Vaia Lida Chatzi
University of Southern California, CA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Environmental chemicals may help explain why obesity, type 2 diabetes, and fatty liver disease are so common. This research focuses on PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), the so-called forever chemicals, along with other pollutants such as toxic metals, pesticides, and plasticizers.
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Genetics
- Topics
per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances
forever chemicals
environmental epidemiology
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Mar 2034
What they work on
- Examine associations of PFAS exposure with omics biomarkers and with obesity, type 2 diabetes, and MASLD (fatty liver disease) in more than 50,000 participants from 18 diverse cohorts.
- Uncover how PFAS disrupt metabolic function using 3D liver tissue cultures and single-cell RNA sequencing, which measures gene activity in individual cells.
- Integrate laboratory and epidemiological data with data science methods to identify omics signatures of PFAS exposure, and co-create prevention strategies with affected communities.
- Examine how multiple environmental pollutants relate to NAFLD risk, progression, and severity in Latino youth, and whether social, behavioral, and genetic factors modify these links.
- Identify multi-omics signatures, spanning genomics, epigenetics, proteomics, metabolomics, and the microbiome, and combine them with exposure and clinical data into precise NAFLD risk profiles.
More about the research
It asks how these exposures disrupt metabolism. Both projects combine large human studies with multi-omics, meaning measurements of many layers of molecules at once: genes, gene activity, proteins, metabolites, and gut microbes. The goal is to find early molecular warning signs of disease.
Why it matters
PFAS are found in the blood of nearly all U.S. residents and may contribute to obesity, diabetes, and liver disease. Finding molecular markers of harmful exposure and risk profiles for childhood fatty liver disease could help target prevention to groups at high risk, such as Latino children. Community-designed interventions could help reduce exposures in affected neighborhoods.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Angela Slitt
University of Rhode Island, RI·Pharmacology
Determine whether albumin controls PFAS distribution among blood and tissues and their elimination half-lives, by comparing PFAS accumulation in albumin-knockout (Alb-/-) and wild-type mice.
Banrida Wahlang
University of Louisville, KY·Pharmacology
Determine how exposure to a mixture of persistent organic pollutants, built to match current human exposure patterns, causes liver and metabolic damage differently in males and females.
Timothy Schroeder
Bennington College, VT·Earth & Environmental Science
Characterize how PFAS ("forever chemicals") spread from contamination sources through groundwater, surface water, soils, vegetation and wildlife at Vermont field research sites.
The school
University of Southern California: 47 labs on PI Pages, $1.3B a year on research, 882 research doctorates a year.
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