Dr. Yauk’s research program aims to develop and apply novel genomic tools to modernize and improve toxicological testing, with an overarching goal to protect health. The program straddles academic and regulatory sciences, encompassing two main thematic areas. The first, toxicogenomics, uses genomic methodologies to characterize and predict toxicological mechanisms and effects. With a focus on high-throughput transcriptomics, Dr. Yauk’s research team explores the toxicity of environmental chemicals and how transcriptomic data can best be used to inform health hazards and risk. The second thematic area, environmental mutagenesis, addresses how chemicals damage DNA and chromosomes to cause mutations. Here, her research group addresses methodological limitations and knowledge gaps in toxicological mutation analysis, with an emphasis on effects to parental genomes and the genetic health of future generations. Her team explores new tools and approaches, with focus on genomic technologies, to discover causes of mutations in gametes and offspring.
Selected publications
- Paternal exposure to benzo(a)pyrene induces genome-wide mutations in mouse offspring. Beal MA, Meier MJ, Williams A, Rowan-Carroll A, Gagné R, Lindsay SJ, Fitzgerald T, Hurles ME, Marchetti F, Yauk CL. Commun Biol. 2019 Jun 20;2:228.
- Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD): A case study applying tiered testing for human health risk assessment. Gannon AM, Moreau M, Farmahin R, Thomas RS, Barton-Maclaren TS, Nong A, Curran I, Yauk CL. Food Chem Toxicol. 2019 Sep;131:110581.
- In Utero Exposure to Benzo[a]Pyrene Increases Mutation Burden in the Soma and Sperm of Adult Mice. Meier MJ, O'Brien JM, Beal MA, Allan B, Yauk CL, Marchetti F. Environ Health Perspect. 2017 Jan;125(1):82-88.
- Recommended approaches in the application of toxicogenomics to derive points of departure for chemical risk assessment. Farmahin R, Williams A, Kuo B, Chepelev NL, Thomas RS, Barton-Maclaren TS, Curran IH, Nong A, Wade MG, Yauk CL. Arch Toxicol. 2017 May;91(5):2045-2065.
- Flow cytometric micronucleus assay and TGx-DDI transcriptomic biomarker analysis of ten genotoxic and non-genotoxic chemicals in human HepaRG™ cells. Buick JK, Williams A, Gagné R, Swartz CD, Recio L, Ferguson SS, Yauk CL. Genes Environ. 2020 Feb 4;42:5.
- A cross-sector call to improve carcinogenicity risk assessment through use of genomic methodologies. Yauk CL, Harrill AH, Ellinger-Ziegelbauer H, van der Laan JW, Moggs J, Froetschl R, Sistare F, Pettit S. Regul Toxicol Pharmacol. 2020 Feb;110:104526.