Research

Influence of exposure to a mixture of PFAS and metals on the developing immune system

Childhood immunizations are a cornerstone of public health prevention with enormous health and societal benefits. This study will investigate if prenatal and early childhood exposure to metals and PFAS, two common environmental contaminants, influence the developing immune system and response to childhood immunizations. Findings from this study will inform public health prevention strategies and risk assessment of multiple contaminants.  NIH Project Page

Common and distinct influences of prenatal and postnatal early-life adversity on epigenomic trajectories in Mexican American children

In the U.S., the childhood obesity epidemic disproportionally impacts minority communities, particularly Hispanic children. Minority populations face multiple psychosocial stressors at the individual, household and community level that are associated with increased obesity risk. This research will establish the biological embedment of early-life adversity at the individual, household and community level on epigenetic marks, with the goal of developing early-life biomarkers of risk.  NIH Project Page

Prenatal and postnatal exposure to environmental mixtures: Neurodevelopment and DNA methylation biomarkers

Childhood decrements in neurocognitive development result in large population burden and expenditure. The proposed research will identify the extent to which prenatal and postnatal neurotoxic mixtures as well as key prenatal nutrients jointly influence neurocognitive development in childhood. This research will provide early life biomarkers that reconstruct prenatal exposures and predict childhood neurocognitive performance with the goal of developing novel and early-life interventions to protect children.  NIH Project Page

Early life influences on Epigenetic Aging in Mexican-American children

Age acceleration, the difference between one’s biological age determined by their epigenetic clock, and one’s chronological age has been associated with age-related conditions like pubertal development, obesity, and cancer. In this proposal, we will use state of the art methodologies to estimate epigenetic clocks in Mexican- American children participating in the CHAMACOS study and identify early life factors during pregnancy and at birth (gestational age and birthweight) that may affect epigenetic age acceleration during childhood. Understanding the factors that impact age acceleration will help us elucidate the biological and developmental processes that influence age-related phenotypes.  NIH Project Page

Programming of Epigenetic Clocks and Biomarkers from Early-life Arsenic Exposure

In the U.S. and around the world, millions of people are exposed to arsenic in their drinking water, a known human carcinogen. This study will investigate if arsenic exposure in early-life alters epigenetic biomarkers of aging and disease risk decades later, that could help target prevention efforts during critical windows of development. This work will characterize the impact of early-life arsenic exposure on epigenetic biomarkers of disease susceptibility and mortality decades later in adulthood.  NIH Project Page

Epigenetic biomarkers of cardiovascular risk in African American Women

This project will leverage clinical and multi-omics data in the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study to identify epigenetic biomarkers for cardiovascular disease risk prediction in African American women. We are analyzing over 5,000 DNA methylation samples priop to disease onset to predict cardiovascular disease. The study is expected to provide insights into risk prediction in this high-risk population, which may have implications for precision medicine.  NIH Project Page

Impact of environmental toxicants on AD and ADRD risk in the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes study AD/ADRD project

In this exposome tri-consortium project (NIH-U01) our team will measure multiple environmental exposures (metals, pesticides, PFAS, etc.) as well as untargeted chemical measures with biomarkers of response (metabolomics, epigenetics, miRNAs etc.) to characterize the impact on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.  NIH Project Page