Kupsco Lab on Environmental Epigenetics and Children's Health

Metals Exposures

diagram showing which metals are linked to adverse health impacts

Figure Reference: Made by A. Kupsco with Biorender

Metals are ubiquitous in the environment and humans are exposed from contaminated drinking water, food, and air. Exposure to toxic metals, such as lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic are linked to a wide array of health effects, such as neurodegeneration, cardiovascular disease, and cancers. Children are particularly sensitive to metals exposures as they are still developing and may not have fully developed defense mechanisms. Metals have a complex biological role due to their essentiality, occurrence in complex mixtures, and interactions with physical-chemical stressors. During my postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University, I explored novel statistical techniques to demonstrate that prenatal essential metals protect against childhood cardio-metabolic risk. I have also investigated the combined effects of prenatal manganese (Mn) and maternal anemia on child mitochondrial function and neurodevelopment, demonstrating that anemia or iron deficiency during pregnancy can increase adverse effects of Mn on neurodevelopment. Ongoing projects will examine metals levels in the placenta in relation to child growth in children from New York City and metals in American Indian communities in the Strong Heart Study.

Sample Publications

Kupsco A, Kioumourtzoglou M-A, Just AC, Amarasiriwardena C, Estrada-Gutierrez G, Cantoral A, Sanders AP, Braun JM, Svensson K, Brennan KJ, Oken E, Wright RO, Baccarelli AA, Téllez-Rojo MM. Prenatal metal concentrations and childhood cardio-metabolic risk using Bayesian Kernel Machine Regression to assess mixture and interaction effects. Epidemiology. 2019 Mar;30(2):263-273. PMCID: PMC6402346

Kupsco, A; Estrada-Gutierrez, G; Cantoral, A; Schnaas, L; Pantic, I; Amarasiriwardena, C; Svensson, K; Bellinger, DC; Téllez-Rojo, MM; Baccarelli, AA; Wright, RO. Modification of the effects of prenatal manganese exposure on child neurodevelopment by maternal anemia and iron deficiency. Ped. Res. 2020 Jan;88:325–333. PMCID: PMC7351595

Kupsco, A; Sanchez-Guerra, M; Amarasiriwardena, C; Brennan, KJM; Estrada-Gutierrez, G; Cantoral, Svensson, K; A; Schnaas, L; Pantic, I; Téllez-Rojo, MM; Baccarelli, AA; Wright, RO. Prenatal manganese and cord blood mitochondrial DNA copy number: Effect modification by maternal anemic status. Environ Int 2019 May;126:484–493. PMCID: PMC6471611