NRS Webinar-Pollution and Airway Diseases

Dr. Ulrike Gehring

“Air pollution and respiratory health from childhood to adulthood – The PIAMA birth cohort study"

Dr. Alex Remels

“Toxicity of micro- and nanoplastics in human bronchial- and alveolar epithelial cells”

Dr. Ulrike Gehring is an Associate Professor at the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Ulrike is also the current chair of the Environment and Health Committee of the European Respiratory Society and an associate member of the European chapter of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology. The aim of her research is to understand the influence of environmental risk factors on health throughout life. A special focus of her work is investigating the long-term effects of ambient air pollution on children’s respiratory health. As a co-principal Investigator, Ulrike leads the Dutch PIAMA (Prevention and Incidence of Asthma and Mite Allergy) birth cohort study. She has been involved in many international research collaborations.

Dr. Alexander Remels is an Assistant Professor Inhalation Toxicology at the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology at Maastricht University. His group investigates the potential detrimental impact of airborne substances (particles as well as chemicals) on the health of the epithelial cells that make up the lining of the human airways and lungs. Airborne toxicants of interest include, for example, (components of) cigarette smoke and emissions from novel tobacco products (including nicotine) but also micro- and nanoplastics. To address this, his group deploys a variety of advanced in vitro systems representative for the epithelial cells that make up the human airways and lungs. These include cell lines of bronchial- and alveolar epithelial cells as well as human primary bronchial epithelial cells (PBECs) cultured and exposed at the Air-Liquid Interface. Read-outs include cytotoxicity, inflammation, redox status and mitochondrial health and molecular mechanisms (signaling pathways) that control these processes.