Rodney R. Dietert
Dr. Dietert is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology
having been associated with the department since 1991. He received the
BS degree in Zoology from Duke University in 1974 and his PhD from University
of Texas at Austin in 1977. Dr. Dietert has been Director of Graduate
Studies for the Graduate Field of Immunology, Senior Fellow in the Center
for the Environment, Director of the Institute for Comparative and Environmental
Toxicology and Director of the Program on Breast Cancer and Environmental
Risk Factors in the College's Sprecher Institute for Comparative
Cancer Research. His research on immunotoxicology has been supported by
the NSF, the USDA, the NIH and industry.
Research Interests
| Graduate Fields | Lab
Members | Related Links | Selected
References
Research Interests
My research area is developmental immunotoxicology with an emphasis
on children's health protection. Studies are focused on the capacity
of drugs, environmental chemicals, and dietary factors to produce persistent
immunotoxicologic responses in juvenile and adult offspring following
early life exposure. Developmental and age-related rodent models are used
to examine the differential risk associated with age of exposure and the
identification of critical windows of increased immune susceptibility
to toxicants. The development, validation and use of immune biomarkers
for health prediction are also a research concern. While this research
is focused on human health protection, a portion of the effort contributes
to enhanced health of agricultural species. For the latter, we employ
avian models of relevance to the poultry industry. Improved immune assessment
and environmental management of agricultural animals is facilitated via
this research.
Graduate Fields
Dr. Dietert is a member of the following Graduate Fields:
Comparative Biomedical Sciences
Environmental Toxicology
Immunology
Lab Members
Related Links
Selected References
Luebke R., D. Chen, R. Dietert, M. King, Y. Yang and M. Luster. (2006).
The comparative immunotoxicity of five selected compounds following developmental
or adult exposure. J
Toxicol. Environ. Health Part B 9(1): 1-26.
Selgrade, M-J.K., R.F. Lemanske, D.N. Weissman, M. Ian Gilmour, L.M.
Neas, C. Pteroski, M.D.W. Ward, P.K. Henneberger, J.A. Hoppin, R.R. Dietert,
P.D. Sly, A.M. Geller, P. L. Enright, S.R. Kleeberger, G. Backus, P. A.
Bromberg, D. Germolec, and K.B. Yeatts. (2006). .Induction of asthma and
the environment: what we know and need to know. Environ.
Health Perspect. 14:615-619.
Dietert, R.R. and M.S. Piepenbrink. (2006). Lead and immune function.
Crit.
Rev. Toxicol. 36:359-385.
Dietert, R.R. and M.S. Piepenbrink. (2006). Perinatal immunotoxicity:
Why adult exposure- assessment fails to predict risk. Environ.
Health Perspect. 114(4): 477-483.
Dietert, R.R. (2006). Developmental immunotoxicity (DIT) testing and
protecting children's health.
PloS Medicine 3 (8): e296. August issue.
Dietert, R.R. and M. P. Holsapple. ( 2007). Methodologies for developmental
immunotoxicity (DIT) testing. Methods
41:123-131.
