Toxicology PhD Program News

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"25 Years Later, Studying the Health Effects of 9/11"

Thursday, September 10, 2026

The September 11, 2001, World Trade Center (WTC) disaster created unprecedented environmental and public health challenges. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, first responders, workers, and Lower Manhattan residents were exposed to a complex mixture of dust, smoke, and debris from the collapsed buildings and fires. Over the past quarter-century, University of Rochester Medicine has contributed to efforts to understand and address those risks through environmental health research, community education, and long-term occupational health care.

“The World Trade Center research is part of a long legacy of environmental health research at URochester, where scientists have worked for decades to understand how environmental exposures—including air pollution and other airborne toxicants—affect human health,” says Paige Lawrence, PhD, chair of the Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health Sciences. “One of the challenges in environmental health is that the effects of an exposure are not always immediate or straightforward. This is a powerful example of why sustaining research matters and how environmental health research connects laboratory science, population health, clinical care, and community needs.”

"The plastic waste overtaking New York—and the people trying to curb it"

Thursday, September 3, 2026

“There are so many questions remaining about how different plastics get into, move through, and change in the environment and what this means for the amounts, sizes, and types of microplastics in the environment that people might be exposed to,” says Katrina Korfmacher, a professor of environmental medicine and of public health sciences. “It’s important to figure out what kinds of micro- and nanoplastics get into the human body and how, so we can focus our research on realistic exposures.”

Research efforts from URochester’s Jacques Robert, a professor of microbiology and immunology and of environmental medicine, and Anne S. Meyer, a professor of biology, are also mentioned.

2026 Toxicology Retreat Award Winners

Thursday, May 28, 2026

The annua retreat was held Thursday, May 28, 2026.  Congratulations one and all!

Most Inquisitive Student Award: 
2026 winner – Catherine Caballero

Mentoring Awards:
2026 student winner – Catherine Caballero
2026 faculty/staff winner – Christina Post

Neumann Award for Exemplary Scholarship and Citizenship:
2026 winner – Adelaide Weidner

Weiss Toxicology Scholar Awards:
2026 winners – Jithin George, Pablo Reina-Gonzalez

Infurna Publication Award:
2026 winner –Gagandeep Kaur (also in recognition of her K99, dedication to bench mentoring, and commitment to supporting the culture of the training environment)

Best Poster, First-Year:
2026 winner – Jarett Reyes George

Best Overall Poster: 
2026 winner – Marissa Skulsky

Best Platform Presentation:
2026 winner – Ryan Owens
 

Toxicology Students Receive Awards and Acknowledments

Monday, May 4, 2026

Catherine Caballero, third year PhD student, has been selected as a recipient of the ROCMSK T32 Fellowship for the upcoming cycle. The fellowship will provide Catherine with structured training, mentorship, and resources to advance her research career.

Congratulations, Catherine.

Recent Graduate Receives Award

Thursday, April 30, 2026

Recent 2025 Graduate, Dr. Elizabeth Plunk, mentored by Professor Ania Majewska, has been selected as the receipent of the 2026 Wallace O. Fenn Award for her outstanding contributions to research, and her exemplary thesis titled "Characterizing the Effects of Perfluorohexanoic (PFHxA) Exposure on the Mouse Brain during Two Critical Windows: Development and Pregnancy."

Congratulations, Elizabeth!

Study Examines How Pregnancy May Help the Body Eliminate Mercury from Fish

Monday, March 16, 2026

Researchers at the University of Rochester are investigating whether natural biological changes during pregnancy help reduce a fetus’s exposure to mercury. The project will examine how the maternal gut microbiome and pregnancy-related physiological changes may increase the body’s ability to eliminate methylmercury, the toxic form of mercury commonly found in fish, before it reaches the developing fetus.

“Much of environmental health research focuses on identifying risks,” said Matt Rand, PhD, associate professor of Environmental Medicine and the study’s principal investigator. “What excites us about this project is the opportunity to understand the body’s natural defenses. Namely, how pregnancy itself may help protect the fetus from environmental exposures like mercury.”

Building on decades of mercury research

Concern about prenatal mercury exposure has driven decades of research into how fish consumption affects fetal brain development. One of the most consequential efforts is the Seychelles Child Development Study, a landmark international research program that has followed families in the Seychelles for decades.

That work, led by scientists at the University of Rochester, has found no measurable harm to children’s neurodevelopment in a population that consumes roughly ten times more fish than in the United States. These and other findings have helped shift public-health guidance toward encouraging pregnant people to eat fish to obtain key nutrients important for fetal brain development.

Still, questions remain about how the body manages mercury exposure during pregnancy.

Team Science Showcase: The People and Partnerships Moving Microplastics Research Forward

Monday, February 9, 2026

How a small project between a university lab and a city water system grew into a national model

Public concern about microplastics and health has grown sharply over the past several years. Questions like “Are plastic cutting boards safe?” and “Should I drink out of plastic water bottles?” are prevalent, but straightforward answers to these seemingly simple queries are not.

While new research on levels of microplastics found in the human body has recently raised flags for many, scientists at the University of Rochester have been asking questions, building teams, and uncovering how environmental exposures impact human health for decades. With the knowledge, partnerships, and systems they’ve put in place through the University’s Environmental Health Sciences Center (EHSC), now celebrating its 50th year of funding from the National Institutes of Health, they’re poised to provide answers.

“The EHSC was built on the idea that the biggest environmental health challenges require teams that cross disciplines, institutions, and communities,” said Paige Lawrence, PhD, chair of the department of Environmental Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry. “Our microplastics work is a perfect example of how that model accelerates discovery. By bringing engineers, toxicologists, ecologists, and local partners together, we’re able to ask deeper questions and develop solutions that matter for people’s daily lives.”

The long-standing collaborative culture fostered by the EHSC led to the launch of the Lake Ontario MicroPlastics Center (LOMP) in April 2024. One of six federally funded Centers for Oceans and Human Health in the nation, LOMP marked the culmination of a decade of collaborative work among University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) researchers, community organizations, and local and state government to understand and reduce microplastic pollution in local waterways.

“Microplastics research in Rochester didn’t start with a single project—it started with relationships,” said Katrina Korfmacher, PhD, professor of Environmental Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry. “For years, our faculty have worked alongside community and government partners who are deeply invested in water quality. LOMP is an extension of the EHSC’s long-standing commitment to doing science in partnership with communities.”

Korfmacher co-directs LOMP with Christy Tyler, PhD, professor in the Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Today, their teams are working to understand how microplastics move through the Lake Ontario ecosystem and how they may affect human health under varied environmental conditions—research made possible by a discovery that connects back to the EHSC.

The Society of Toxicology Recognizes Professors with Awards

Thursday, February 5, 2026

Paige Lawrence, the Wright Family Research Professor and the director of the Institute for Human Health and the Environment, received the Society of Toxicology Education Award. 

Alison Elder, an associate professor of environmental medicine, received the society’s Translational Impact Award.

Congratulations to both.