Microbiome

How many grams of feces does the average human excrete each day?That question—part of Erica Fuhrmeister’s first college research project as an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins University—might have sent some budding scientists running for the nearest liberal arts course.

When most people think about the causes of diabetes and obesity, they think about diet, physical activity and family history. But when Joe Lim thinks about these diseases, he thinks about environmental toxicants that are often invisible to the senses yet can have an enormous impact decades into a person’s life.

Sarah Kim recently won the prestigious Carl Smith Graduate Student Award at the 2023 meeting of the Society of Toxicology.

The Society of Toxicology recently recognized several researchers in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS), including three members of DEOHS Associate Professor Julia Yue Cui’s lab.

 

 

 

In 2021, the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) welcomed new faculty, forged collaborations in climate and health, and continued our innovative, community-oriented environmental health research on areas including air pollution, COVID-19 and the far-reaching health impacts of wildfire smoke across Washington state. Explore our top stories below.

Joe Lim, PhD student in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS), is one of two recipients of this year’s Russell L. Castner Endowed Student Research Fund, which supports student research in environmental health.

DEOHS Associate Professor Julia Yue Cui Editor's note: In January 2022, Julia Yue Cui also received the 2022 Society of Toxicology Achievement Award, recognizing he

While browsing in a Davis, California, bookstore, Karen Levy came across a brightly illustrated book with a provocative title that would change the trajectory of her academic career.

“When I explain my thesis project to people, they are always excited to hear about me working with marine animals,” Alexandria Vingino said. “And then I explain to them that I'm not really working with marine animals, I'm working with what’s in their poop.”

Dr. Kelsey Jesser is a Clinical Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington. 

Dr. Lampe's research interests relate to the mechanisms by which components of diet, particularly constituents of plant food, alter susceptibility to and risk of cancer.

Dr. Erica Fuhrmeister is Assistant Professor in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences. She received her BS in environmental engineering from Johns Hopkins University and her MS and PhD in environmental engineering from University of California, Berkeley.

Karen Levy is Professor in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS). She studies the ecology and epidemiology of environmentally-mediated infectious diseases.

As the Program Leader of the Diagnostic program at PATH, I have over 10 years of experience in developing diagnostic tools and technologies for use in low resource settings.

Dr. Libin Xu received his PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He then underwent postdoctoral training at Vanderbilt University, where his research expanded to chemistry and biology of lipid peroxidation underlying human diseases, as well as mass spectrometry-based lipidomics.

Dr. Peter Rabinowitz is Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences and Director of the UW Center for One Health Research.

Dr. Julia Yue Cui is a Professor in toxicology in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS). She is the director of the Environmental Health and Microbiome Research Center, part of DEOHS.

Anthropogenic impacts on marine ecosystems have developed into a dominating and formative force within coastal regions. One of the strongest influences within these coastal anthropogenic zones is the deposition and life cycle of marine plastic waste.

Antimicrobial resistance in bacteria has been a prominent topic of concern for the public health sector in the 21st century. While there are many factors that contribute to increasing AMR in the human population, antimicrobial use in companion animal and large animal veterinary practices is of particular interest due to the One Health paradigm.

The complex interplay between routine antibiotic use and zoonotic pathogen presence makes livestock farming environments unique nexuses for the potential emergence of zoonotic diseases and/or antibiotic resistant bacteria and their resistance genes.

Intro: Understanding how indoor environments can not only affect but also shape human health is a new area of emerging research. Considering that we spend a large portion of our daily lives indoors, dust is a major complex environmental mixture we are exposed to every day.

Antimicrobial resistant bacteria (ARB) can be shared between humans and animals through a common environment. The surveillance of ARB in the environment can inform us about contamination of shared ecosystems, like the Salish Sea, and how that contamination affects both the animals that rely on the ecosystem and humans who also live within it.

Diarrheal disease remains a persistent global health threat and is ranked as the second leading cause of death for children under the age of five, with approximately 525,000 child deaths worldwide annually.

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are detoxification enzymes important in cellular protection through their metabolism of endogenous and exogenous substrates such as chemotherapeutic agents, insecticides, herbicides, and byproducts of oxidative stress.

Liver is a critical organ for nutrient homeostasis and xenobiotic biotransformation.

Persistent environmental pollutants (POPs), such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), are ubiquitously detected in the environment despite removal from commercial and industrial use.

No study has been undertaken in Washington state to determine if there is an association between agricultural fairs and Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infections, despite a fair-associated outbreak in 2015 that sickened 60 people.