Séminaire scientifique organisé par l'Institut de recherche en santé publique de l'Université de Montréal – IRSPUM
Résumé :
Ten years ago, while a great deal of genetic research on autism had been conducted, very few clues were available about environmental factors. In the last decade, the field has generated a steady stream of studies and some patterns are emerging. Chemicals in air, water, food and household products as well as medications, nutritional factors, and maternal physiologic states have been subjects of rigorous research. This presentation will focus on what has been learned, covering both risk and protective exposures: maternal nutrition, maternal prenatal/perinatal morbidity, pesticides and other environmental exposures. Mechanisms are also being explored with the literature suggesting roles for chronic neuroinflammation, early life epigenetic changes, gene-by-environment interaction, and metabolic dysregulation affecting organs beyond the central nervous system. Significance of this work lies in the discovery of potential targets for intervention to prevent, or to reduce severity of, autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders.
Conférencière :
As an environmental epidemiologist with over 300 scientific publications, Dr. Irva Hertz-Picciotto has devoted her career to understanding environmental exposures, including chemicals, pollutants, nutrition, and social factors, their interactions with genes, and their effects on pregnancy, the newborn, and early child development. She has also contributed to the literature on epidemiologic methods, particularly for studies of pregnancy outcomes. Currently she directs the UC Davis Environmental Health Sciences Core Center that brings together about 30 faculty from six Schools and Colleges. Her professional accomplishments include having chaired several National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine Panels on health outcomes from environmental chemicals, and serving on numerous advisory panels for the U.S. EPA, National Toxicology Program, International Life Sciences Institute, and several California agencies, such as the Air Resources Board, and the Proposition 65 Committee on Carcinogens. Dr. Hertz-Picciotto also has held positions as President of the Society for Epidemiologic Research, and President of the International Society of Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE), and as member of editorial boards for Epidemiology, American Journal of Epidemiology, Environmental Health Perspectives, Autism Research, and Environment International. In 2011, she received the ISEE’s Goldsmith Award for Sustained and Outstanding Contributions to Environmental Epidemiology.
Animation :
Marc-André Verner, professeur adjoint à l'École de santé publique de l'Université de Montréal et chercheur régulier à l'IRSPUM.
