Karilyn E. Sant
- Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Veterinary Medicine
- Life Science
- 1355 Bogue St Room B205
- East Lansing MI 48824
- santkari@msu.edu
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Dr. Kari Sant is an environmental toxicologist who specializes in the health consequences resulting from developmental exposures to emerging and common water pollutants. Most of her research has examined how exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) affect embryonic and juvenile development and predispose to metabolic diseases such as diabetes, exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, and obesity later in life. Her work has demonstrated that the developing pancreas, which produces digestive enzymes and hormones such as insulin, is a sensitive target for chemical exposures during the embryonic and fetal periods and that these changes may persist throughout childhood. She uses the zebrafish model to investigate how these emerging contaminants influence both human and aquatic reproduction and health throughout the lifespan.
With her background in public health, Dr. Sant also has a number of interdisciplinary, collaborative projects investigating the toxicity of water pollutants within communities. Her research program studies contaminants as diverse as pesticides, industrial runoff, sewage, and beyond—often for compounds that have little to no toxicity data available. With community partners, chemists, engineers, veterinarians, and other collaborators, Dr. Sant helps to assess what the consequences of these unknown or unpredictable exposures may be on local wildlife and human health. Current projects include investigations of microplastics, tire wear particles, boundary water contamination at the U.S-Mexico border, runoff from cannabis and conventional crop facilities, heated tobacco products and electronic cigarettes, and emerging pollutants found in dumpsites off the coast.
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
University of Michigan, B.S., 2008, Biology; Program in the Environment
University of Michigan, M.P.H., 2010, Environmental Health Sciences
University of Michigan, Ph.D., 2014, Toxicology
AFFILIATED WEBSITES
PUBLICATIONS
Dr. Sant’s Google Scholar profile