Exposure to Dust from the Salton Sea Causes Disease-associated Respiratory Changes in Mice

Emma Aronson, a Professor of Microbiology and Plant Pathology and ETOX faculty member, and a research team from UC Riverside have recently shown that exposure of mice to dust from the Salton Sea, a drying lake located in inland Southern California, changes the microbiome within the mouse lungs and resulted increased neutrophil recruitment and immune responses.  Similar effects occurring in humans may explain in part the high incidences of asthma seen in individuals living near the Salton Sea.  This work was recently published in mSphere and has been highlighted in a UCR News article and other news sources such as the Guardian.  Our congratulations to Emma and her fellow investigators for their unique and important work. [The figure above shows the sampling locations and comes from the authors' mSphere article.]