6th Annual Symposium
November 14 - 16, 2008
in Kansas City
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Ecological, physiological and genetic consequences of environmental toxins

Brown and Wisely

Over 100 years of lead and zinc mining have introduced high levels of these metals into the soil and groundwater in the tri-state area of Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.  With more than 75,000 people living near the 2,500 mi² Tri-State Mining District site, it is essential to understand how these contaminants have influenced the biological landscape of this region. We will study the effects of contamination on physiology, genome function, gene expression and population ecology of the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) by comparing individuals and populations from contaminated and non-contaminated (control) sites.

   The deleterious effect of lead on physiological pathways of mammals has been well-documented.  Lead is a powerful neurotoxin which disrupts developmental pathways and central nervous system (CNS) function even at very low levels of exposure.  In humans, lead poisoning impedes normal cognitive development in children, and damages the CNS in adults. Zinc interrupts the body’s ability to process essential minerals like copper and iron and induces hemolytic anemia in mammals. Although synergistic effects of combined lead and zinc exposure have been documented, nothing is known about the etiology of this type of exposure, the heritability of these physiological changes or how these changes influence ecological dynamics of exposed populations.

Publications

Yi, L., S. Lu, F. Fotouhi, Y. Deng, and S. Brown (2004).  Incremental Genetic K-means Algorithm and its Application in Gene Expression Data Analysis, Bioinformatics.  In press.

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