Clemson professor receives grant to study how toxicants affect health, environment

Published: October 30, 2012

William Baldwin works with colleagues in the lab. image by: Clemson University

CLEMSON — William S. Baldwin, a Clemson University metabolic toxicologist and professor in the biological sciences department, has received a three-year grant to continue his research on how industrial chemicals and other toxicants affect environmental and human health.

Baldwin, who is in Clemson's College of Agriculture, Forestry & Life Science, received $363,083 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

“My research focuses on an organism’s ability to protect itself from the presence of potentially harmful foreign substances,” said Baldwin.

“At the cellular level, certain proteins send signals that increase the level of drug-metabolizing enzymes and help metabolize, remove or reduce the harmful effects of these chemical intruders.” he said. “We use newly constructed transgenic models to help us determine the purpose of these proteins and their role in protecting us from harmful environmental chemicals.”

In an earlier study funded by the institute, Baldwin and environmental toxicologist Linda Mota reported data that identified the potential link between exposure to the pesticide Parathion and infant vulnerability. They determined that the lack of expression of these protective proteins increases sensitivity to pesticides. Infants younger than 6 months have low levels of these proteins. This lack of gene expression and the resulting limited metabolic activity increases the infants' susceptibility to pesticide exposure.

Other populations at risk due to lower metabolic activity may include the elderly, people with chronic diseases and people who are obese.

Baldwin’s research also will study the connections between toxic exposure and diet. Too much fat in the body, combined with toxic exposure, may compromise the individual’s ability to detoxify chemicals that affect health. Identifying the presence or absence of these protective factors could lead to mechanisms to recognize and treat the metabolic imbalance.  

“A goal of our research is to identify conditions associated with low metabolism in vulnerable populations so that health care professionals will be able to identify strategies and take corrective actions to improve patient health,” he said.

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