Research Interests:

A number of environmental toxicants, including pesticides used on foods, are produced and used in quantities in excess of 1 million pounds per year. Little to nothing is known about the potential health effects of approximately two-thirds of these chemicals, even though they are regulated by the federal government. Products sold as “food supplements” also have not been tested for potential health effects and are not regulated by the federal government. This lack of information regarding chemicals to which humans and wildlife come into contact represents a significant risk to environmental and human health. For example, in spite of medical and technological advances, the U.S. still has the highest rate of infant mortality in developed nations, the incidence of certain birth defects is on the rise in the U.S., and the incidence of disorders related to the development of the immune system, namely asthma and allergies, has grown dramatically in the last twenty years, particularly in children. A growing body of evidence suggests that the high infant mortality rate, increased rate of certain types of birth defects, and increased incidence of developmental defects such as asthma and allergies is influenced or caused by exposure to environmental toxicants.

The main focus of my laboratory is to study the effects of environmental toxicants (for example, food use pesticides) and nutritional supplements on the prenatal development of the immune system. The University of LaVerne is primarily an undergraduate institution, that does not award graduate degrees in biology.  Therefore, all research in biology is done in collaboration with undergraduates. The students and I use a variety of model systems (in vitro and in vivo) to look at the embryological development of the immune system of the mouse in the presence or absence of the chemicals of interest. Currently, two projects are being explored: 1) the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (e.g. methoxychlor, a pesticide), and 2) the effects of zinc (a nutritional supplement, and heavy metal pollutant found in contaminated river sediment) on the embryological development of T cells in mice.