UA SRP Investigators Give Lectures at Autonomous University of Coahuila

University of Arizona Superfund Research Program (UA SRP) investigators Dr. Clark Lantz and Dr. Walt Klimecki were invited to speak to graduate students at the Autonomous University of Coahuila (UAC) in Torreón, Coahuila, Mexico in March. Dr. Lantz presented a lecture on “Pulmonary Toxicology of Arsenic,” and Dr. Klimecki spoke on “Arsenic-Induced Autophagy.”  In addition, UA SRP trainee Paulina Gomez-Rubio, a graduate student in Dr. Klimecki’s lab, gave a demonstration on how to perform single-nucleotide polymorphism analysis.

The recent visit builds on four years of successful collaborations with Dr. Rogelio Recio Vega, a member of the college of medicine at UAC and a collaborative researcher with the Dean Carter Binational Center for Environmental Health Sciences. In addition to the lectures, Drs. Lantz and Klimecki continued discussions about scientific collaborations with Dr. Recio Vega. Following up on Dr. Lantz’s findings of arsenic-induced toxicity in young mice, the researchers are interested in measuring the pulmonary function of children who may have been exposed to arsenic, to determine whether the laboratory findings translate to the human population. Such collaborations between UA SRP investigators and our Mexican colleagues continue to strengthen our Superfund Research Program and the Dean Carter Binational Center for Environmental Health Sciences.