Kate Heslin

Atrazine is a commonly used herbicide associated with genetic damage. My project focuses on determining the genetic effects of this chemcial on individuals with breast cancer-causing BRCA1 gene mutations.

Abstract:

Atrazine (ATZ) is the second most prevalent herbicide in the United States, where over 70 million pounds are applied to croplands annually. However, Atrazine has been linked to various negative health effects, such as endocrine damage, reproductive defects, and genomic damage. This has the potential to uniquely affect individuals who already suffer from DNA damage, such as BRCA1 mutation carriers. BRCA mutation-positive patients suffer from heavily increased lifetime breast cancer risk due to aberrations in their DNA. Since Atrazine is associated with genomic damage, and BRCA1 mutations are thought to cause breast cancer through genomic damage, the goal of this project was to determine if exposure to Atrazine can increase genomic damage, and therefore breast cancer risk, in BRCA1 mutation carriers. To answer this question, we employed an immunofluorescence staining technique called Micronucleus (MN) Assay, which allowed us to quantify the genomic damage in cells treated with Atrazine by counting cellular abnormalities called micronuclei. It was found that in all tested cell populations, ATZ exposure increased the percentage of cells with micronuclei, therefore increasing genomic damage. These results establish a link between ATZ and genomic damage in humans, filling a previous gap in research, as most ATZ health studies are currently conducted on freshwater animals, and providing evidence that could assist in getting this dangerous chemical banned.

Press the pop-out button to view:

ISR elevator speech.mp4

Poster Final.pdf

Research Paper

2024 Terra NYC Stem Fair Semifinalist