WDTN: Wright State 1 of 6 universities in nation to receive Toxic Exposures Research grant

Wright State University’s Boonshoft School of Medicine is trying to find out why people have different responses to exposures like burn pits or other military-relevant chemicals.

The school has received federal funds to make this research project possible — a $643,000 grant from the Toxic Exposures Research Program. It is only one of six schools in the country to be given this grant.

The groundbreaking study will identify key components, which differ between people and might trigger diverse molecular responses to the same chemical exposures.

Both Courtney Sulentic, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology and toxicology in the Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine, and her collaborator, Camilla Mauzy, Ph.D., at the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, were awarded the funding.

“We’re looking for this data to provide insight into individual sensitivity, based on gender and stress levels, to outcomes from different military-relevant environmental exposures,” said Sulentic in a release.

The Toxic Exposures Research Program exists because of a Congressional directive to provide better healthcare for veterans and actively enlisted people who have been exposed to these chemicals.

“There’s been a push in the military to do more research on health impacts on women in the military, as well as to understand why certain individuals get sick with specific exposures while others with the same approximate dose levels do not,” said Sulentic.

The study will feature a line of modified cells to reflect different human gene sequences. These cells will given estrogen or testosterone and cortisol to represent both hormonal and stress changes; then they’ll be exposed to a range of military-relevant chemicals.

“The endgame is to have a far more accurate and sensitive model to evaluate and predict exposure outcomes on an individual basis,” Sulentic said. “Identification of individual risk could be used to adjust work duties or require additional protective measures to lower risk in sensitive individuals.”

Read the story at wdtn.com.