Institution:
About:
Dr. Rager’s research focuses on identifying relationships between exposures to chemical mixtures in the environment and toxicological outcomes. Her research largely encompasses three thematic approaches, all aimed at understanding chemical mixture-disease relationships:
(1) Computational mixtures modeling techniques are implemented to identify and prioritize the most harmful chemicals within environmental mixtures based on high dimensional data analyses.
(2) Mixtures toxicity tests are being developed and employed to better characterize toxicological responses to complex mixtures through the use of in vitro screening methods.
(3) Chemical mixtures analyses are carried out using non-targeted and suspect screening methods to better characterize the breadth of environmental chemicals to which humans are exposed.
Dr. Rager’s ongoing research encompasses various mixture exposure conditions, target organs, and disease outcomes. Exposures include inhalation exposures to atmospheric mixtures, wildfire smoke, and e-cigarette mixtures impacting the respiratory system. Other exposures include drinking water contaminants and natural botanicals, among others, impacting the liver and developmental toxicity outcomes. By combining exposure measures alongside toxicity outcomes, Dr. Rager’s research is placed into the context of chemical risk prioritization and risk assessment, with the ultimate goal of improving chemical safety assessments to better protect public health.
