Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: Hazards and Opportunities (ECHO)

Course Description

Many chemicals used in agricultural, industrial and consumer products can interfere with hormonally-regulated events, including development, reproduction, metabolism, and behavior.  Exposures to these endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) induce numerous adverse effects in animal models, many with effects on subsequent  generations. Increasing evidence of human harm, including multi-generational effects, has been accumulating steadily. 

Expertise across a wide range of disciplines is required to understand the biological, ecological, and societal impacts of EDCs and develop strategies for mitigating effects. The field is subject to intense interest and scrutiny by the media, regulatory agencies, industry, and consumer groups.

ECHO is a two-week intensive bootcamp-style career development course for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and professionals in the field. The course combines lectures, labs and data analysis, discussions and communications training to heighten inter-disciplinary understanding, advance professional skills, and enhance knowledge of chemical regulation.

ECHO builds professional inter-disciplinary networks and fosters deeper understanding of key questions, state-of-the-art approaches, and intersecting needs of the biologists from many sub-disciplines, chemists, public health researchers, epidemiologists, clinicians, industry, and federal regulatory agencies involved in the field.

Topics include:

• Current approaches and methodologies in the design of EDC studies
• Limitations inherent in determining levels of exposure to EDCs
• Assessment of environmental and biological impacts
• Factors that influence regulatory decisions
• Communication and media training

Participants will give formal presentations showcasing their own research at their home institutions in a mini-symposium.

Faculty: Patricia Hunt & Joan Ruderman (co-directors), Laura Vandenberg, Martha Susiarjo, Heather Patisaul, Terry Collins, Scott Belcher, Jodi Flaws, Rita Strakovsky, Roy Gerona, Monica Colaiacovo, Chris Kassotis, Karen Echeverri, Amy Kostant, Genoa Warner, Maricel Maffini, and Patrice Delaney.