Environmental Mutagenesis & Genomics Society
Virtual Annual Meeting
September 12-16, 2020
Environmental Genomics:
Mechanisms & Approaches For Genomic Integrity
Thursday, September 10, 2020
3:00 PM - 4:30 PM EDT | EMGS Executive Board Meeting
Saturday, September 12, 2020
Poster Sessions
8:00 AM - 2:30 PM CDT | Poster Sessions Q&A will be held Saturday, September 12. Presentations are categorized by topic into one of nine 30-minute blocks that will begin at 8:00 a.m. CDT and conclude at 2:30 p.m. CDT. Click "EMGS Poster Sessions" Button to see presentation times.
Sunday, September 13, 2020
Symposium 01
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM CDT | To the Stars and Back Again- Studies in Space Radiation Research
Chair: Janice Pluth, Co-Chair: Susan Bailey, Young Investigator: TBD
The recently reported findings from NASA’s Twin Study and first One Year Mission brought much attention to the exciting research being done to better understand human health effects of long duration space flight. Certainly, induction of DNA damage and genomic instability are of concern, however little is known in regard to such responses resulting from chronic exposure to space radiations and the space environment.
8:00 AM – 8:25 AM CDT | Twins & Telomeres in Space
Susan M. Bailey, Colorado State University
8:25 AM – 8:50 AM CDT | The Landscape of DNA and RNA Methylation Before, During, and After Human Space Travel
Christopher E. Mason, Ph.D, Weill Cornell Medicine, Department of Physiology and Biophysics
8:50 AM – 9:25 AM CDT | Big Data Profiling of Health and Stress Periods
Michael Snyder, Ph.D, Stanford University School of Medicine
9:25 AM – 9:30 AM CDT | Questions
9:30 AM – 9:45 AM CDT | Genetics and Radiation Exposure Regimen During Puberty Influence Mammary Organ Defects
Janice M. Pluth, Ph.D, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
9:45 AM – 10:00 AM CDT | Side Effects of Scattered Versus Scanned Proton Beams on Normal Tissues In Total Body Irradiated Mice: Preliminary Results
Samia Chaouni, ABTE Laboratory / University of Caen
Symposium 02
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM CDT | Modernizing the Genotoxicity Testing Paradigm: How Adverse Outcome Pathways, Integrated Approaches to Testing and Assessment (IATA), and Quantitative Analyses in Genetic Toxicology are Impacting Modern Risk Assessment Practices
Chair: Alexandra Long, Co-Chair: Stefan Pfuhler, Young Investigator: Eunnara Cho
The genotoxicity testing paradigm is transitioning from in vivo testing towards predictive in vitro and in silico methods, and quantitative genetic toxicology applications. AOPs provide a framework for documenting the biological knowledge and empirical data to describe the key events leading to adverse outcomes. Quantitative modeling is required to understand the relationship between key events and build predictive toxicology models from AOPs, and identify points of departure. AOPs can be leveraged to build test paradigms that implement the newest (non-test guideline) test methods for regulatory decision-making. One approach to efficiently increase application of these novel concepts in risk assessment is through the development of Integrated Approaches to Testing and Assessment (IATA).
This symposium will provide: 1) an introduction to AOPs and IATAs, recent advances in these programs, and examples of how they are impacting risk assessment practices; 2) a synthesis of the AOP projects ongoing within the Health and Environmental Sciences Institute’s (HESI) Genetic Toxicology Technical Committee (GTTC) and their expected applications; 3) advances in the use of genetic toxicity dose-response data including discussions on critical effects sizes and uncertainty factors applied to points of departure; 4) application of the IATA concept in integrated genotoxicity testing by Health Canada in their GeneTox21 program; 5) the use of AOPs in the development of predictive toxicology models. Collectively, this symposium will provide an overview of different collaborative efforts to modernize genotoxicity assessment through the use of AOPs, IATA and genotoxicity dose-response analysis.
8:00 AM – 8:25 AM CDT | AOPs and IATA: What They Are and Why They Should Matter to the EMGS
Jason O’Brien, Environment and Climate Change Canada
8:25 AM – 8:50 AM CDT | The Health and Environmental Institutes Genetic Toxicology Technical Committee AOP initiative: The Growing Genotoxicity AOP Network and Practical Applications
Stefan Pfuhler, Procter & Gamble
8:50 AM – 9:15 AM CDT | Harnessing Genomics and AOPs for Predictive Toxicology
Edward Perkins, US Army Corps of Engineers
9:15 AM – 9:40 AM CDT | GeneTox21: An Integrated In Vitro Genetic Toxicity Assessment Platform for the 21st Century
Joleen Hanna, Health Canada
9:40 AM – 10:00 AM CDT | Quantitative Analysis of In Vivo Mutagenicity Dose-Response Data for Risk Assessment and Regulatory Decision-making: A Case Study of Alkylnitrosamines
George Johnson, Swansea University Medical School (UK)
Symposium 03
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM CDT | The Toxicology of E-Cigarettes
Co-Chairs: Catherine Gibbons, Dan Roberts Young Investigator: Esther Omaiye
Moderator: Les Recio
The widespread use of e-cigarettes, particularly among young people, and growing public health concerns are accompanied by an increasingly discordant message regarding the evidence of toxicity presented by academia and industry. A discussion of the existing toxicity and genotoxicity data, and recommendations for future testing needs, will help clarify actual risk and help inform regulatory decision-making. Speakers will present current evidence of the toxic and genotoxic effects of e-cigarettes; the end of the session will provide time for an open and objective facilitated discussion on what is known regarding the toxicity of e-cigarettes.
