Patricia Hunt PhD

Dr. Patricia Hunt, Ph.D., poses in her lab at Washington State University with the plastic mouse cages and a water bottle containing BPA that led in 1999 to a serendipitous finding regarding major health risks associated with plastics containing BDA. The inadvertent exposure of mice to the estrogen mimic, bisphenol A (BPA) from damaged caging materials (polycarbonate cages and water bottles) led to the realization that environmentally relevant doses of BPA cause meiotic disruption and aneuploidy in the mouse. Current studies focus on determining the reproductive effects of exposure to chemicals with estrogenic activity during different developmental time points. This research has implicated a range of plastic products, including baby bottles and water bottles that have been favored by hikers, runners, etc. Using the bottle may cause a range of health risks, particularly when those bottles are washed using detergents that reduce the Ph value of the plastics. Primary research in the Hunt laboratory focuses on mammalian germ cells. With a major emphasis on meiosis, the specialized cell division that gives rise to the haploid germ cells. In the human female the incidence of pregnancy loss due to chromosome abnormalities is extraordinarily high. This is a reflection of the fact that the meiotic process is highly error-prone and the incidence of errors in women is strongly influenced by age. Thus, a major research focus is on understanding the control of the normal meiotic process in the mammalian female, the mechanisms(s) by which errors occur, and the way in which age influences female meiosis.