Carole Yauk

Education

BSc  McMaster University, 1993
Ph.D. McMaster University, 1999

 Current Research

The government of Canada is responsible for the evaluation of potential human health effects for all chemicals in commerce in Canada. Over 20,000 chemicals are on Health Canada’s domestic substance list, and new methods are urgently needed to rapidly and effectively evaluate their toxicity.  Research in my laboratory centres on the development and application of novel genomic approaches for regulatory toxicology and human health risk assessment. Within this broad theme, we are using DNA microarrays to study gene and microRNA expression following exposure to chemicals. These data are used to identify pathways linked to specific toxicity outcomes, with the overall goal of developing a means to apply genomics profiles in regulatory risk assessment, and identify novel biomarkers of exposure and effect. Other research in my group focuses on the impact of exposure to toxic chemicals on gametes (sperm and egg) and on brain and liver during development (effects on the next generation). This work explores the effects of chemicals on germline DNA mutation and epigenetic changes that persist for multiple generations.  

Selected Publications

1. Dong, H., Paquette, M., Williams, A.,Zoeller, R.T., Wade, M.,Yauk, C. (2010) Thyroid Hormone May Regulate mRNA Abundance in Liver by acting on microRNAs. PLos ONE, 5(8):e12136.
2. Singer, T.M., and Yauk, C.L. (2010) Germ Cell Mutagens: Risk assessment challenges in the 21^st century. Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis 1(8-9):919-28.
3. Yauk, C.L., Jackson, K., Malowany, M. and Williams, A. (2010) Lack of change in microRNA expression in adult mouse liver following treatment with benzo(a)pyrene despite robust mRNA transcriptional response. Mutation Research [Epub ahead of Print]
4. Dong, H., Yauk, C.L., Rowan-Carroll, A., You, S., Zoeller, R.T., Wade, M.G. (2009) Identification of thyroid hormone receptor binding sites and target genes with ChIP-on-chip in the developing mouse cerebellum. PLOS ONE 4(2):e4610.
5. Yauk, C.L., Polyzos, A., Rowan-Carroll, A., Somers, C.M., Godschalk, F., VanSchooten, F., Berndt, L., Pogribny, I., Kortubash, I., Williams, A., Douglas, G.R., Kovalchuk, O. (2008) Germline Mutations, DNA Damage and Epigenetic Modifications in Response to Exposure to Particulate Air Pollution in an Industrial Location. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 105(2):605-10.