Dr. Lein received her Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo and her MSEH from East Tennessee State University. Before coming to OHSU, Dr. Lein was an Assistant Professor in Toxicological Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The vulnerability of the developing nervous system to environmental factors has become a major concern to the public health community and to environmental advocates within the general public. Much of the existing literature concerning the effects of xenobiotics on the developing nervous system has focused on behavioral alterations with limited effort directed toward the underlying biological processes critical to the formation of the nervous system and their role in altered behavior. This latter information is critical to improving risk assessments, developing sensitive biomarkers of exposure, and designing intervention strategies.

My research program focuses on identifying and characterizing the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate the formation of the developing nervous system and assessing their role as targets for xenobiotics. Two specific questions being pursued in my laboratory are:

• the regulation of dendritic growth by cytokines
  
• the effects of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organophosphate pesticides on neuronal morphogenesis.

To address these issues, we are using in vitro model systems (primary neuronal cultures) and transgenic animals.

In addition to these studies in developmental neurotoxicity, we are collaborating with Dr. Allison Fryer (Physiology and Pharmacology, OHSU) to examine the effects of organophosphate pesticides on asthma using a guinea pig model of airway hyperreactivity.

Recent Publications (Pub Med)