8:00 AM – 8:25 AM CDT | Chemical Elements and Metals in Aerosols from Three Generations of Electronic Cigarettes
Monique Williams, University of California, Riverside
8:25 AM – 8:50 AM CDT | Technical Issues Involved with In Vitro Genotoxicity Testing of e-Cigarette Formulations
Leon Stankowski, Charles River Laboratories
8:50 AM – 9:15 AM CDT | Toxicology of e-cigarettes
Daniel Smart, Philip Morris International
9:15 AM – 9:40 AM CDT | E-cigarettes: The FDA perspective
Priscilla Callahan-Lyon, US FDA, Center for Tobacco Products
9:40 AM – 10:00 AM CDT | E-cigarettes and Vaping: Toxicities, Misconceptions, and Health Effects
Ilona Jaspers, University of North Carolina
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM CDT | Break
Keynote 01
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM CDT | A Compendium of Mutational Signatures of Environmental Agents in Human Cancers and Normal Cells
Serena Nik-Zainal, CRUK Advanced Clinician Scientist and Honorary Consultant in Clinical Genetics, University of Cambridge
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM CDT | Break
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM CDT | EMM Editorial Board
Symposium 04
1:30 PM - 3:30 PM CDT | Nucleosome Dynamics and Environmental Stress
Chair: Kara Bernstein, Co-Chair: TBD, Young Investigator: Heather O’Hagan
Our cells are constantly responding the onslaught of environmental toxicants that threaten the integrity of our genome. This symposium entitled “Nucleosome Dynamics and Environmental Stress” will address current topics of how our environmental exposures influence nucleosome dynamics leading to different repair outcomes. We will cover different types of DNA damage and how individual DNA repair pathways are engaged to ensure genomic integrity focusing on oxidative damage, mismatch repair, and chromatin remodeling complexes.
1:30 PM – 2:00 PM CDT | Mismatch Repair Proteins Initiate Epigenetic Alterations during Inflammation-Driven Tumorigenesis
Heather O’Hagan, Indiana University School of Medicine
2:00 PM – 2:30 PM CDT | Epigenetic Regulation of Carcinogen Susceptibility
Ashby Morrison, PhD, Stanford University
2:30 PM – 3:00 PM CDT | Global Repair Fingerprinting of Glycosylase Activity on Nucleosomes
Sarah Delaney, PhD, Brown University
3:00 PM – 3:15 PM CDT | Platinum-Induced Ubiquitination of Phosphorylated H2AX by RING1A is Mediated by RPA
Shruthi Sriramkumar, Indiana University School of Medicine
3:15 PM – 3:30 PM CDT | Cohesin SA1 and SA2 are RNA Binding Proteins That Localize to RNA Containing Regions on DNA
Hong Wang, North Carolina State University
**Panel Discussion
Symposium 05
1:30 PM - 3:30 PM CDT | Mitochondria: Environment, Epigenetics, and Disease
Chair: Aishwarya Prakash, Co-Chair: TBD, Young Investigator: Laurie H. Andolina
Over the past few decades mitochondria have emerged as more than just the powerhouse of the cell. Mitochondrial DNA, like its nuclear counterpart is damaged by both environmental and endogenous agents. Aberrant mitochondrial DNA metabolism leads to a myriad of diseases including aging related neurological disorders. This symposium entitled “Mitochondria: Environment, Epigenetics, and Disease” will address current topics of how onslaught to mtDNA influences epigenetic changes and mitochondrial disease.
1:30 PM – 2:00 PM CDT | Mitchondrial DNA Stress Protects the Nuclear Genome
Gerald S. Shadel, Salk Institute for Biological Studies
2:00 PM – 2:30 PM CDT | Ultrasensitive Deletion Detection Links Mitochondrial Replication, Disease And Aging
Bill Copeland, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
2:30 PM – 3:00 PM CDT | (Epi)genomics Effects of Developmental Mitochondrial Dysfunction
Janine Santos, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
3:00 PM – 3:15 PM CDT | Mitochondria: Environment, Epigenetics, and Disease
Parminder Kaur, North Carolina State University
3:15 PM – 3:00 PM CDT | Analysis of Illumina 450K DNA Methylation in NEST Cord Blood Reveals Sex Differences at Mitochondrial Genes in the Nuclear Genome
Dillon King, Duke University
Symposium 06
1:30 PM - 3:30 PM CDT | Personalized Cancer Risk and Prevention: Are We Ready?
Chair: Rosalie Elespuru, Co-Chair: Miriam Poirier, Young Investigator: TBD
It has been known for some time that both genes and environment are factors in human cancer development. In the era of personal genomics, what is the likelihood that we can begin to assess personalized cancer risk, instead of overall cancer risk? A default cancer risk assessment as practiced today includes “uncertainty factors” to account for differential susceptibility, sensitivity, and other unknowns and variables within the human population. Assessment of cancer risk in general is a common goal, but there is information currently available to address cancer risk for specific cancers. Cancers for which genetic, environmental, viral and other associations are well established and could be used in personalized cancer risk assessments include colon, liver, head and neck, and lung cancer. This symposium includes a general overview of the potential for personalized cancer risk and presentations exploring the chemical, genetic, epigenetic, viral, dietary, exercise, and other environmental factors known for specific involvement in the development of colon, liver, and other cancers in humans.
