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91��Ƶר�� College Graduate School alum Emma Bowers recently presented a talk and poster at the prestigious Gordon Research Conference on Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Toxicity. Now a doctoral student in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Curriculum in Toxicology (CiT) program, Emma earned her master’s in Environmental Biology from 91��Ƶר�� in 2012. She presented her doctoral research on the proinflammatory adaptive response to ozone and the differences in inflammatory response between acute and chronic exposures in a poster titled “Modeling ozone adaption in vitro: Inter-individual variation and epigenetic contributions.”

Emma has tailored her research toward filling a perceived knowledge gap in epigenetics: “I am working to build a model for the role of the epigenome in the susceptibility to the adverse effects of air pollution exposure. Once we identify crucial markers associated with susceptibility, we can then collaborate with scientists in other fields . . . to identify risk factors and susceptible populations.”

Her advisor at UNC-Chapel Hill says that Emma’s research will have broad implications in epigenetics and environmental research methodology: “Her work is going to be extremely informative in both understanding how we will respond chronically to pollutants and also understanding who is susceptible and how we can identify these people.”

Published with permission from EPA’s Office of Research and Development’s (ORD) National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL. Author: Tess Liebersohn, contracted writer for NHEERL/ORD. Photo courtesy of UNC.