Maria-Pilar Martinez-Moral, PhD
Title
Biomarkers of health effects
Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University at Albany
Education
PhD in Chemistry, Universidad de La Rioja, Spain
Dr. Martinez-Moral’s research focuses on exposomics, aiming to understand how environmental exposures and endogenous biological responses interact to influence health and disease. Her work integrates advanced analytical chemistry with Environmental Health to link external exposures with internal molecular changes and health outcomes.
Her research is organized around three interconnected areas:
- The study of effect biomarkers associated with oxidative and nitrative stress, inflammation, metabolic disruption, and DNA damage that are known to be triggered by the exposure to contaminants and are linked with disease development. These biomarkers are found at trace levels in biospecimens such as urine or blood. The simultaneous determination of multiple markers provides comprehensive information to be linked with different molecular mechanisms.
- The characterization of endogenous defense systems that protect and repair the body, including redox regulation, circadian rhythms, and DNA repair pathways. The monitoring of biomarkers of endogenous defense contributes to understanding how the body reacts and mitigates the effects of the exposures.
- High-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS)-based approaches for comprehensive exposure assessment, to detect and identify known and emerging contaminants, study contamination patterns, or to compare chemical signatures between groups of samples to find discriminating features.
She develops and applies state-of-the-art analytical methods using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and HRMS to quantify trace-level biomarkers using targeted analysis and detect and identify environmental contaminants in biological and environmental matrices using non-targeted and suspect screening strategies. These methods are combined with robust statistical approaches to investigate complex exposure–response relationships in real-world populations.
Beyond exposure characterization, Dr. Martinez-Moral’s research aims to advance the integration of environmental exposures and biological effects to link external exposures with early molecular responses and disease outcomes.
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