Grants and Fellowships | 2014

54 Post-Doctoral Fellowships The Polybrominated Biphenyl (PBB) Cohort Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are synthetic chemicals, found in a wide variety of consumer products including fabrics, furniture, plastics, computers and other electronics. BFRs may be toxic and show hormonal or anti-hormonal properties in vitro and in wildlife. These chemicals have been associated with adverse health effects in humans, including spontaneous abortions and breast cancer. A unique opportunity to study possible effects of BFR exposure was presented in the mid 1970s, when Michigan residents, as a result of an industrial accident, were exposed to Polybrominated Biphenyl (PBB), a member of the BFR chemical group, through contaminated food. Prior to the Michigan disaster, little was known about the possible human health effects of BFRs. Early studies in exposed residents focused on acute health effects such as liver, immune, and neurological function. Later, as concern grew about the endocrine-disrupting potential of these chemicals, studies focused on reproductive effects. Because PBB can cross the placenta and concentrates in breast milk, children born after the incident were exposed in utero and early infancy, during a critical window in their development. Participants have been followed for 40 years and three generations, enabling, apart from direct exposure-outcome assessment, to study the possible fetal origins of adult disease and multigenerational effects of exposure, including biological mechanisms, epigenetic phenomena and gene-environment interactions. This cohort includes over 4,000 Michigan residents. At this stage the focus is on recruiting study participants from the original PBB cohort, in order to engage them in ongoing studies. This involves having community meetings, working with participants to administer informed consent, complete questionnaires, facilitate specimen collection and anthropometric measurements. All participants are asked to provide a blood sample to measure current PBB blood levels. These studies are assessing several health outcomes, and include three levels of participation. The first level involves completion of a general health questionnaire which includes questions on thyroid dysfunction, neurodegenerative and musculoskeletal disorders and cancer. In level two, participants in reproductive age groups are offered to participate in a reproductive health study, which includes: anthropometric body measurements, height, weight, body fat percentage and digits 2 and 4 ratio, and completing an in-depth questionnaire on reproductive history and gender- specific reproductive health dysfunction, cancers and treatments. The third, more detailed level of participation, involves collection of human specimen (semen and urine in males; three menstrual cycles daily urine in females), which will be analyzed for hormone levels and activity, menstrual function pattern, spermatogenesis and infertility. Analysis of the data will clarify the possible association between level of exposure to PBB and the risk for selected, general and reproductive adverse health outcomes. Fellow Tamar Wainstock Emory University, USA Supervisor Michele Marcus 2013-2015