1:30 PM – 2:00 PM CDT | Introduction: Evolution of Cancer Risk Assessment from Percival Pott to Personalized Cancer Prevention
Rosalie Elespuru, US Food and Drug Agency
2:00 PM – 2:30 PM CDT | Contribution of Lifestyle and Environmental Exposures to Cancer: The Example Of Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Farhad Islami, American Cancer Society
2:30 PM – 3:00 PM CDT | Cancer Prevention & Screening: The Next Step in the Era of Precision Medicine
Asad Umar, National Cancer Institute
3:00 PM – 3:15 PM CDT | Effect of Exercise on DNA Damage and Repair Capacity Among African American Breast Cancer Survivors
Rabindra Roy, Georgetown University
3:15 PM – 3:30 PM CDT | The Burden and Signatures of Somatic Mutations in Healthy Individuals
Natalie Saini, NIEHS, NC
3:30 PM - 4:00 PM CDT | Break
Holleander Award Lecture
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM CDT | Source and Hazards of Environmental Mutagens: From Complex Mixture Analyses to Quantitative Dose-response Interpretation
Paul A. White, Ph.D., Environmental Health Science and Research Bureau, Mechanistic Studies Division
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM CDT | Break
Special Interest Groups
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM CDT | In Vivo Mutagenesis (DOWNLOAD MEETING AGENDA)
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM CDT | DNA Repair (DOWNLOAD MEETING AGENDA)
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM CDT | Epigenomics (DOWNLOAD MEETING AGENDA)
Monday, September 14, 2020
Symposium 07
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM CDT | Inflammation and Genomic Instability
Chair: Joann Sweasy, Co-Chair: Bevin Engelward, Young Investigator: TBD
Recent findings have emerged that suggest an interplay between genomic instability and inflammation. Genomic instability drives inflammation but inflammation is also suspected to induce genomic instability that leads to cancer. The presentations in this symposium by leading experts in the field will present cutting edge research findings that explore the complex relationships between genomic instability and inflammation.
8:00 AM – 8:30 AM CDT | Consequences of Genomic Instability During Embryonic Development
John Schimenti, Cornell University
8:30 AM – 9:00 AM CDT | cGAS Suppresses Genomic Instability as a Decelerator of Replication Forks
Li Lan, MD, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
9:00 AM – 9:25 AM CDT | Innate immune sensing at the crossroads of carcinogen-induced inflammation and DNA damage
Justin Wilson, University of Arizona Cancer Center
9:25 AM – 9:50 AM CDT | DNA Damage as a Consequence and Driver of inflammation
Jennifer Kay, MD, PhD, Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
9:50 AM – 10:00 AM CDT | Q&A Session
Symposium 08
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM CDT | Application of Computational Approaches and Machine Learning to Risk Assessment and Genetic Toxicology
Chair: Jeffrey C. Bemis, Co-Chair: TBD, Young Investigator: TBD
The application of computational toxicology to product safety testing is increasing at a vary fast pace. Based on the opportunities that these new methodologies are providing for data visualization and interpretation, the EMGS membership will benefit from learning about these approaches now so they can prepare for the eventual adoption that is likely inevitable.
This session serves as a complement to the EMGS Bioinformatics Challenge that will be occurring at the virtual meetings. Those who are already working in this area will gain additional knowledge from the peer’s case examples and those new to the field will get an introduction to data science and how it is being used.
8:00 AM – 8:30 AM CDT | Application of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) to Chemical Risk Assessment and Regulatory Decision-Making
Maureen Gwinn, Division Director, Biomolecular and Computational Toxicology Division, Center for Computational Toxicology and Exposure, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency
8:30 AM – 9:00 AM CDT | Trends and Application of Computational Toxicology Approaches
Agnes Karmaus, Senior Staff Toxicologist at Integrated Laboratory Systems
9:00 AM – 9:30 AM CDT | Implementation of Machine Learning and Robust Dose-Response Modeling In Genotoxicity Screening Leads to Robust Mode of Action Determination and Potency Ranking of Pharmaceuticals
Elias Ozolior, Computational Toxicology in Global Pathology and Investigative Tox, Pfizer, Inc.
9:30 AM – 9:45 AM CDT | Machine Learning and Mechanistic Information from a Multi Endpoint Genotoxicity Screen
Amy Wilson, AstraZeneca
9:45 AM – 10:00 AM CDT | Machine Learning Applied to Mouse Genotypes Accurately Classifies Genetic Background: Relevance to Human Genotype Classification For Detection of Environmental Mutagen Exposures
Hailie Pavanel, University of Western Ontario
Symposium 09
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM CDT | Genomic Alterations and Environmental Factors Involved in Neurodevelopmental/Neuropsychiatric Disorders
Chair: Christi Walter, Co-Chair: Noboru Hiroi, Young Investigator: TBD
A variety of genome alterations are associated with neuropsychiatric disorders ranging from point mutations, to epigenetic changes, trinucleotide repeat expansions, and CNVs. Environmental factors, such as pesticides and air pollution, and maternal physiological conditions such as diabetes and immune disorders, are also associated with neuropsychiatric/neurodevelopmental disorders. De novo mutations related to the paternal age effect are linked with many of these diseases, such as autism spectrum disorders. This symposium will cover various genomic alterations and environmental factors that appear to impose on many neuropsychiatric/neurodevelopmental disorders and that impinge on environmental mutagenesis and genomics.
