Research

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Endocrine Disrupting Compounds (EDCs) found ubiquitously in food and the environment can cause adverse health effects by interfering with the endocrine system. Exposures to EDCs are often chronic, occur at low concentrations, and the effects may be subtle but can have significant consequences.

EDCs target critical stages of human and animal development and can have a lasting effect on reproduction, behavior, and endocrine functions, even across multiple generations. There is even evidence that some EDCs could act as ‘obesogens’ by affecting adipogenesis and lipid metabolism. Our laboratory is interested in how these EDCs that are ubiquitously detected in the environment and our diet, affect our health especially in the reproductive and neuroendocrine system and in the development of endocrine-related diseases such as thyroid diseases and obesity.

We use zebrafish as a model organism to understand underlying molecular mechanisms of endocrine-disrupting effects of EDCs and to screen for toxic compounds in food and the environment to prevent toxicological exposure in humans and animals. 

Examples of current research interest of my lab are:

  1. Effect of exposures to EDCs at critical life stages on puberty and fertility health
  2. Explore solutions of complex mixtures problem of toxic compounds in the environment
  3. Development of a high-throughput toxicity screening tool for EDCs
  4. Toxicity of emerging contaminants found in food including ‘obesogens’
  5. Thyroid hormone disrupting compounds and their mechanism of toxicity
  6. Food package migration

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