IIT Affiliates Succeed at 62nd SOT Meeting in TN

April 17, 2023

Students and faculty of the MSU Insti­tute for Integrative Toxicology were excited to attend and present at this year’s 62nd annual Society of Toxicology (SOT) meeting held in Nashville, TN.

The SOT annual meeting brings together 5,000 plus toxicologists and those working in areas related to toxicology to share the latest science and technology in the field, as well as to make new connections, gather with friends, and engage in mentoring and professional development. This year’s meeting was held from March 19-23, 2023.

The following students affiliated with IIT received recognition:

Giovan Cholico, a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Timothy Zacharewski, received an Honorable Mention from the Hispanic Organization of Toxicologists Special Interest Group for his presentation, “Time-course single-nuclei RNA-seq analysis identifies NRG/ERBB signaling dysregulation in TCDD-induced hepatotoxicity.”

Luca Jolly, an undergraduate student training with Dr. Rita Strakovsky, received the SOT RC4 Undergraduate Travel Award which recognizes exceptional undergraduate members of SOT Regional Chapters who conducted impressive, independent, and toxicology-focused research projects and received outstanding recommendations from their mentors. Luca was one of three awardees and was selected for his abstract, “Age at First Menstrual Cycle Influences Associations of Phthalates/Replacements with Maternal Metabolic Factors in Pregnancy.”

Maria Kloboves, EITS student training with Dr. Rita Strakovsky, co-chaired an SOT Symposium Session in Strakovsky’s place on, “Placenta as a Target of Environmental Exposures: From Bench to Society.”

Ebenezar Okoyeocha, EITS student training with Dr. Neera Tewari-Singh, received two awards from the Ocular Toxicity Specialty Section, the Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Fellow Trainee Support Award  and the 2023 Ocular Toxicology Best Poster Award for his presentation, “Progression of chloropicrin induced ocular injury: clinical and biological effects.”

Karina Orlowska, a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Timothy Zacharewski, received the Molecular and Systems Biology Specialty Section Paper of the Year, for her work, “Dioxin-elicited decrease in cobalamin redirects propionyl-CoA metabolism to the β–oxidation-like pathway, resulting in acrylyl-CoA conjugate buildup.” She also received the first place poster award from the same specialty section for her poster, “Disruption of dioxin response element (DRE)-dependent PKM2 induction compromises antioxidant defenses and increases TCDD-elicited hepatotoxicity.”

Diana Pacyga, EITS student training with Dr. Rita Strakovsky, received the SOT Outstanding Graduate Student Leadership Award for her service to the Michigan Regional Chapter of SOT.

Congratulations to all the IIT-affili­ated SOT award winners this year!