Gene expression changes following exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances: Implications for pregnancy outcomes

This presentation will be presented as a lecture to undergraduates in the ENVR 360: Systems biology in environmental health course at UNC Chapel Hill. The goal of this presentation is to highlight my prior and current research pertaining to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and gene expression changes. The majority of the presentation reviews data that has been previously published (Blake et al. 2020, Blake et al. 2022a, Blake et al. 2022b, Cope et al. 2021) with a few slides covering data that will soon be published. This presentation was created for educational purposes with the goal of conveying the complexity of studying gene expression changes in experimental models and the challenges of translating such findings to human health. 

Impact/Purpose

This presentation was designed for use as an educational lecture for UNC Chapel Hill students taking the ENVR 360: Systems Biology in Environmental Health course. The main goal of this presentation is to educate students on the complexity and challenges of using experimental systems to study gene expression changes following exposure to environmental toxicants and then interpreting the findings in the context of human health. This lecture focuses on my prior and current research, which has centered on maternal, fetal, and placental impacts of exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances during pregnancy. The overwhelming majority of information presented in this lecture is pulled from previously published manuscripts, with a few slides containing information from a forthcoming publication. 

Citation

Blake, B. Gene expression changes following exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances: Implications for pregnancy outcomes. Guest lecture for ENVR 360 course at UNC Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, November 02, 2023.

• PFAS AND GENE EXPRESSION_STATIC.PDF (PDF)  (NA  pp, 5.8 MB, about PDF)