Duke University Integrated Toxicology & Environmental Health Program

Congratulations to ITEHP alum, Dr. Stacey Adam, who was presented Duke’s 2026 Centennial Distinguished Alumni Award at the PhD Hooding Ceremony on May 9th. Dr. Adam was advised by ITEHP faculty member, Dr. Chris Counter, and earned her PhD in Pharmacology/Molecular Cancer Biology with a Mammalian Toxicology certificate. She is now the Vice President of Science Partnerships at the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health.

You can listen to a conversation between Dr. Adam and Dr. Counter in the 4th episode of the Duke GradCast: A Conversation with 2026 Distinguished Alum Stacey Adam here: https://gradschool.duke.edu/centennial-home/duke-gradcast/episode-4-conversation-2026-distinguished-alum-stacey-adam/

On Friday, June 7th, the Nicholas School of the Environment held its 2026 PhD Graduate Student Recognition Ceremony. The ITEHP was proud to see Drs. Christina Bergemann, Ilaria Merutka, and Emily Green recognized for their doctoral research. Their achievements were highlighted by mentors Joel Meyer, PhD (Bergemann) and Nishad Jayasundara, PhD (Merutka and Green).

We are incredibly proud of all they have accomplished and look forward to seeing the impact they will continue to make in the world of science!

Photo credit: Susan Murray

🎉 Congratulations to Dr. Emily Green! 🎉

On February 12, ITEHP PhD candidate, Emily Green, successfully defended her dissertation—an incredible milestone and the start of an exciting new chapter of her career. We are so proud of you, Dr. Green, and can’t wait to see the impact you’ll make in the field of toxicology!

📣Last call to register!📣

Registration for in person attendance to our Spring 2026 Symposium: NAMs and TAMs (New and Traditional Approaches and Methodologies): The Future of Laboratory-Based Environmental Health and Toxicology Research for Harm Reduction will close on Sunday. We hope to see you there!

Tuesday, May 5, 2026
8:50am-4:30pm
Field Auditorium, Grainger Hall, rm 1112

This symposium will explore how New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) and Traditional Approaches and Methodologies (TAMs) can be integrated to advance environmental health and toxicology research. Speakers will highlight emerging experimental platforms—including organoids, alternative model organisms, high-throughput screening systems, and computational tools—alongside established animal and laboratory models that have historically driven toxicology research. The symposium will focus on how combining these approaches can improve mechanistic understanding of environmental exposures, accelerate chemical risk assessment, and support harm reduction strategies for human and ecological health. By bringing together researchers working across experimental systems and disciplines, the symposium aims to foster dialogue on the future of laboratory-based toxicology in environmental health research.

This event is *FREE* to attend and open to all. Registration is required.
Please visit the symposium webpage to access full details and links for in person and virtual attendance options:https://sites.nicholas.duke.edu/.../spring-2026.../

Join us tomorrow, April 9th, for the final seminar in our spring series!

Beverly deSouza, ITEHP:Pharmacology PhD candidate, Duke University, will present “The Metabolic Regulatory Gene Sirt4 Promotes Mammary Gland Development via its Impact on the Extracellular Matrix” on Thursday, April 9, 12:00-1:00 pm Eastern.
The mammary gland is unique among mammalian organs in that it undergoes profound remodeling postnatally. Despite extensive study of hormonal control of pubertal mammary gland development, we still poorly understand how metabolism influences the restructuring of mammary tissue. In this talk, I will discuss our surprising discovery that female mice lacking the metabolic regulator sirtuin 4 (Sirt4) fail to develop normal mammary ducts during puberty and are unable to nurse their pups. My dissertation research shows that Sirt4 expression is required in mammary fibroblasts to promote normal ductal development. Fibroblasts orchestrate much of the deposition and remodeling of the extracellular matrix – the noncellular component of tissues that includes collagen. Proper ECM structure is necessary to drive proliferation and expansion of mammary ducts into the surrounding fat pad. Similar proliferative and invasive programming are stimulated by aberrant ECM remodeling in the pathological setting of mammary tumors. This work thus can provide new insights into known associations between metabolic disease and breast pathologies like lactation insufficiency and breast cancer.

Thursday, April 9, 2026
12:00-1:00 pm Eastern
Field Auditorium, Grainger Hall
Visit the seminar page to learn more & to get a link to the livestream!
https://sites.nicholas.duke.edu/envhealth/spring-2026-seminar-series/

Join us tomorrow, April 2nd, for the penultimate seminar in our main spring series!

Lina Mu, MD, PhD, University at Buffalo, will present “Impacts of Air Pollution on Vulnerable Populations, and Potential Preventions” on Thursday, April 2nd, 12:00-1:00 pm Eastern.

In this presentation, I will introduce a few of our studies that investigated how air pollution exposure impacted health outcomes among vulnerable populations. The presentation will also discuss a few pathways involved in the biological process of air pollution exposure. We will introduce our explorations on a few approaches to addressing air pollution through inventions and prevention.

Thursday, April 2, 2026
12:00-1:00 pm Eastern
Field Auditorium, Grainger Hall
Visit the seminar page to learn more & to get a link to the livestream!
https://sites.nicholas.duke.edu/envhealth/spring-2026-seminar-series/