PFAS

Per- and Poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are toxic polyfluorinated chemicals. Their strong Carbon-Fluorine bond helps prevent them from degrading over time, giving them the name “forever chemicals”. There are more than 15,000 different types of PFAS that are found worldwide. They are present in many of our every-day items including clothes, kitchen appliances, drinking water, and food. Some of the health risks that arise from PFAS exposure are thyroid disease, breast, kidney, and testicular cancer, neurotoxicity, and liver damage. Due to their wide range of uses, high toxicity, and persistency, they are important to study in biological systems to better understand how they impact the human body. Currently, we are investigating the impact these chemicals have on individual proteins such as Hsp60 and Hsp10, as well as in vivo.