Molecular Biomarkers
Figure Reference: Wu, H., Eckhardt, C.M. & Baccarelli, A.A. Molecular mechanisms of environmental exposures and human disease. Nat Rev Genet 24, 332–344 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-022-00569-3
Molecular biomarkers are biological signals that can be measured objectively to represent normal biology, disease, or stress responses. Biomarkers can serve many clinical or observational purposes, including exposure, diagnosis, prognosis, susceptibility, biomonitoring, or prediction. In environmental health research, we can also use biomarkers to understand the biological response to the environment and the development of disease. Our lab extends traditional biomarkers by integrating our understanding of molecular biology with human population studies to identify molecular and cellular signals in easily accessible biospecimen that may reflect a biological response to exposures. We investigate extracellular vesicles, epigenetics, mitochondria and epitranscriptomics as molecular biomarkers in environmental health studies to improve our ability to diagnose and predict environmental disease.