Pamela Lein, PhD is a neurotoxicologist and developmental neurobiologist who studies the interaction between genes and environment that can lead to a variety of complex disorders from asthma to autism and Alzheimer’s.
Dr. Lein’s work focuses on the way environmental stressors like pesticides and near-roadway exposures—which include car exhaust and particles from tire wear and tear—can both change the structure of nerve cells and disrupt how they communicate with each other and with other tissues throughout the body.
This 2019 EHS Scholar directs her own future at UC DavisBy Jennifer Biddle
Hong Ji, PhD is Associate Professor in Anatomy, Physiology, and Cell Biology at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. Jennifer Biddle interviewed Ji when she became EHSC's 2019 Environmental Health Science Scholar. Learn more about the EHS Scholar program.
Kent Pinkerton, PhD is a Professor of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine and Anatomy, Physiology and Cell Biology in the School of Veterinary Medicine. An expert on air pollution, Dr. Pinkerton researches how vapors, gases, particles and fibers change the way respiratory, cardiovascular and neurological cells develop and function.
Find out about different types of air pollution, what pollution is linked to, how it affects your health and how to avoid it in your home and outdoors.
Asthma is an inflammatory disease of the lung. This inflammatory process can occur along the entire airway from the nose to the lung. Once the airway becomes swollen and inflamed, it becomes narrower, and less air gets through to the lung tissue. This causes symptoms like wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and trouble breathing.
During an asthma attack, the muscles around the airways tighten up and the asthma symptoms become even worse than usual.
