University of Louisville Magazine

SUMMER 2016

The University of Louisville Alumni Magazine: for alumni, faculty, staff, students and anyone that is a UofL Cardinal fan.

Issue link: https://louisville.epubxp.com/i/705015

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 20 of 75

S U M M E R U O F L M A G A Z I N E | 1 9 H A P P E N I N G H E R E Faculty member tracks toxins in whale blubber In April, John Pierce Wise Sr., PhD, spent two weeks on a lab- equipped sailboat in the Sea of Cortez to test free-ranging whales for chromium, mercury, silver and other toxic metals. Through this research, he hopes to better understand whether these pollutants cause DNA damage and cancer in marine life and in humans. Wise and his research team originally tested whales in the area in 1999, and will use data from this expedition to detect changes in their toxin levels over time. "We wanted to go back and collect samples in the same location to see if they are getting worse or better," Wise said. A professor in the School of Medicine's Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Wise and his team of researchers obtained skin and blubber samples from 29 whales of 7 different species in the Sea of Cortez, which lies between the Baja peninsula and the mainland of Mexico, emptying into the Pacif c Ocean. On this project, Wise is collaborating with Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Jorge Urbán Ramírez, PhD, at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur in Mexico. Also aboard the research vessel was Wise's son, John Jr., a graduate student in toxicology at Purdue University. He used a crossbow to shoot a small dart into the whales' skin to obtain thimble-sized tissue samples without disrupting the animals' activity. Wise is a leading authority on metal-induced carcinogenesis. He studies the cellular and molecular mechanisms of cancer and investigates the health impacts of chemicals in the environment, comparing their effects in humans with wildlife such as whales, sea turtles and alligators. Over the past 18 years, Wise has traveled the globe testing whales and other marine wildlife for toxic metals. Following the 2010 Deep Water Horizon Oil Explosion, Wise and his family spent three summers testing whales for toxins in the Gulf of Mexico. He joined the faculty of the UofL School of Medicine in 2015, having previously taught at the University of Southern Maine and the Yale University School of Medicine. Photo by SeaShepherd.org UofL professor John Wise and the research team aboard the Research Vessel Martin Sheen in the Sea of Cortez

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of University of Louisville Magazine - SUMMER 2016