From Cells to Solutions: Emerging Tools for Studying Health and Disease — Session III

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Superfund Research Program (SRP) is hosting a Risk e-Learning webinar series focused on the use of innovative, human-relevant technologies to better characterize the biological effects of chemicals.

New technologies, including advanced cell-based assays, organoids, and computational modeling approaches, are expanding the toolbox researchers use to answer previously difficult or unanswerable questions. Presenters will discuss how these emerging methodologies are being applied to uncover mechanistic insights, improve predictive accuracy for human health outcomes, and refine risk assessment frameworks.

The third and final session, titled Innovative Methods for Understanding Chemical Toxicity, will feature three speakers discussing innovative approaches to understanding the dose at which chemicals trigger biological responses and the mechanisms behind them. Speakers include:

• Ana Maretti Garcia, Ph.D., University of Southern California
• Guru Ulaganathan, Duke University
• Weihseuh A. Chiu, Ph.D., Texas A&M University

Ana Maretti Garcia, Ph.D., University of Southern California (marettim@usc.edu)
Ana Maretti Garcia, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Research Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. Her research focuses on uncovering how the immune system contributes to the progression of chronic liver diseases. She specializes in advanced transcriptomic analyses and real-time cellular behavior assays, leveraging these technologies to explore the molecular and cellular mechanisms driving liver dysfunction. She has developed an innovative in vitro model for MASLD using 3D human liver spheroids, integrating single-cell transcriptomics and epigenetics to investigate how environmental pollutants like PFAS influence the progression of MASLD and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In addition to environmental factors, she is also exploring the role of dietary factors, such as cholesterol and sugar, in the onset of MASLD, aiming to uncover new strategies for prevention and treatment.

Guru Ulaganathan, Duke University (guru.ulaganathan@duke.edu)
Guru Ulaganathan is a trainee in the Integrated Toxicology and Environmental Health Program at Duke University. He earned his B.S. in Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2023. As an undergraduate, his research centered around using C. elegans as a model to study chemical reprotoxicity. At Duke, he is focused on studying the effects of heavy metals and cannabinoids on developmental neurotoxicity.

Weihsueh A. Chiu, Ph.D., Texas A&M University (wchiu@cvm.tamu.edu)
Weihsueh A. Chiu, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology at Texas A&M University. Before joining the university in 2015, he worked at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for more than 14 years, most recently as Chief of the Toxicity Pathways Branch in the Office or Research and Development. His research in human health risk assessment includes toxicokinetics, physiologically-based pharmacokinetic modeling, dose-response assessment, characterizing uncertainty/variability, systematic review, and meta-analysis, with particular interest in Bayesian and probabilistic methods. He is author/co-author of over 150 peer-reviewed journal publications, many governmental and international agency reports, and several book chapters.

Moderator:

Jean Balent, U.S. EPA Technology Innovation and Field Services Division (balent.jean@epa.gov or 202-566-0832)
Ms Balent is on the staff of the EPA's Technology Innovation and Field Services Division where she has worked to collect and disseminate hazardous waste remediation and characterization information since 2003. Ms Balent manages the Clean Up Information Network website and actively supports online communication and collaboration resources available to EPA. She formerly worked with the US Army Corps of Engineers Environmental Engineering Division in the Buffalo District. Ms Balent was also a member of the SUNY-Buffalo Groundwater Research Group where she constructed and tested large scale models of groundwater flow. Ms Balent has also conducted research relating to the Great Lakes, environmental remediation, and brownfields re-development. She holds a Bachelor's degree in environmental engineering from SUNY-Buffalo and a Master's degree in Information Technology from AIU.

• These materials will be available by Monday, November 10, 2025

Webinar Slides and References:

• These materials will be available by Monday, November 10, 2025

Additional Resources:

• These materials will be available by Monday, November 10, 2025

The feedback form for this webinar will be available starting on Monday, November 10, 2025.

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It is EPA's policy to make reasonable accommodation to persons with disabilities wishing to participate in the agency's programs and activities, pursuant to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. 791. Any request for accommodation should be made to Mali Velasco at 919-794-4708 or mali.velascodelgado@nih.gov, preferably one week or more in advance of the webinar, so that EPA will have sufficient time to process the request. EPA would welcome specific recommendations from requestors specifying the nature or type of accommodation needed. EPA welcomes specific recommendations from requestors specifying the nature or type of accommodation needed. Please note that CLU-IN provides both alternate phone call-in options and closed captioning for all webinars, and requests for these specific accommodations are not necessary.

Rehabilitation Act Notice for Reasonable Accommodation

It is EPA's policy to make reasonable accommodation to persons with disabilities wishing to participate in the agency's programs and activities, pursuant to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. 791. Any request for accommodation should be made to Mali Velasco at 919-794-4708 or mali.velascodelgado@nih.gov, preferably one week or more in advance of the webinar, so that EPA will have sufficient time to process the request. EPA would welcome specific recommendations from requestors specifying the nature or type of accommodation needed. EPA welcomes specific recommendations from requestors specifying the nature or type of accommodation needed. Please note that CLU-IN provides both alternate phone call-in options and closed captioning for all webinars, and requests for these specific accommodations are not necessary.

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