8:00 AM – 8:30 AM CDT | Genomic Alterations and Environmental Factors Involved in Neurodevelopmental/Neuropsychiatric Disorders
Noboru Hiroi, UT Health San Antonio
8:30 AM – 9:00 AM CDT | Heritable Impacts of General Anesthesia: An Urgent Question for Genetic Toxicology and Autism Research
Jill Escher, MA, JD, Escher Fund for Autism
9:00 AM – 9:30 AM CDT | Development of a High Content Imaging Assay for Population Variability in Developmental Neurotoxicity
Dahea You, PharmD, PhD, NIEHS
9:30 AM – 10:00 AM CDT | Genome-Wide Analysis of Cadmium-Induced Germline Mutations in Adapted and Nonadapted Genotypes
Nathan Keith, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM CDT | Break
Keynote 02
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM CDT | The Generation of New Diversity in the Sequence of the Human Genome
Kári Stefánsson, M.D., Dr Med, deCODE Genetics, Iceland
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM CDT | Break
1:30 PM - 3:30 PM CDT | Platform 1: Gentoxicity, Risk Assessment and Public Health
Chair: Barbara L. Parsons, PhD, US Food & Drug Administration, National Center for Toxicological Research
1:30 PM – 1:45 PM CDT | Measuring PIG-A Mutation in Erythrocytes from Healthy Individuals: Effects of Diet and Lifestyle
Rachel Lawrence, Swansea University
1:45 PM – 2:00 PM CDT |Assessment of Systemic Genetic Damage in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Stephen D. Dertinger, PhD, Litron Laboratories
2:00 PM – 2:15 PM CDT | DNA Damage and Induction of Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition in Oral Epithelial Cells Exposed to Electronic Nicotine Delivery System Aerosols
Christa Wright, Georgia State University
2:15 PM – 2:30 CDT | DNA Damage and Gene Expression in Human Gastric and Pancreatic Tissue Organoids Treated with Benzo[a]pyrene
Angela Lorena Caipa Garcia, King’s College London
2:30 PM – 2:45 PM CDT | Adapting Next-Generation Genetic Toxicology Endpoints to the Human In Vitro Air-Liquid-Interface Airway Tissue Model
Yiying Wang, FDA/NCTR
2:45 PM – 3:00 PM CDT | COSMIC Signatures Robustly Explain Mutational Patterns From the lacZ Gene of Transgenic Rodents Exposed to Environmental Mutagens
Matthew Meier, Health Canada
3:00 PM – 3:15 PM CDT | Ultra-Deep Sequencing of Blood and Urine to Test for Exposure to Aristolochic Acids
Arnoud Boot, Duke-NUS Medical School
3:15 PM – 3:30 PM CDT | Elucidating the Cellular Mechanism of Doxorubicin Induced Cardiotoxicity in the Nucleus and Mitochondria
Meghan E Davis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1:30 PM - 3:30 PM CDT | Platform 2: DNA Repair (2A)
Chair: Patricia L. Opresko, PhD, University of Pittsburgh. New Investigator Co-Chair: Elise Fouquerel , PhD, Thomas Jefferson University
1:30 PM – 1:45 PM CDT | Precision Targeting of Cancer with CRISPR-induced DSBs
Mats Ljungman, PhD, The University of Michigan
1:45 PM – 2:00 PM CDT | Proficient Oxidized Ribonucleotide Insertion by a Double Strand Break Repair Polymerase
Joonas Jaemsen, NIEHS/NIH
2:00 PM – 2:15 PM CDT | Flap Endonuclease 1 Cleaves RNAs to Resolve R-loops Through DNA Base Excision Repair
Yuan Liu, MD, PhD, Florida International University
2:15 PM – 2:30 PM CDT | Molecular and Structural Characterization of Mutagenic and Non-mutagenic Bypass and Extension of Natural Fapy•dG by a Mammalian DNA Polymerase
Benjamin James Ryan, University of Kansas Medical Center
2:30 PM – 2:45 PM CDT | FiSHing for OG: Recognition and Repair of OG:A Mispairs by MutY
Merve Demir, University of California Davis
2:45 PM – 3:00 PM CDT | Investigating the Role of Repair Enzyme MUTYH in Oxidative Damage at Telomeres
Mariarosaria De Rosa, University of Pittsburgh - UPMC Hillman Cancer Center
3:00 PM – 3:15 PM CDT | Apurinic Endonuclease (APE1) Diffusion Along DNA is Altered in the Presence of Mg2+ Ions
Andrea Lee, University of Vermont
3:15 PM – 3:30 PM CDT | Cohesin SA1 and SA2 are RNA Binding Proteins That Localize to RNA Containing Regions on DNA
Hong Wang, North Carolina State University
3:30 PM - 4:00 PM CDT | Break
EMGS Award
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM CDT | Precision Medicine of Cancer: Environment, Molecular Epidemiology and p53
Curtis Harris, MD, NIH, NCI, CCR
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM CDT | Break
Special Interest Groups
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM CDT | Genomics and Data Science (DOWNLOAD MEETING AGENDA)
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM CDT | GRAPH (DOWNLOAD MEETING AGENDA)
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
Symposium 10
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM CDT | Non-coding RNA: Shedding Light on the Dark Matter of the Genome
Chair: Isabelle Miousse, Co-Chair: TBD, Young Investigator: Sumira Phatak
Although less than 1.5% of the human genome codes for proteins, as much as 80% is transcribed. Haphazardly deemed junk DNA for decades, we now refer to these resulting transcripts as non-coding RNA (ncRNA) and know that they serve a number of essential regulatory functions. Circular RNA (circRNA), long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), and microRNA (miRNA) are examples of ncRNA species involved with maintenance of homeostasis, and their roles in environmentally-induced disease are only starting to be discovered. Circular RNA (circRNA) are more abundant in most cells than mRNA and serve as miRNA sponges, transcription factors, and alternative splicing guides, functions that ultimately regulate gene expression. These circRNA are aberrantly expressed in a number of cancers, including colorectal cancer, and may be developed to serve as diagnostic or therapeutic tools in the future. Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) make up the majority of the non-coding transcriptome in humans, with more than 30,000 identified to date. Although most lncRNA are yet to be characterized, this diverse group of molecules is well known to regulate gene transcription, post-transcriptional modifications, and epigenetic regulation. Evidence suggests that both imprinting and X-chromosome inactivation are lncRNA directed processes. Dysregulation of several lncRNAs has been identified in neurological diseases and cancers. MicroRNA have been shown to be responsive to various environmental factors including methyl-deficient diet, bioactive food molecules, and toxicants such as heavy metals. miRNA may play an important role in pathogenesis of cancers, appearing to function as tumor suppressors or oncogenes. Ultimately, miRNA may even serve as a cancer diagnostic biomarker or therapeutic tool for prevention and treatment. This symposium will discuss the latest discoveries on function of circRNA, lncRNA, and miRNA, with an emphasis on their potential roles as mechanisms of disease pathogenesis and toxicity.
