EHS Seminar | Colloquium Series | Dr. Alison Elder: Airborne Micro- and Nanoplastic Exposures: Implications for Brain impacts

About

Alison Elder is a Professor of Toxicology in the Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health Sciences at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. As an inhalation toxicologist, Dr. Elder’s research interests include the pulmonary, cardiovascular, and central nervous system effects of particulate air pollution, engineered nanomaterials, and microplastics. She also directs the Environmental Health Sciences Center’s Inhalation Exposure Facility and co-directs the Toxicology Training Program at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Airborne particulate matter deposits within the respiratory tract and causes a broad range of health effects in a manner that is dependent upon particle size and other physicochemical properties. While the respiratory tract is the main portal of entry for airborne particles, health effects are not limited to the lung due to translocation, spill-over of inflammatory meditators into the systemic circulation, and autonomic nervous system activation.

This foundational knowledge derives from studies of airborne carbonaceous and metal particles. The health effects of environmental micro- and nanoplastics represent a new area of research and, indeed, very little is understood about exposure and response in lung and extrapulmonary tissues like the brain. This talk will address the broadly-understood fate and effects of inhaled particles, particularly those at the nanoscale, to identify the gaps in knowledge that need to be filled in order to understand the human health implications of airborne polymeric particle exposures.