Biography
Research Interests
Increasing evidence supports the hypothesis that human exposure to environmental pollutants may have great impacts on human health. Specifically, it is now postulated that exposure to chemicals collectively named “obesogens” may contribute to the obesity epidemic and metabolic disease. Further, it is recognised that chemicals may be carcinogenic and therefore contribute to the development of cancers in humans.
Research Program
The research conducted in Dr. Atlas’ laboratory comprises two major projects.
- To develop in vitro models to investigate the effects of chemicals on fat cell formation, adipogenesis, and to investigate the effects of these chemicals on the phenotype of the mature fat cells.
- To investigate the carcinogenic effect of chemicals on the mammary gland in 3D models, using mammary epithelial cells.
- Using 3D primary hepatocyte spheroid to investigate hepatic toxicity of chemicals.
Select Publications
- Peshdary V., Calzadilla G., Landry A., Sorisky A. and Ella Atlas. Dechlorane Plus increases adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 and human primary preadipocytes independent of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ transcriptional activity. (2018) Int J Obes (Lond) In Press.
- Peshdary V. and Atlas E. Dexamethasone induced miR-155 up-regulation in differentiating 3T3-L1 preadipocytes does not affect adipogenesis. Sci Rep. 2018 Jan 19;8(1):1264
- Tung EWY, Peshdary V, Gagné R, Rowan-Carroll A, Yauk CL, Boudreau A and Atlas E. Adipogenic Effects and Gene Expression Profiling of Firemaster® 550. Components in Human Primary Preadipocytes. (2017) Environmental Health Perspectives Sep 14;125(9)
- Tung EWY, Ahmed S and Atlas E. Firemaster® 550 and its components isopropylated triphenyl phosphate and triphenyl phosphate enhance adipogenesis and transcriptional activity of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor Pparγ on adipocyte protein 2 (aP2) enhancer region. (2017) PLoS One 12(4):e0175855. doi: 10.137.
- Boucher JG, Ahmed S and Atlas E. Bisphenol S Induces Adipogenesis in Primary Human Preadipocytes From Female Donors. (2016) Endocrinology: 157(4):1397- 407. doi: 10.1210/en.2015-1872.
- Ahmed S and Atlas E. Bisphenol S- and bisphenol A-induced adipogenesis of murine preadipocytes occurs through direct peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma activation. (2016) Int J Obes (Lond) 40(10):1566-1573.
- Boucher JG, Gagné R, Rowan-Carroll A, Boudreau A, Yauk CL and Atlas E. Bisphenol A and Bisphenol S Induce Distinct Transcriptional Profiles in Differentiating Human Primary Preadipocytes. (2016) PLoS One. 29;11(9):e0163318