8:00 AM – 8:20 AM CDT | Single Cell Profiling of Total RNA Using Smart-seq-total
Alina Isakova, Stanford University
8:20 AM – 8:40 AM CDT | Non coding RNA: Shedding Light on the Dark Matter of the Genome
Ahmad Khalil, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
8:40 AM – 9:00 AM CDT | Emerging Role of Long non-coding RNAs in Cancer Precision Medicine
R. Stephanie Huang, University of Minnesota
9:00 AM – 9:20 AM CDT | At the Intersection of Neurotoxins, microRNAs (miRNAs) and Inflammatory Neurodegenerative Disease
Walter Lukiw, Louisiana State University
9:20 AM – 9:32 AM CDT | Identification of piRNA and PIWIL Machinery in Human Somatic Tissues
Rachel Morgan, MPH, University of Michigan School of Public Health
9:32 AM – 9:44 AM CDT | Cannabidiol (CBD) Administration Modifies Genome-Wide Hippocampal DNA Methylation In Adult Mice
Nicole Wanner, DVM, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
9:45 AM – 10:00 AM CDT | Q&A
Symposium 11
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM CDT | Advancements in Mutagenicity Assessment
Chairs: Dan Roberts (Charles River Laboratories) and Bob Young (MilliporeSigma). Young Investigator: Shaofei Zhang (MilliporeSigma)
Current genetic toxicity testing strategies identify mutagenic properties of novel products via phenotypic changes in a variety of in vitro and in vivo test systems. For example, the gold standard for detecting mutagenesis in vitro is the bacterial reverse mutation assay that uses highly engineered strains of Salmonella and E.coli to detect restoration of essential amino acid synthesis via reversion to wild-type. The biological relevance of in vitro mutagenic events can be further explored in vivo using transgenic rodent models, where phenotypic change in target/reporter genes is used to assess tissue-specific mutagenesis. To date, assessment of mutagenesis has mostly been limited to indirect measurements of phenotypic change due to mutation of reporter genes. For the first time, transformative new sequencing technologies and bioinformatics permit direct measurement of a variety of endpoints including mutant frequency and mutant spectrum directly in genomic DNA. This session aims to explore how these new technologies can be applied to these existing nonclinical assays and new applications as well as how these nonclinical applications translate to human cancer risk.
8:00 AM – 8:30 AM CDT | Determining Mutational Spectra from Existing Genetox Assays: Ames Test
Shoji Matsumura, Kao Corporation
8:30 AM – 8:50 AM CDT | Interspecies Comparison of Chemical-induced Mutagenesis by Duplex Sequencing™
Bob Young, Millipore-Sigma
8:50 AM – 9:20 AM CDT | Integration of Next Generation Sequencing Approaches With Transgenic Rodent Mutation Reporter Models to Assess Somatic and Germ Cell Mutagenesis
Francesco Marchetti, Health Canada
9:20 AM – 9:40 AM CDT | Error-Corrected Duplex Sequencing; Bioinformatic Challenges
Clint Valentine, TwinStrand
9:40 AM – 10:00 AM CDT | SomaticSiMu: A Mutational Signature Simulator for Benchmarking Alignment-Free Machine Learning Classification of Genomic Signatures
David Chen, University of Waterloo
Symposium 12
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM CDT | New Discoveries on the Role of the Epigenome in the Relationship between the Environment and Human Health
Chair: Karen Huen, Co-Chair: Bambarendage Pinithi Perera
(Revised) Links between environmental exposures, diet and human health receive increasing attention. Accumulating evidence indicates that associations between environmental exposures and disease can be driven by changes in the epigenome. For example, many environmental factors have been linked to cancer, with much of the research focused on mutations in cancer genomes. However, widespread epigenetic changes have also been reported for many cancers. This symposium will provide links between specific exposures and epigenetic and other molecular changes in disease processes. The goals of this session are to present novel mechanistic relationships between environmental exposures, epigenomics and disease processes, as well as the possibility of manipulating the epigenome to reduce disease risk.
