UTMB-Department of Microbiology & Immunology

Students

Erica Rae Dahl

Dahl Major: Toxicology and Virology
Joined program in 2004

Mentor: Dr. Thomas Albrecht, Dr. Michael Schmiederer

Awards/Grants:
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Toxicology Training Grant
(T32 PHS Grant)
Publications/Experience:
Guest Researcher. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID), Division of Parasitic Diseases (DPD), Entomology Branch, Vector Genetics. Chamblee, GA. 07/02-07/04.

Public Health Intern. Foundation for Sustainable Development Summer Internship, Winterveldt, South Africa. 5/01-8/01 (400 volunteer hours).

1. Globalization and the population structure of Toxoplasma gondii.2006. T. Lehmann, P. Marcet, D. Graham, E. Dahl, and J.P. Dubey. PNAS. 103(30): 11423-11428.
2. Variation in the structure of Toxoplasma gondii and the roles of selfing, drift, and epistatic selection in maintaining linkage disequilibria. 2004. T. Lehmann, D.H. Graham, E. Dahl, D. Seipal, L. Oliviera, and J.P. Dubey. Infection, Genetics, and Evolution. 4(2):107-14.
3. Transmission dynamics of Toxoplasma gondii in a pig farm. 2003. T. Lehmann, D.H. Graham, E. Dahl, C. Sreekumar, F. Launer, H.R. Gamble, and J.P. Dubey. Infection, Genetics, and Evolution. 3:135-141.
4. Tissue distribution and molecular characterization of chicken isolates of Toxoplasma gondii from Peru. 2004. J.P. Dubey, M. Levy, C. Sreekumar, O.C.H. Kwok, S.K. Shen, E. Dahl, P. Thulliez, and T. Lehmann. Journal of Parasitology. 90(5):1015-1018.
5. Biologic and molecular characteristics of Toxoplasma gondii isolates from striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis), Canada goose (Branta canadensis), black-winged lory (Eos cyanogenia), and cats (Felis catus). 2004. J.P. Dubey, P.G. Parnell, C. Sreekumar, M.C. Vianna, R.W. De Young, E. Dahl, and T. Lehmann. Journal of Parasitology. 90(5):1171-4.
6. Toxoplasma gondii infections in cats from Parana, Brazil: Seroprevalence, Tissue Distribution, and Biologic and Genetic Characterization of Isolates. 2004. J.P. Dubey, L.T. Navarro, C. Sreekumar, E. Dahl, R.L. Freire, H.H. Kawabata, M.C. Vianna, O.C.H. Kwok., S.K. Shen, P. Thulliez, and T. Lehmann. Journal of Parasitology. 90(4):721-726.

Research Description:
When cells undergo DNA damage, cell cycle progression is arrested at specific checkpoints to address this damage. Arrested cells can either repair DNA damage or enter apoptosis to eliminate severely damaged cells. Thus, if DNA repair mechanisms are overwhelmed, endogenous cell death is triggered via apoptosis. This “programmed cell death” prevents damaged cells from undergoing replication and perpetuating mutations. Research on exposure to environmental toxicants and consequential genotoxicity has focused primarily on cancer as an endpoint. However, there are several other fundamental endpoints of genotoxicant exposure that have significant effects on human health including: long-term inhibition of cell cycle progression and failure of damaged cells to undergo apoptosis. My research has focused on the induction of these endpoints by butadiene (BD), an important environmental toxicant and known carcinogen, in human lung fibroblasts.
While most studies have shown toxic effects of high dose, prolonged exposure to BD, recent work has demonstrated that even a low dose, acute exposure (100 µg/ml for 1 hr) of human lung fibroblasts to BDO2 results in prolonged cell cycle arrest in G1 and G2 with no increase in cell death (Schmiederer et al., 2005). The lack of apoptosis increases the risk of accumulation of mutations in the cellular genome if a small population of these cells escapes the cell cycle arrest and proliferates. Little research into the mechanisms of cellular responses (cell cycle progression and apoptosis) to BDO2 has been published. Therefore, my research has focused on elucidating the cellular mechanisms involved in apoptosis after acute exposure to BD.

Hometown: Camanche, Iowa
Education
-BA in biology, Wartburg College, Waverly, IA
-MPH in International Health/Infectious Disease, Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Hobbies: Kayaking, fishing, photography, spending time with my four legged boys
Contact: erdahl@utmb.edu

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