Health Economic and Financing Group

Current Projects & Future Directions

1. Analyze the influence of exposure to common environmental toxins on normal mammary, colonic or skin epithelial cells and isogenic breast or colon cancer cells harboring common molecular alterations.

2. Analyze the role of epithelial to mesenchymal transition in colon and breast carcinogenesis and identify novel mediators of this phenomenon.

3. Role of p53 & microRNA in apoptosis, epithelial to mesenchymal transition and chemo-resistance.

4. Carcinogenic mechanisms and predisposition to familial and Eastern subsets of colon cancer. This involves international collaboration with Finland and Egypt.

It is widely acknowledged that our environment is becoming increasingly contaminated with man-made chemicals. Mammals, as well as lower organisms, are vulnerable to exposure to these agents through a variety of different sources and routes and there are concerns that they may be having a detrimental effect on ecological and population health.

Endocrine disruptors (EDs) have been described as exogenous agents that interfere with the production, release, transport, metabolism, binding, action or elimination of the natural ligands responsible for maintaining homeostasis and regulating body development. Many different EDs are present in the various compartments of the environment (air, water and land) and in foods (of plant and animal origin). They may originate from food packaging, combustion products, plant health treatments, detergents and the chemical industry in general.

Children obesity is a colossal concern as it  predisposes to various health problems,  which are linked later with adult morbidity  and mortality. Previously, the child obesity  prevention programs were mainly focusing on promoting the physical exercise and  cutting down calories, while it has been proposed recently that endocrine disrupters  such as Phthalate and BPA have a significant role in the drastic increment of  child obesity incidence. Various studies have proved the relation between the levels of urinary phthalates and BPAs to children obesity; however, more validation is required by relating the active forms levels in the serum with the child obesity.