Patricia Hunt

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Patricia A. Hunt is Meyer Distinguished Professor in the School of Molecular Bioscience at Washington State University. [1] Her primary research interest lies in human aneuploidy, mammalian germ cells and meiosis. [2] She is best known for showing the adversary effect of Bisphenol A (a common substance in plastics) on the reproductive system of mammalians. [3] In 2018, her team discovered that replacement Bisphenols (BPS, BPF, BPAF, Diphenyl sulfone) also affects reproductive health, and this over generations. [4]

Career

Patricia Hunt did her undergraduate studies at Michigan State University. [1] She graduated in 1983 from the University of Hawaii with a thesis on reproductive biology under the supervision of Patricia Jacobs. She completed a two-year Postdoc with Paul Burgoyne at the MRC Mammalian Development Unit and a one-year Postdoc with Eva Eicher at the Jackson Laboratory. She began her tenure track with a faculty position at Emory University from 1988 to 1992, then moved to Case Western Reserve University.

In 2005, she moved to Washington State University where she is now a Meyer Distinguished Professor in the School of Molecular Biosciences. Her current work centers on the reproductive effects of exposure to chemicals with estrogenic activity. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spermatozoon</span> Motile sperm cell

A spermatozoon is a motile sperm cell, or moving form of the haploid cell that is the male gamete. A spermatozoon joins an ovum to form a zygote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aneuploidy</span> Presence of an abnormal number of chromosomes in a cell

Aneuploidy is the presence of an abnormal number of chromosomes in a cell, for example a human cell having 45 or 47 chromosomes instead of the usual 46. It does not include a difference of one or more complete sets of chromosomes. A cell with any number of complete chromosome sets is called a euploid cell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nondisjunction</span> Failure to separate properly during cell division

Nondisjunction is the failure of homologous chromosomes or sister chromatids to separate properly during cell division (mitosis/meiosis). There are three forms of nondisjunction: failure of a pair of homologous chromosomes to separate in meiosis I, failure of sister chromatids to separate during meiosis II, and failure of sister chromatids to separate during mitosis. Nondisjunction results in daughter cells with abnormal chromosome numbers (aneuploidy).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nalgene</span> Brand of plastic products

Nalgene is a brand of plastic products developed originally for laboratory use, including such items as jars, bottles, test tubes, and Petri dishes, that were shatterproof and lighter than glass. The properties of plastic products make them suitable for work with many substances in various temperature ranges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Endocrine disruptor</span> Chemicals that can interfere with endocrine or hormonal systems

Endocrine disruptors, sometimes also referred to as hormonally active agents, endocrine disrupting chemicals, or endocrine disrupting compounds are chemicals that can interfere with endocrine systems. These disruptions can cause cancerous tumors, birth defects, and other developmental disorders. Found in many household and industrial products, endocrine disruptors "interfere with the synthesis, secretion, transport, binding, action, or elimination of natural hormones in the body that are responsible for development, behavior, fertility, and maintenance of homeostasis ."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bisphenol A</span> Chemical compound used in plastics manufacturing

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical compound primarily used in the manufacturing of various plastics. It is a colourless solid which is soluble in most common organic solvents, but has very poor solubility in water. BPA is produced on an industrial scale by the condensation of phenol and acetone, and has a global production scale which is expected to reach 10 million tonnes in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Dulac</span> French-American biologist

Catherine Dulac is a French-American biologist. She is the Higgins Professor in Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University, where she served as department chair from 2007 to 2013. She is also an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She was born in 1963 in France. She came to the United States for her postdoctoral study in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bisphenol S</span> Chemical compound

Bisphenol S (BPS) is an organic compound with the formula (HOC6H4)2SO2. It has two phenol functional groups on either side of a sulfonyl group. It is commonly used in curing fast-drying epoxy resin adhesives. It is classified as a bisphenol, and a close molecular analog of Bisphenol A (BPA). BPS differentiates from BPA by possessing a sulfone group (SO2) as the central linker of the molecule instead of a dimethylmethylene group (C(CH3)2), which is the case of Bisphenol A.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reproductive toxicity</span> A hazard associated with chemical substances

