Lilia Iakoucheva
University of California-San Diego, CA·Neuroscience
PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are industrial chemicals found throughout the environment and in the blood of wildlife and people. They last a long time, cross the placenta and appear in umbilical cord blood.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Genetics
Pharmacology
- Topics
per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances
perfluoroalkyl acids
environmental toxicology
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Nov 2026
What they work on
- Measure how different doses of PFAS chemicals affect the division, cell cycle and survival of human neural progenitor cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells.
- Identify genes and pathways that change how brain progenitor cells respond to PFAS, using genome-wide CRISPRi/a screens that switch thousands of genes down or up.
- Test whether PFAS exposure alters long-term brain development in human cortical organoids, and identify which cell populations are affected.
More about the research
Studies have linked exposure during pregnancy to problems in children, including early pregnancy loss, low birth weight, smaller head size, hyperactivity and behavior problems. However, it is not known which genes and cell processes PFAS disrupt in the developing human brain.
Why it matters
PFAS chemicals are widespread and cross into the developing fetus, and exposure has been linked to low birth weight, smaller head size and behavior problems. Finding the genes and pathways PFAS disrupt in human brain models could clarify how these chemicals affect brain development. It could also help predict their effects on the developing brain, informing the assessment of risks from prenatal exposure.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Daniel Lim
University of California-San Francisco, CA·Neuroscience
Test whether the brain-specific lncRNA Pnky contains structural modules, such as a pseudoknot (a looped RNA fold), that are needed for its control of neuron production from neural stem cells.
Jennifer Freeman
Purdue University, IN·Neuroscience
Compare the immediate effects of developmental exposure to legacy PFOA and replacement PFAS (PFBA, GenX) on dopamine neurons, using zebrafish and human iPSC-derived dopamine neurons.
Anca Pasca
Stanford University, CA·Neuroscience
Identify when mitochondrial defects first appear during cortical development in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, using advanced microscopy and functional assays in human cortical spheroids (hCS) and in forebrain sections from a mouse model.
The school
University of California-San Diego: 84 labs on PI Pages, $1.9B a year on research, 637 research doctorates a year.
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