Postdoctoral Fellow

The research area I have had the most experience in as part of Doctorate is environmental exposures and cardiovascular medicine. Much of my work was mainly focused on the toxicological outcomes of air pollution (particulate matter PM2.5) exposure using animal models. For my Master’s and PhD work that I recently completed at the University of Louisville, I investigated the link between PM2.5 exposure and cellular aging in mice and found that such exposures can accelerate aging. I assisted in defining the extent of this problem, the functional consequences of premature aging, the biochemical mechanisms underlying these effects, and some useful interventional strategies. This completed work was summarized in a first-author manuscript that was recently accepted by Toxicological Sciences, and the corresponding work and data were also presented at the 2025 Annual Society of Toxicology meeting. Additionally, I have continued to collaborate with others in our department to study the effects of multiple other toxicants like microplastics, fluorene and benzene on cardiovascular health and premature aging and have recently identified a functional consequence of enhanced PM2.5-induced senescence using a technically demanding intra-vital microscopic technique using a multi-photon microscope that I intend to publish later this year. Work on these projects has led me to accumulate a vast array of technical expertise to perform laboratory bench work and execute successful experiments. Over the years these experiences have helped me gain plentiful experience in animal handling and procedures like tissue harvesting, exposure experiments, and microsurgery. Additionally, I became adept in performing some of the more basic biochemical assays like PCRs, Western blots, flow cytometry, cell culture work, ELISAs, RNA/DNA isolation, and cDNA synthesis, as well as more advanced procedures like Intra-vital and confocal microscopy, localization assays, in situ hybridization, and proximity ligation. For my Master’s and PhD work, I investigated the link between PM2.5 exposure and cellular aging in mice and found that such exposures did accelerate aging. I helped to define the extent of this problem, the functional consequences of premature aging, the biochemical mechanisms underlying these effects, and some useful interventional approaches. This work was summarized in a first-author manuscript in Toxicological Sciences that was featured as the spotlight article in June 2025. I have also presented this work in poster format at the 2025 Annual Society of Toxicology meeting and as part of the annual Research Louisville! program. From these aging studies, I anticipate having one more, and possibly two more, first author publications. I have additional co-authored papers from this laboratory based upon my involvement in microplastics and human-carnosine studies. Through this work and the graduate student experience at the highly medical research-focused School of medicine at the University of Louisville, I have had the most wonderful opportunity to interact with researchers and students from diverse areas of Environmental Toxicology, and cardiovascular health research and endeavored to develop my skills as a biomedical researcher even further.