Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

Amphibian wildlife are sentinels of our environment and are used as indicators of ecosystem health. Due to their distinctive life history, they transition from aquatic to terrestrial environments and are particularly vulnerable to pollutants. Currently, the available impact assessment tools rely upon acute toxicological endpoints such as mortality. However, exposure to sublethal concentrations of deleterious substances at critical life stages can severely impact species survival. The short term objective of this project is to develop sensitive indicators for the determination of disruption of a critical life stage (metamorphosis) of a native frog species based upon transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic analyses of target tissues in vivo and in vitro. In this study, we focus upon the effects of one of the most extensively-used nanoparticles, nanosilver, whose environmental impact via intentional and unintentional release is unknown. Synergistic effects of nanosilver with emerging chemicals of concern and municipal wastewater will also be evaluated to identify cellular processes that are most vulnerable. These studies set the foundation for the long term objective of developing better predictive and diagnostic tools for aquatic environmental protection.