The molecular mechanism(s) of lead poisoning

SOCED 10

Hilary Arnold Godwin, hgodwin@ucla.edu, Environmental Health Sciences Department, School of Public Health, UCLA, 66-062B CHS, BOX 951772, Los Angeles, CA 90095
Lead poisoning affects over 300,000 children each year in the United States alone and is a pressing problem worldwide, particularly in developing countries. Despite this, the molecular basis for lead's toxicity has not been widely investigated until recently. We have taken a two-pronged approach to this problem: (1) we have studied the fundamental aqueous chemistry and biochemistry of lead and (2) we have studied the toxicogenomics and toxicoproteomics of lead using the model organism S. cerevisiae. These studies are built on a strong foundation of chemistry and provide important insights both into how lead poisoning should be treated clinically and into patterns of lead poisoning that have been observed epidemiologically.