IIT Wraps Up Spring Seminar Series 2025

The IIT was delighted to once again host the IIT Seminar Series this spring with three exciting seminars including the 4^th Annual Jerry Hook Distinguished Lectureship.

The series began with Dr. Matthew Campen, University of New Mexico, on January 21. He spoke on, “Neuroplastics.” The global burden of plastics waste is progressively degrading into micro- and nanoplastics that have the potential to access the human body and alter health. Campen and his team have used several methods to identify and quantify plastics content of the human body, highlighting a preferential uptake into the human brain that is increasing over time. Campen's presentation provided a new benchmark for the concentrations in the human body and discussed research needs to improve upon this body of knowledge.

On April 15 the IIT hosted Dr. Karina Orlowska, MSU, who spoke on, "Generation and Evaluation of an Inducible Hepatocyte-Specific AhR Knockout Model to Investigate TCDD-Elicited Hepatic Effects." Orlowska is a postdoctoral research associate training with Dr. Timothy Zacharewski and works with the MSU Superfund Research Center. Her research focuses on elucidating the underlying mechanisms of action of environmental contaminants in order to better understand their effect on liver metabolism. 

The 4^th Annual Jerry Hook Distinguished Lectureship was given by Dr. Christopher Bradfield on May 20. Dr. Bradfield spoke on, “Forty Years of Ah Receptor Research: Perspectives from a Scientific Hoarder.” Bradfield is a Professor of Oncology at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he is also a member of the UW Carbone Cancer Center’s Genetics Program and serves as the Director of UW Biotechnology Center. Bradfield’s laboratory is internationally recognized for its pioneering work on the PAS family of sensor proteins, which play crucial roles in environmental sensing and regulation of physiological processes such as xenobiotic metabolism, circadian rhythms, and angiogenesis. His research has significantly advanced understanding of how environmental factors like dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) interact with the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and related pathways to influence cancer risk and other diseases. The Distinguished Lectureship is held annually by the Institute for Integrative Toxicology in memory of Dr. Jerry Hook. Hook was a very well-known and highly respected pharmacologist and toxicologist who was critical in advancing the field of toxicology by helping to drive it from observational to a mechanism-based science. 

The IIT was excited to be able to offer such a diverse array of learning opportunities through the wide variety of seminars this spring. Look for the fall IIT Seminar Series schedule to be announced later this summer!

Photo: Dr. Christopher Bradfield was the 4^th Annual Jerry Hook Distinguished Lectureship speaker shown here with IIT Director Dr. Norbert Kaminski.