Technologies
Our laboratory has developed untargeted assays for a broad range of biological matrices to characterize and interrogate the exposome across the lifecourse.
blood, urine, and saliva assays
Our laboratory uses high-throughput untargeted assays using liquid chromatography (LC) - and gas chromatography (GC) - high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) for analysis of plasma, serum, urine, and salivas. Our laboratory is one of the NIH Untargeted HHEAR Resources, collaborating with researchers to identify environmental exposures and metabolites linked with disease initiation and progression.
archived newborn dried blood spots
We have pioneered technology to use archived newborn dried blood spots (DBS) stored from neonatal screening to perform exposomics research. From a single 5-mm punch of a dried blood spot, we can measure thousands of endogenous metabolites (fatty acids, steroids, bile acids, amino acids, phospholipids) and exogenous chemicals (perfluoralkyl substances, phthalate metabolites, caffeine, cotinine). This profile is a snapshot of circulating neonatal exposures at the time of birth facilitating etiological studies of rare pediatric diseases.
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blood microsamplers
Dried blood microsampling collects a quantitative volume of blood from a finger or foot prick. These are minimally invasive technologies that enable us to perform exposome research on susceptible populations. These can be collected at home and mailed-in, from infants and young children, from those in late adulthood or low-resource settings that can’t easily get to clinics or facilities. Microsamplers are ideal technologies for exposome research both for surveillance and to understand the role of environment on prognosis for personalized medicine strategies.
wristbands
Do you know what you're exposed to when you walk down the street, bike in the park, sit in the classroom, play in the sandbox, or work in your home office? We use simple and inexpensive silicon wristbands as personal exposure monitors for kids and adults. After just 7 days of continuous wear, we can measure >70 chemicals from a single wristband. These non-invasive collection devices can also be placed in the home or office as a passive indoor sampler.
teeth
In collaboration with investigators at Mount Sinai, we have developed untargeted assays that enable exposome profiling of naturally shed deciduous or "milk" teeth with temporal resolution. Instead of relying on maternal measures during pregnancy that may not accurately reflect fetal exposures, we use a single shed tooth to directly measure exposures trapped inside its layers. These represent exposures from the second- and third-trimesters of gestation, as well as the first years of life.
novel tissues
We profile the tissue-specific micro-environment in adipose, myometrium, amniotic fluid, and more, to identify the most relevant chemical and metabolite markers of the disease or disorder of interest.