Past Research
Pre-doctoral Research
During my undergraduate research at the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany, I
studied metabolic decomposition of pyrene by the green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardii.
The effects of different stress factors, such as light, pH, oxygen depletion and others on the
decomposition kinetics were examined. This experience got me interested in environmental
toxicology and carcinogen metabolism. To learn how chemicals exhibit their toxic and
carcinogenic effects, I joined Dr. Bartsch at the German Cancer Research Center for a
master’s thesis project. It was shown that nose-only inhalation of cadmium sulfate is
mutagenic in rat lung, the most susceptible species and tissue, but not in mouse lung or
liver.