8:00 AM – 8:30 AM CDT | Cancer Chemoprevention Via Dietary Targeting of Epigenetic Pathways
Emily Ho, College of Public Health and Human Sciences, Oregon State University
8:30 AM – 9:00 AM CDT | Applying functional genomics and epigenetics to assess differential susceptibility to pesticide exposure: The PON1 Story
Karen Huen, University of California Berkeley
9:00 AM – 9:30 AM CDT | Chromatin Structure in the Healthy and Failing Heart
Thomas Vondriska, Departments of Anesthesiology, Medicine, and Physiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA
9:30 AM – 9:45 AM CDT | Prenatal Lead (Pb) Exposure’s Effect on DNA Methylation (5mC) and Hydroxymethylation (5hmC) in Adolescent Whole Blood
Christine A Rygiel, University of Michigan
9:45 AM – 10:00 AM CDT | Evaluation of Circulating miRNAs as Biomarkers for Genotoxicity and Carcinogenicity of Aristolochic Acid
Page B. McKinzie, PhD, National Center for Toxicological Research
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM CDT | Break
Keynote 03
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM CDT | The Enigma of Viral Noncoding RNAs
Joan A. Steitz, PhD, Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale School of Medicine
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CDT | Education, Student and New Investigators Affairs (ESNIA) Committee Meeting
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM CDT | Break
1:30 PM - 3:30 PM CDT | Platform 3: Epigenomics
Chair: Mitchell Turker, PhD, Oregon Health & Science University
1:30 PM – 1:45 PM CDT | Towards Detection of the Methylation Status in a Prostate Cancer Gene Using Raman Spectroscopy and Machine Learning
Ari Forman, Western University
1:45 PM – 2:00 PM CDT | Intergenerational Effects of In Utero Arsenic Exposure on Mouse Physiology
Mathia L Colwell, University of Minnesota
2:00 PM – 2:15 PM CDT | Toxicogenomic Analyses of Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors in TK6 Cells
Eunnara Cho, Health Canada
2:15 PM – 2:30 PM CDT | Divergent Effects of Methionine Versus Cysteine Restriction In Vitro
Isabelle R. Miousse, PhD, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
1:30 PM - 3:30 PM CDT | Platform 4: Genomics and Data Science
Chair: Brian Chorley, PhD, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC
1:30 PM – 1:35 PM CDT | Introduction to Session
Brian Chorley, PhD, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC
1:35 PM – 2:05 PM CDT | Extension of Error-Corrected Duplex Sequencing to Structural Variant Detection
Thomas E. Wilson, MD, PhD, University of Michigan Medical School
2:05 PM – 2:35 PM CDT | The Role of Asbestos Exposure in Ovarian Carcinogenesis: An Integrative Molecular Epidemiological Study
Jiri Zavadil, PhD, International Agency for Research on Cancer
2:35 PM – 2:50 PM CDT | Alignment-Free Genome Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 Using Machine Learning
Gurjit Singh Randhawa, Western University
2:50 PM – 3:05 PM CDT | Associations of Prenatal Metal Mixtures With Mitochondria DNA and Telomere Length in Mothers and Children
Anna R Smith, MPH, UC Berkeley School of Public Health
3:05 PM – 3:20 PM CDT | Impact of Copper Oxide Particle Solubility on Lung Epithelial Cell Toxicity: Response Characterization Using Global Transcriptional Analysis
Andrew Boyadzhiev, Health Canada
3:20 PM – 3:30 PM CDT | Wrap-up questions
1:30 PM - 3:30 PM CDT | Platform 5: DNA Repair (2B)
Chair: Patricia L. Opresko, PhD, University of Pittsburgh. New Investigator Co-Chair: Elise Fouquerel , PhD, Thomas Jefferson University
1:30 PM – 1:45 PM CDT | Human RAD54B Promotes Sensitivity to Prolonged Replication Stress
Jennifer Mason, Clemson University
1:45 PM – 2:00 PM CDT | The Yeast Shu Complex Functions in Error-Free Bypass of DNA Abasic Sites
Braulio Bonilla, University of Pittsburgh
2:00 PM – 2:15 PM CDT | Impact of N-Nitrosodimethylamine on DNA Damage and Gene Expression in Mice with Varied DNA Repair Capacities
Norah Auma Owiti, MIT
2:15 PM – 2:30 PM CDT | UVA Light Induced Mutagenesis in Xeroderma Pigmentosum Variant Cells After Whole Exome Sequencing
Carlos Frederico Martins Menck, University of São Paulo
2:30 PM – 2:45 PM CDT | UV-Induced Replication Blockage and ATR Activation Are Mediated by 6-4 Photoproducts
Masaoki Kawasumi, MD, PhD, University of Washington
2:45 PM – 3:00 PM CDT | Translesion Synthesis Pathway Activation in UVB-Irradiated Human Skin is Impacted by Age and IGF-1 Receptor Status
Michael George Kemp, PhD, Wright State University
3:00 PM – 3:15 PM CDT | Exploring the Mechanisms of Cruciform DNA-Induced Genetic Instability in Eukaryotic Systems
Pooja P Mandke, University of Texas at Austin
3:15 PM – 3:30 PM CDT | Pervasive Hemin-Induced Genome Toxicity in Experimental Intracerebral Hemorrhage (ICH): Implications and Therapeutic Interventions
Joy Mitra, PhD, Houston Methodist Research Institute
3:30 PM - 4:00 PM CDT | Break
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM CDT | Young Scientist Award: Genome Integrity in Parkinson's Disease: From Biomarker to Mechanism
Laurie Sanders, Duke University Medical Center
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM CDT | Break
Special Interest Groups
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM CDT | Applied Genetic Toxicology (DOWNLOAD MEETING AGENDA)
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM CDT | Germ Cell and Heritable Effects (DOWNLOAD MEETING AGENDA)
Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Symposium 13
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM CDT | The Landscape of Human Germline Mutation (Sponsored by: Elsevier)
Chair: Jonatan Axelsson, Co-Chair: Carole Yauk, Young Investigator: Mathia Colwell
With increasing amounts of information emerging from global genome sequencing analyses we’re beginning to more deeply understand the processes, landscape and impacts of de novo mutations mediated through the male and female germline. In this session we will hear about the most recent discoveries about the role of de novo mutations as a cause of diseases such as intellectual disability and male infertility, including the impact of non-coding mutations. Speakers will present their findings on baseline rates of de novo mutations, how mutation rates differ between populations and families, and how methylation can influence mutation locations. Finally, we will hear about work exploring the contributions of “gonosomal”, “post-primordial germ cell specification” and “single gamete” mutations to overall mutation burden and impact on the next generation.
