Dr. Christie M. Sayes is a practicing research scientist, consultant, and academician specializing in toxicology, chemistry, material science, and environmental health. She is currently an Associate Professor of Environmental Science at Baylor University located in Waco, Texas. Dr. Sayes has expertise in exposure science and human health effects. Her work involves collaborating with partners, collaborators, and trainees to design studies related to safety-by-design considerations of engineered substances and emerging contaminants in pharmaceutical, agricultural, and consumer products. She is also interested in studying occupational safety and environmental transformations of chemical and particle systems in complex matrices.

OpenTox Virtual Conference 2023

Respiratory health evaluation by leveraging lung surfactant fluid

Abstract: Respiratory health is a critical component of human health.  This physiological system allows gas exchange, activates defense mechanisms, detoxifies bioactive materials, and maintains pH.  When the system is perturbed, the result is diminished lung capacity.  The threshold levels that induce acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and actionable evidence that describes whether the health endpoints are reversible are mainly missing from chemical hazard assessments.  In this talk, I will describe our standardized and systematic method to conduct aerosol-to-lung interaction studies in a stand-alone chamber capable of simulating occupational environments. The interaction studies were performed using two different models: the changes in lung surfactant fluid biophysical properties and perturbations in lung cell/tissue biochemical expressions.