Elizabeth Bowdridge was recently awarded $324,000 for her Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) with the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention entitled: “Multi-generational Effects of Maternal Engineered Nano-Material Inhalation Exposure on Microvascular and Reproductive Health Outcomes.”
Occupational exposures in women who work during their pregnancies can lead to poor reproductive outcomes, such as miscarriages or fetal malformations. The objective of this study is to evaluate the direct and multigenerational effects of the engineered nanomaterial, nano-titanium dioxide, on reproductive outcomes in females and how those may be mediated by vascular and oxidative stress mechanisms after maternal inhalation exposure.
The fundamental knowledge discovered in these studies, along with the career development pursued by the investigator, will be used to identify ways to better protect the reproductive health of female workers in occupational settings as well as their daughters and potentially sons.