8:00 AM – 8:30 AM CDT | Causes and Consequences of de novo Mutations in Health and Disease
Joris Veltman, Newcastle University, UK
8:30 AM – 9:00 AM CDT | Germline Mutation Rates in Young Adults Predict Longevity and Reproductive Lifespan
Aaron Quinlan, University of Utah
9:00 AM – 9:30 AM CDT | Germline Mutation variation in Mice and Humans
Sarah Lindsay, Wellcome Sanger Institute
9:30 AM – 9:45 AM CDT | Development of a High-Throughput Assay System to Study Recurrent Copy Number Variation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Ruthie Watson, Colorado State University
9:45 AM – 10:00 AM CDT | Heterozygosity: A Meiosis-linked Intrinsic Mutagen in Mice
Nicholas Alexander Boehler, Western University, Canada
Symposium 14
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM CDT | Dynamic RNA Modifications: Roles in Environmental Response and Disease
Chair: Frederick L. Tyson, Co-Chair: Daniel Shaughnessy, Young Investigator: Jaclyn Goodrich
Dynamic RNA modifications can interpret environmental challenges and respond by altering gene regulation, biological pathways and disease outcomes. Emerging evidence suggests that chemical modifications to RNA have critical roles in basic biological processes including embryonic stem cell differentiation, excitotoxic cell death, development, intergenerational inheritance of acquired traits, regulation of RNA stability, temperature adaptation, meiotic progression, alternative splicing, gene expression and regulation of RNA-RNA and RNA-protein binding interactions. The impact of the environment on chemical modifications of RNA molecules (the epitranscriptome) in the development of adverse human health outcomes is relatively unexplored. Technology advances in recent years have accelerated the detection of RNA modifications, and the RNA Modification Database currently lists approximately 100 RNA modifications identified in eukaryotic cells. This database also reveals transfer and ribosomal RNA are heavily modified, and many of these same modifications occur in messenger RNA and non-coding RNAs. The function of most of these modifications remains a mystery, despite their potential to influence RNA properties and functions and interactions with other molecules. This session will bring together leading investigators in the emerging area of functional RNA modifications to discuss the state of the science including how environmental exposures impact this layer of cellular regulation.
8:00 AM – 8:25 AM CDT | Interactions Between mRNA Methylation and Histone Modifications
Crystal Zhao, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute
8:25 AM – 8:50 AM CDT | Tracking RNA Modifications to Understand Early Health Effects of Oxidative-Prone Air
Lydia Contreras, University of Texas at Austin
8:50 AM – 9:15 AM CDT | Epitranscriptomic Marks Translationally Regulate Stress Response Programs to Protect Against Environmental Insults
Thomas J. Begley, The State University of New York at Albany
9:15 AM – 9:35 AM CDT | Epigenetic Inheritance of Acquired Traits Through Sperm RNAs and Modifications
Qi Chen, University of California, Riverside
9:35 AM – 10:00 AM CDT | The Epitranscriptome at the Crossroads of Diet and Environmental Exposure in Liver Diseases
Juliane Beier, University of Pittsburgh
Symposium 15
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM CDT | Alternative DNA Structures: Naturally Occurring Impediments to Transcription and Replication, and Sources of Genomic Instability
Chair: Karen Vasquez, Co-Chair: Kristin Eckert, Young Investigator: Guliang Wang
Repetitive sequences are abundant in the human genome, and have the capacity to adopt alternative (i.e. non-B) DNA structures. More than a dozen non-B DNA structures have been characterized to date, e.g., Z-DNA, H-DNA, G4-DNA, hairpins, and cruciforms. These alternative DNA structure-forming sequences have been found to impact DNA metabolic processes, as they can act as impediments to DNA and RNA polymerases, helicases, DNA repair enzymes, etc. Moreover, these structure-forming sequences have been identified as a naturally occurring source of genetic instability, and have been implicated in disease etiology and evolution. For example, non-B DNA-forming sequences have been found to be substantially enriched at translocation breakpoints in human cancer genomes. Because certain sequence elements are required for the formation of a particular non-B DNA structure (e.g. inverted repeats can adopt cruciform structures, alternating purine-pyrimidine dinucleotide repeats can adopt Z-DNA structures, etc.), algorithms have been designed to search databases for potential non-B DNA-forming sequences. Such information can inform on their potential roles in modulating transcription, replication, repair, and disease etiology. In this session, a new technology for genome-wide mapping of non-B DNA structures will be presented. In addition, their roles in disease etiology, and the mechanisms involved in their error-generating and error-free processing will be discussed.
