EH Seminar on Adverse Health Effects of Airborne Traffic Pollution, Oct. 18.

The next Department of Environmental Health seminar will be held on Friday, October 18 from noon to 1 pm in Room  L210.

“Traffic-related Particulate Complex Mixtures Induce Distinctive Outcomes in the Respiratory and Cardiovascular Systems”

John Godleski 

John Godleski, MD
Department of Environmental Health
Harvard School of Public Health

Summary:

Dr. Godleski will describe the development and use of an in vivo exposure model to study the health impacts of primary and secondary particulate derived exclusively from mixed vehicular traffic. Results will be discussed that demonstrate that relatively low doses of traffic-derived aerosols drawn from a major traffic tunnel produce distinctive and significant respiratory and cardiovascular health effects.

Dr. Godleski’s research focuses upon the pulmonary and systemic responses to inhaled ambient air particles. His studies use cardiac and pulmonary mechanical measurements as well as cell and molecular biologic approaches with inhalation exposure to concentrated ambient air particles. The overall hypothesis is being tested in his laboratory is: Ambient urban air particles are complex mixtures with intrinsic toxicity; particulate exposure results in stimulation of lung receptors, release of reactive oxygen species, and induction of pro-inflammatory mediators that lead to local and systemic effects especially on the cardiovascular system, which ultimately account for epidemiologic associations between adverse health effects and particulate air pollution.