.On Dec. 14, during the NIEHS Superfund Analysis Course (SRP) Annual Meeting, Jennifer Kay, Ph.D., was named the 23rd winner of the Karen Wetterhahn Remembrance Honor. Kay studies how genetic factors affect susceptibility to mutations and cancer cells subsequent direct exposure to N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA).
That substance is actually one impurity discovered at the Olin Chemical Superfund Internet Site in Wilmington, Massachusetts.” Jenny has a firm understanding of just how to translate research study to improve the everyday lives of others,” claimed SRP Supervisor William Suk, Ph.D. “She is well on her way to become an excellent analyst, as Karen was.”” I strongly care about elevating the deprived, and also besides advertising hygienics as well as environmental fair treatment, I intend to advertise underrepresented minorities in STEM education and learning, as did doctor Wetterhahn,” Kay said. “I desire her long-lasting legacy of investigation excellence, ecological concern, medical mentorship, and social compensation.” Kay, presented listed below presenting her study, put together a blogging site as MIT RTC supervisor.
A blog post concerning NDMA led individuals to connect to her along with issues regarding the pollutant. (Photograph courtesy of Jenny Kay) Kay completed her Ph.D. under the path of Bevin Engelward, Ph.D., at the Massachusetts Institute of Innovation (MIT) SRP Facility.
As a postdoctoral fellow, Kay guided the facility’s Analysis Interpretation Center (RTC). Earlier this year, she transferred to a research study expert placement at Silent Springtime Institute.Factors that have an effect on susceptibility Suk leads the NIEHS Hazardous Substances Analysis Limb, which sustains all aspects of the Superfund Hazardous Substances Basic Study and Training System. (Picture thanks to Steve McCaw/ NIEHS) Kay developed a focused mouse style to research study first-generation mutagenesis– tissue kinds that alter– and also clonal development of mutant cells, which describes cell division that generates a populace of tissues with the very same mutation.She has actually made fundamental findings related to DNA fixing task of 2 genes– the methylguanine methyltransferase gene (Mgmt) as well as the alkyladenine glycosylase genetics (Aag).
All together, they are accountable for restoring much more than 80% of the DNA damage caused by NDMA.Mgmt fixing activity protects against brand-new mutations coming from forming and also standstills clonal development. In an upcoming paper, Kay and also her group display that the absence of Aag substantially improves susceptibility to mutations and also cancer cells, yet way too much Aag results in toxicity and also creature fatality. Understanding an individual’s Aag activity levels may assist identify their degree of risk for poisoning or even cancer.” Given the importance of NDMA as an impurity in the environment, in consuming water, and in food items, Jennifer’s additions to our understanding of the molecular systems of NDMA-induced mutations as well as cancer contribute primarily to our potential to intervene,” said Engelward.Equity and justiceAs supervisor of the MIT Analysis Translation Center, Kay teamed up with the Wilmington Environmental Reconstruction Board (WERC) in Massachusetts.
Participants of WERC led the effort to obtain Olin provided on the National Priorities List. They continue to defend swift, reliable remediation.Along with MIT SRP Facility management, Kay visited Maine to learn more about Indigenous Americans’ ecological health and wellness concerns. They desired to determine exactly how the facility might bring about options focused on local area impurities and also ecological justice problems.
Kay, much left, covered Olin Chemical Superfund Internet site cleanup activities along with participants of WERC. (Image courtesy of Jenny Kay) Efficient science, hooking up people” I are among the decreasing handful of that understood Karen Wetterhahn, and Jenny advises me a great deal of Karen in her potential to accomplish standard scientific research that possesses influence on people as well as [in] her organic capability to hook up individuals with each other,” kept in mind SRP analyst John Essigmann, Ph.D. “She is actually an excellent match for the Wetterhahn Award.” At Silent Springtime Institute, which focuses on ladies’s health as well as ecological fair treatment, Kay carries on community-based hygienics analysis and continues to be involved in SRP research.Her main emphasis right now is incorporating devices of genotoxicity, irritation, as well as hormone signaling to clarify the natural networks that link chemical direct exposures to cancer cells.
Recognizing these process can easily nurture distinction of chemicals through natural impacts, opening up new strategies for stopping or reducing ailment threat.( Natalie Rodriguez is actually a study and interaction specialist for MDB Inc., a specialist for the NIEHS Superfund Study Course.).