Oct 28, 2022: Can the environment change the epigenome? Roles for transcription factors as mediators of toxicant exposure

Seminar speaker, Dr. Elizabeth Martin, standing outside, smiling, and wearing a pink toip

Elizabeth M Martin, PhD

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)

She / Her / Hers

Research Summary

Currently, environmental epigenetic research focuses on biomarker researcher with limited focus on mechanisms by which toxicants can change the epigenome in the context of human populations. The Epigenetic Response to Environmental Exposure Group is seeking to close this gap by describing epigenetic reprogramming induced by ligand dependent transcription factor binding and determining how this changes in the context of non-endogenous ligands (i.e. toxicant exposure) during susceptible windows of exposure such as pregnancy. The goal of this research is to understand causal epigenetic mechanisms that drive the relationship between environmental toxicant exposure and disease risk.

About the Speaker: Martin received her Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Engineering in 2017 from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill under the direction of Rebecca Fry, Ph.D. Afterward, she became a postdoctoral researcher in the UNC Curriculum in Toxicology under the direction Shaun McCullough, Ph.D. Martin then joined the NIEHS Eukaryotic Transcriptional Regulation Group, headed by Deputy Chief of the Epigenetics and Stem Cell Biology Laboratory Paul Wade, Ph.D., in 2018. As an NIEHS trainee, she applied for and received a Postdoctoral Research Associate Training (PRAT) Program fellowship sponsored by the National Institute of General Medicine (NIGMS) in 2019. Martin was subsequently awarded a position in the NIEHS Independent Research Scholars (IRS) program in 2021 that has allowed her to lead the Epigenetic Responses to Environmental Exposure Group.


Friday, October 28, 2022, 12:00-1:15 pm Eastern

NEW LOCATION: Love Auditorium, Levine Science Research Center B Room 101 (LSRC B 101) (308 Research Dr, Durham, NC)

Masks are now optional for in-person attendees. Please stay home if you aren’t feeling well – you may attend via Zoom instead (see below).

This seminar will also be presented live via Zoom.

Register HERE to receive a Zoom link for our entire Fall 2022 seminar series!

You only need to register ONCE to receive the link for our entire Fall series


Return to the Fall 2022 Seminar Series main page