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Toxicology Seminar with Dr. Jessica Plavicki

January 18, 2022 @ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Talk Title: “Interrogating microglia as critical mediators of PFOS-induced neurotoxicity”

Bio: Dr. Plavicki’s lab consists of a team of developmental biologists and environmental scientists working together to understand how genetic mutations and exposure to environmental health contaminants impact brain and heart health. During her undergraduate education and training at the University of Texas at Austin, she developed an appreciation for the importance of utilizing multiple levels of analysis in research to form an integrative understanding of biological processes. As a graduate student in Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Dr. Plavicki received training in developmental biology, Drosophila developmental genetics, and biological imaging. Her training in developmental biology and a long-standing interest in environmental health science lead her to seek training in toxicology during her next career phase. As a post-doc, Dr. Plavicki began working with a vertebrate model and extended her training to include zebrafish (Danio rerio) genetics, toxicology, and cardiovascular development. Dr. Plavicki’s laboratory at Brown University uses the zebrafish model to study the genetics of brain and cardiovascular development because it provides several distinct advantages. Zebrafish embryos are fertilized externally and develop in an aqueous environment. Passive oxygen diffusion from the environment is sufficient to support embryonic development in the absence of a heartbeat. Consequently, zebrafish embryos with mutations that significantly disrupt cardiovascular development are able to survive and be studied, whereas these mutations would be lethal in a mammalian model. In addition, zebrafish embryos are transparent, which enables us to assess embryonic cardiac function and visualize cardiovascular development in vivo. Despite these critical advantages, the system has yet to be fully exploited to study cardiomyocyte and pharyngeal arch artery development. As a PI, Dr. Plavicki is committed to increasing diversity in environmental health sciences. She has been engaged in outreach activities since early graduate school and will continue to be involved outreach efforts throughout her career. Dr. Plavicki believe diversity fosters creative, paradigm shifting science.

Zoom Link: https://ncsu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUod-upqz0tHdTbnKxKKRag6nt9Syw2D4p6

Details

Date:
January 18, 2022
Time:
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Event Categories:
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Venue

Zoom