Reproductive toxicity refers to the potential risk from a given chemical, physical or biologic agent to adversely affect both male and female fertility as well as offspring development. Reproductive toxicants may adversely affect sexual function, ovarian failure, fertility as well as causing developmental toxicity in the offspring. Lowered effective fertility related to reproductive toxicity relates to both male and female effects alike and is reflected in decreased sperm counts, semen quality and ovarian failure. Infertility is medically defined as a failure of a couple to conceive over the course of one year of unprotected intercourse. As many as 20% of couples experience infertility. Among men, oligospermia is defined as a paucity of viable spermatozoa in the semen, whereas azoospermia refers to the complete of absence of viable spermatozoa in the semen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angelika Amon</span> Austrian American academic molecular and cell biologist (1967–2020)

Angelika Amon was an Austrian American molecular and cell biologist, and the Kathleen and Curtis Marble Professor in Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Amon's research centered on how chromosomes are regulated, duplicated, and partitioned in the cell cycle. Amon was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diethard Tautz</span> German biologist and geneticist (born 1957)

Diethard Tautz is a German biologist and geneticist, who is primarily concerned with the molecular basis of the evolution of mammals. Since 2006 he is director at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rong Li</span> American cell biologist (born 1967)

Rong Li is the Director of Mechanobiology Institute, a Singapore Research Center of Excellence, at the National University of Singapore. She is a Distinguished Professor at the National University of Singapore's Department of Biological Sciences and Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Cell Biology and Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Whiting School of Engineering. She previously served as Director of Center for Cell Dynamics in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine’s Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences. She is a leader in understanding cellular asymmetry, division and evolution, and specifically, in how eukaryotic cells establish their distinct morphology and organization in order to carry out their specialized functions.

Magdalena Żernicka-Goetz is a Polish-British developmental biologist. She is Professor of Mammalian Development and Stem Cell Biology in the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience and Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. She also serves as Bren Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering at California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health effects of Bisphenol A</span> Controversy centering on concerns about the biomedical significance of bisphenol A (BPA)

Bisphenol A controversy centers on concerns and debates about the biomedical significance of bisphenol A (BPA), which is a precursor to polymers that are used in some consumer products, including some food containers. The concerns began with the hypothesis that BPA is an endocrine disruptor, i.e. it mimics endocrine hormones and thus has the unintended and possibly far-reaching effects on people in physical contact with the chemical.

Melina Schuh is a German molecular biologist. She is known for her work on meiosis in human egg cells, and for her studies on the mechanisms that lead to Down syndrome.

Keiko Torii is a Japanese plant scientist and academic teaching at the University of Texas at Austin as of September 2019.

Ovum quality is the measure of the ability of an oocyte to achieve successful fertilisation. The quality is determined by the maturity of the oocyte and the cells that it comprises, which are susceptible to various factors which impact quality and thus reproductive success. This is of significance as an embryo's development is more heavily reliant on the oocyte in comparison to the sperm.

Elizabeth Mary Claire Fisher is a British geneticist and Professor at University College London. Her research investigates the degeneration of motor neurons during amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease triggered by Down syndrome.

Nina Wedell is a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. She was appointed as the Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow in 2019. She will investigate the evolutionary dynamics of sexual conflict and insecticide resistance genes at the University of Melbourne. Professor Wedell has pioneered the field of sexual selection, and is best known for her research on female multiple mating, polyandry. Her work has encompassed many insect systems including butterflies, moths, and flies.

Ahna Renee Skop is an American geneticist, artist, and a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is known for her research on the mechanisms underlying asymmetric cell division, particularly the importance of the midbody in this process.

References

  1. 1 2 Hunt, Patricia (October 2012). "Patricia Hunt". Current Biology. 22 (20): R856–R858. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2012.08.010 . PMID   23256202. S2CID   22388678.
  2. 1 2 Faculty page of the Washington State University
  3. Hunt, Patricia A.; Koehler, Kara E.; Susiarjo, Martha; Hodges, Craig A.; Ilagan, Arlene; Voigt, Robert C.; Thomas, Sally; Thomas, Brian F.; Hassold, Terry J. (1 April 2003). "Bisphenol A Exposure Causes Meiotic Aneuploidy in the Female Mouse". Current Biology. 13 (7): 546–553. doi: 10.1016/S0960-9822(03)00189-1 . PMID   12676084. S2CID   10168552.
  4. Horan, Tegan S.; Pulcastro, Hannah; Lawson, Crystal; Gerona, Roy; Martin, Spencer; Gieske, Mary C.; Sartain, Caroline V.; Hunt, Patricia A. (24 September 2018). "Replacement Bisphenols Adversely Affect Mouse Gametogenesis with Consequences for Subsequent Generations". Current Biology. 28 (18): 2948–2954.e3. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.06.070. PMC   6156992 . PMID   30220498.