A significant conceptual change has occurred in recent years in relation to how we think about health and diseases, the role the environment plays in disease etiology, and how best to assess human exposure to environmental pollutants and dietary chemicals.

Biomonitoring

Research in the Kannan Laboratory harnesses the power of biomonitoring, a powerful approach assessing human exposure to toxic substances or their metabolites in human body fluids or tissues, to understand environmental sources, pathways, distribution, dynamics and the fate of chemical pollutants. This understanding is crucial if we are to devise solutions to current and future environmental problems.

Exposome

Advances in analytical chemistry and toxicology have made it possible to discern biomarkers of exposure and health effects, which has led to the concept of ‘exposome’. Exposome studies measurements of exposures from our environment, diet, lifestyles, and our behaviors. It also encompasses how our bodies respond to various challenges. When coupled with advances in genetics and medicine, we believe the exposome will help elucidate environmental causes of disease and lead to improved strategies for preventing and treating diseases. Our current research projects are focused in the field of exposomics.

We are developing novel analytical methods to detect organic chemicals in human and environmental specimens to assess sources and pathways of exposure, and developing biomarkers of exposures.

Current research projects include biomonitoring of persistent organic compounds, endocrine disruptors, and other emerging environmental chemicals to assess and characterize human exposure pathways, and to allow for evaluation of their associations with health outcomes in populations.

Program Updates

Kurunthachalam Kannan, Ph.D.

The Wadsworth Center Develops and Validates a New Method for the Analysis of Drugs in Urine from Overdose Patients

Fatal drug poisoning (“overdose”) is a growing public health crisis in the United States. According to the United States National Vital Statistics System, 105,007 drug overdose deaths occurred in 2023. Whereas opioids (including prescription opioids, heroin, fentanyl and analogs) were the leading cause of overdose deaths, the pharmacological composition of drugs has evolved into a “polysubstance death” crisis.  
Kurunthachalam Kannan, Ph.D.

Wadsworth Center Staff to Serve on the Association of Public Health Laboratories’ Overdose Biosurveillance Task Force

Dr. Kurunthachalam Kannan from the Division of Environmental Health Sciences (DEHS) at the Wadsworth Center, has been invited to serve on the Overdose Biosurveillance Task Force (OBTF), an advisory group charged by the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) Board of Directors to provide subject matter expertise and input into the creation, dissemination, and promotion of resources for public health laboratories developing and conducting overdose biosurveillance programs in response to the evolving overdose epidemic. 
Kurunthachalam Kannan, Ph.D.

The Wadsworth Center’s Division of Environmental Health Sciences’ novel research paper links poor semen quality to pesticide exposure

Approximately half of all cases of reported infertility in the United States involve malefactor, which is commonly diagnosed via standardized analysis of semen quality parameters that include sperm concentration, motility, and morphology.  
Print