8:00 AM – 8:30 AM CDT | RNA Export and Processing Act Cooperatively to Prevent RNA Polymerase Stalling and Fragility of CAG Repeats
Catherine Freudenreich, Tufts University
8:30 AM – 9:00 AM CDT | Alternative DNA Structures: Naturally Occurring Impediments to Transcription and Replication, and Sources of Genomic Instability
Andres Aguilera, Universidad de Sevilla
9:00 AM – 9:15 AM CDT | Distinct Mechanisms of DNA Structure-Induced Genetic Instability
Guliang Wang, University of Texas at Austin
9:15 AM – 9:30 AM CDT | G-Quadruplex Sequences are Barriers to Replicative DNA Polymerases and Hotspots of Mutagenesis
Kristin A. Eckert, PhD, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
9:30 AM – 10:00 AM CDT | Alternative DNA Structures and Genomic Instability
David L. Levens, Laboratory of Pathology, National Cancer Institute
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM CDT | Break
Committee Meetings
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM CDT | Awards and Honors Committee
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM CDT | Membership/PD Committee
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM CDT | Finance/Fundraising Committee
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM CDT | Hollaender Outreach Committee
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM CDT | Break
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM CDT | EMGS Business Meeting
1:30 PM - 3:30 PM CDT | Platform 6: Applied Genetic Toxicology
Chair: Rosalie K. Elespuru, PhD, US Food & Drug Administration
1:30 PM – 1:45 PM CDT | TubulinTracker, a Novel In Vitro Reporter Assay to Study Intracellular Microtubule Dynamics, Cell Cycle Progression and Aneugenicity
Giel Hendriks, PhD, Toxys
1:45 PM – 2:00 PM CDT | Quantitative Comparison of DNA Damage Responses of Three Human Hepatocytes for in Vitro Genotoxicity Assessment
Xiaoqing Guo, NCTR, US FDA
2:00 PM – 2:15 PM CDT | Analysis of Genetic Susceptibility Factors for N-nitrosamine-Induced Toxicity, Genomic Instability, and Cancer
Jennifer Kay, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2:15 PM – 2:30 PM CDT | Mutagenicity of a New Phenylbenzotriazol, the Non-Chlorinated Pbta-9, in Bacteria and Mice
Gisela de Aragão Umbuzeiro, UNICAMP
2:30 PM – 2:45 PM CDT | Unexpected 3-Butene-1,2-Diol-Mediated Genotoxicity Implies Alternative Mechanism of 1,3-Butadiene Carcinogenesis
Jun Nakamura, Osaka Prefecture University
2:45 PM – 3:00 PM CDT | Application of Multiple in Vitro Genetic Toxicology Endpoints Enables Comprehensive Characterization of Test Compounds’ Mode/Mechanism of Action
Steven M. Bryce, Litron Laboratories
3:00 PM – 3:15 PM CDT | Innovative Approach To Predict DNA Adduct Formation of Environmental Contaminants
Conan Maël, University of Rennes
3:15 PM – 3:30 PM CDT | Developing in Vitro Alternatives to In Vivo Genetic Toxicology Tests: HepaRG™ CometChip as an In Vitro Alternative to the Comet Assay
Leslie Recio, PhD, DABT, Integrated Laboratory Systems, Inc.
1:30 PM - 3:30 PM CDT | Platform 7: Detecting Rare Mutations, Gene and Germ Cell Toxicity
Chair: Jonatan Axelsson, MD, PhD, Lund University and Skåne University Hospital | Co-chair: Abigail Bline, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
1:30 PM – 1:45 PM CDT | PFASs Impair Meiotic Progression and Alter Ribonucleoprotein Granule Dynamics in C. elegans
Abigail Bline, University of California Los Angeles
1:45 PM – 2:00 PM CDT | Comparison of Duplex Sequencing and CarcSeq Error-Corrected NGS methods for Detection of Preneoplastic Clonal Expansions in Normal, Healthy Human Tissues
Meagan Myers, PhD, DHHS/FDA/NCTR
2:00 PM – 2:15 PM CDT | Microsatellite Mutation Frequencies in River Otters (Lontra canadensis) from the Athabasca Oil Sands Region are Correlated to Polycyclic Aromatic Compound Tissue Burden
Helina Gyasi, University of Ottawa
2:15 PM – 2:30 PM CDT | Adopting Duplex Sequencing Technology for Genetic Toxicity Testing: A Proof-of-Concept Mutagenesis Experiment with N-Ethyl-N-Nitrosourea (ENU)-Exposed Rats
Stephanie Smith-Roe, National Toxicology Program
2:30 PM – 2:45 PM CDT | Indigenous Voices Needed: EMGS Calls for Diversity in Microplastic Genotoxicity Research
Amanda Louise Morin, University of Western Ontario
1:30 PM - 3:30 PM CDT | EMGS Bioinformatics Challenge
Co-Chairs: Maxwell C. K. Leung, Ph.D., Arizona State University, Jeffrey Bemis, Ph.D., Litron Laboratories
1:35 PM – 1:50 PM CDT | SomaticSim: A Somatic Mutational Signature Simulator for Benchmarking Alignment-free Machine Learning Analyses
David Chen, Western University
1:50 PM – 2:05 PM CDT | Integrating Knowledge of Carcinogenicity Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs) with Experimental Data
Steven Kane, Lhasa limited
2:05 PM – 2:20 PM CDT | Weighted Coregulation Network Analysis to Identify Genotoxic and Cardiotoxic Potential of Chemotherapy
Jui-Hua Hsieh, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
2:20 PM – 2:35 PM CDT | Machine Learning-based Analysis of Genome Sequences for Studying the Impact of Extreme Environments on Genomic Signatures
Maximillian Soltysiak, Western University
2:35 PM – 2:50 PM CDT | Genotoxicity Data Visualization Tool for Fragrance Materials
Houlger Moustakas, Research Institute for Fragrance Materials, Inc.
3:30 PM - 4:00 PM CDT | Break
Committee Meetings
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM CDT | Publication Policy Committee
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM CDT | Program Committee
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM CDT | Public Relations & Communications Committee
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM CDT | SIG Chairs Committee
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM CDT | Break
Panel
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM CDT | EMGS Mentor/Mentee Panel, Sponsored by the WEMGS and SNI: "How do I get there? Career Panels to Guide Students, Postdocs, and New Investigators in Their Next Career Move"
Thursday, September 24, 2020
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM CDT | EMGS Council Meeting