Phthalates are in the Air

A new study by Aalekhya Reddam, an ETOX alumna now at CalEPA, her Ph.D. advisor David Volz, Professor of Environmental Sciences and ETOX faculty member, and their collaborators has shown high exposures to plastic-derived phthalates in the air of students commuting in Southern California.  The students wore silicone wristbands that captured chemicals found in the air around them.  Particularly high levels of three phthalates, DiNP, DEHP, and DEHT were detected.  Two of these, DiNP and DEHP, are on California’s Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm. Their study, published this month in Environmental Research, has recently been highlighted in UC Riverside News and LAist. NIEHS spotlighted the study in its Environental Factor as an extramural paper of the month.  Our congratulations to Aali, Dave and their colleagues for this important paper and recognition. [The graphic above is from their Environmental Research paper.]  

Prof. Men Article on PFAS-degrading Bacteria Recognized by NIEHS

The recent Science Advances article by Yujie Men, Associate Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering and ETOX faculty member, and her associates has been recognized in the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) as one of its Papers of the Month on its online news publication Environmental Factor. This article was the focus of a post on this blog several months ago.  Our congratulations to Yujie and her colleagues for this nice recognition. [The image above of the active site of the PFAS-degrading enzyme is from the Sciences Advances article.]

High Cholesterol Diet of Fathers Increases Cardiovascular Disease Risk in their Daughters

A research group led by Changcheng Zhou, Professor of Biomedical Sciences and ETOX faculty member, has recently shown that feeding a high cholesterol diet to male mice can lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in their female offspring.  The intergenerational effects appear to be the result of changes in small non-coding RNA molecules in the sperm which are passed to the developing zygote during fertilization.  The research was recently published in the journal JCI Insight and highlighted in UC Riverside News.  Our congratulations to Changcheng and his colleagues for this groundbreaking study. [The figure above is from the JCI article.]