Skip to main content Skip to navigation
CAS in the Media Arts and Sciences Media Headlines

Some Chemicals May Alter Gene Function for Several Generations

Michael Skinner portrait
Michael Skinner

Groundbreaking research by Mohan Manikkam and Michael Skinner of Washington State University at Pullman helped establish the principle of transgenerational toxicity by showing how toxic chemicals affect subsequent generations that are not directly exposed.

In one study, the researchers tested the transgenerational impacts of mixtures of chemicals that people are commonly exposed to in everyday life, including bug repellents, plastics additives and jet fuel.

Find out more

ewg.org

Iron blood levels in Guatemala improve with WSU project

Washington State University students and faculty recently returned from a 10-day volunteer effort to help assess whether a health project designed to increase iron levels in the blood of rural Guatemalan people has been successful.

WSU participants worked hand in hand with Hearts in Motion (HIM), a nonprofit organization, on the medical service project.

“After my first year participating in HIM, I realized Guatemalan diets are primarily starch-based,” said Kathy Beerman, a WSU professor in the School of Biological Sciences and a veteran HIM volunteer. “This caused me to believe that many Guatemalans are probably faced with a lack of iron in their diets, and therefore at increased risk for iron deficiency anemia. That is when we started our research.”

Find out more

WSU News

Drought-resistant wheat, soybeans WSU’s aim in USDA grant research

Mechthild Tegeder

Researchers at Washington State University seek to improve drought-resistant crops, thanks to more than $900,000 in funding from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).

Mechthild Tegeder, professor in the WSU School of Biological Sciences, received $494,000 to study the role of important compounds, called ureides, in soybeans. In the long term, her team’s work could enhance soybean productivity and transfer these discoveries to other crops, improving yields.

Find out more

WSU News

Not survival of the fittest for Tassie devils

Typically infectious diseases affect mostly older, younger, or less healthy individuals. However, the team of scientists from Australia and the US found that devils with higher fitness are at highest risk of infection and death from facial tumours. Dr Konstans Wells of Griffith’s Environmental Futures Research Institute (EFRI) said this was probably because of the disease’s mode of transmission among socially dominant individuals.

Professor Andrew Storfer, of Washington State University, said the study also revealed how resistance to the disease may be evolving.

“Our results show a recent decline in the likelihood that devils become infected. This could indicate some evolving resistance of devils to the cancer, as recently shown by researchers from our team,” he said.

Find out more

Health Medicine Network

WSU Study Finds Lasting Effects of Mercury Exposure in Fish

Michael Skinner portrait
Michael Skinner

A new study by WSU researchers has found that toxic effects of exposure to mercury in fish can be passed on to later generations.

The WSU School of Biological Sciences study looked at zebrafish that were exposed to very low levels of methylmercury, which occurs in nature when mercury is metabolized by small organisms. It found that the toxic effects of exposure were passed on not only to their offspring, but also the third generation of zebrafish. The toxic effects were neurological and included abnormal locomotion, impaired vision, and hyperactivity.

Michael Skinner, a professor of biological sciences, says mercury is present as a toxin in our environment through several sources, like burning coal, and can make its way to humans through eating fish, like tuna, that have that been exposed to the heavy metal.

Find out more

Spokane Public Radio