Yinsheng, Chia-En and their collaborators for this important research advance. [The figures above are from their PNAS article.]
A research team led by Chengchang Zhou, Professor of Biomedical Sciences and an ETOX faculty member has identified a small transfer RNA-derived RNA that plays a major role in controlling cholesterol production within the body and likely plays a role in the development of heart disease. Their work was recently published in the journal Nature Communications as was the focus of a recent UCR News article. As described in in a , "the molecule, named tsRNA-Glu-CTC, could be a potential new target for future therapies aimed at lowering high cholesterol." Our congratulations to Chengchang and his colleagues for this important discovery which may open new therapeutic avenues understanding and treating cardio metabolic diseases. [The figure above is from their Nature Communications article.]
Prue Talbot, a Professor of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology and an ETOX faculty member, and Man Wong, a Genetics graduate student, have investigated the toxicity of methylglyoxal and acetaldehyde in human bronchial epithelial tissues. Both of these compounds are formed during the vaping of liquids containing propylene glycol. Their results, recently published in the journal Frontiers of Toxicology, showed that these chemicals altered the proteome of the respiratory cells affecting key pathways "including mitochondrial dysfunction, fatty acid metabolism, G2/M DNA damage checkpoint regulation, and mitochondrial biogenesis." Their work was recently highlighted in UCR News. Our congratulations to Prue and Man for this recognition of their work.
We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We hope you are having an enjoyable holiday wherever you may be. Above is a highly decorated house in the Mission Grove area of Riverside.
Ting-An Lin, a current ETOX student working in the lab of Chengchang Zhou, a Professor of Biomedical Sciences and an ETOX faculty member, has recently been awarded a two-year predoctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association to support his work on the mechanisms underlying microplastic-elicited atherosclerosis. Our congratulations to Ting-An for this very nice award and recognition.
