Join us for this month's webinar. The webinar features presentations and interactive discussions including recent findings and new developments in children’s environmental health.

Topic: Environmental Impacts on Epigenetic Regulation in Immunity and Development

Rapid changes in cellular and immune system development occur early in life as we interact with our environment for the first time. These changes are detectable as epigenetic and functional alterations, leading to increased risk of diseases in target organs. In this presentation, we will explore the effects of chemical exposures on specific epigenetic and functional features of immune cells in both humans and model organisms. Dr. Ivana Yang will discuss recent research on DNA methylation changes that impact allergic airway disease in human cohorts and animal models. Focusing on ambient air pollution, Dr. Kari Nadeau will present mechanistic insights in the function of T cells, critical immune brokers. Dr. Rachel Miller will discuss prenatal environmental exposures, development, and asthma susceptibility. Then Dr. Carmen Marsit will consider the effects of arsenic on epigenetic features of blood cells in human populations, utilizing a epigenetic code of normal blood cells and elucidating specific methylation changes associated with arsenic exposure. The presentations will be followed by a discussion, moderated by Dr. Joseph Wiemels.

Featured Speakers:

Kari Nadeau
Stanford University
Presentation Title: Epigenetics, Air pollution, and T cell immunity in Children
Presentation Summary: Dr. Nadeau's research investigates the role of ambient air exposure on the developing immune system in children, with a focus on understanding the interactions between the environment and the immune system through detailed mechanistic studies in T cells. Dr. Nadeau works with Dr. Rachel Miller at Columbia University on two grants focusing on epigenetics in the immune cells of children exposed to pollution.

Rachel Miller
Columbia University
Presentation Title: Environmental Influences on the Epigenome
Presentation Summary: Dr. Miller reviews prenatal environmental exposures and their association with allergy and asthma. She also discusses the growing evidence that suggests that epigenetic regulation following environmental exposures may underlie the interface between prenatal and early-life environmental exposure and asthma susceptibility.

Carmen J. Marsit
Dartmouth College
Presentation Title: Variation in Cord Blood DNA Methylation with Low-Level Arsenic Exposure
Presentation Summary: We have investigated the relationship between arsenic exposure levels that can be experienced in a US population in utero and variation in DNA methylation in newborn infant cord blood. We have identified changes in specific cellular subsets associated with this exposure as well as have identified potentially functional alterations to DNA methylation in those exposed infants.

Ivana Yang
University of Colorado
Presentation Title: Asthma: An Epidemic Caused by Epigenetics?
Presentation Summary: Dr. Yang’s presentation summarizes the findings of the group, on the role of DNA methylation in human cohorts and animal models of allergic airway disease.

Joseph L. Wiemels
University of California, San Francisco
Discussion Moderator