College of Veterinary Medicine

Education:

B.S., Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, 1991
Ph.D., Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 1997
Post-doctoral training, Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, Blacksburg, VA, 1997-2000

Honors and Awards:

C.E. Cornelius Young Investigator Award, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, 2005

Research Interests:

Exposure to chemicals in the environment can lead to adverse effects on the health of living organisms. These effects manifest themselves in a variety of ways, from subtle biochemical changes to overt disease and death. The overall goal of my research effort is to A) perform research that leads to development of novel strategies to mitigate the effects of environmental exposure and B) produce data that aids the establishment of appropriate environmental regulations. To accomplish this, my research program investigates the mechanisms by which environmental chemicals cause toxicity in three interrelated areas: neurotoxicology, metals toxicology, and aquatic toxicology. Recent projects have investigated the distribution and kinetics of depleted uranium in the brain and conducted studies to determine the neurological effects produced by exposure to uranium. Recently, my research on metals has expanded into the area of nanometallics and investigates whether metallic nanoparticles pose a risk to aquatic organisms that is unique from dissolved metals. A second area of research is identifying the mechanisms by which acrylamide and structurally related chemicals produce nerve terminal degeneration. This work focuses on the formation of protein cysteine adducts in nerve terminals as a critical target for neuropathy. A third area of research is determining the mechanisms by which organochlorine compounds (and other endocrine active compounds) affect steroid homeostasis in largemouth bass. This project focuses on the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonad (HPG) axis control of steroid synthesis. My laboratory uses a variety of in vivo and in vitro models, coupled with genomic, proteomic and other analytical techniques to investigate these questions.

Selected Publications:

For Publications Extracted From Medline Click HERE

Fox, J.H., Barber, D.S., Singh, B., Zucker, B., Swindell, M.K., Norflus, F., Buzescu, R., Chopra, R., Ferrante, R.J., Kazantsev, A., and Hersch, S.M. 2004. Cystamine increases L-cysteine levels in Huntington's disease transgenic mouse brain and in a PC12 model of polyglutamine aggregation. J Neurochem. 91(2):413-22.

Barber, D.S., Ehrich, M.F., and Jortner, BS. 2005. The effect of stress on the temporal and regional distribution of uranium in rat brain after acute uranyl acetate exposure. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A 68:99-111.

Tolson, J.K., Roberts, S.M., Jortner, B.S., Pomeroy, M., and Barber, D.S. 2005. Heat shock proteins and acquired resistance to uranium nephrotoxicity. Toxicology 206:59-73.

Rael, L, Ayala-Fiero, F., Carter, D.E., and Barber, D. 2006. The Interaction of Arsine with Hemoglobin in Arsine-Induced Hemolysis. Toxicol. Sci. 90(1):142-8.

LoPachin, R.M. and Barber, D.S. 2006. Synaptic Cysteine Sulfhydryl Groups as Targets of Electrophilic Neurotoxicants. Toxicol. Sci. 94:240-55.

Barber, D.S., McNally, A.J., Garcia-Reyero, N. and Denslow, N.D. 2007. Exposure to p,p’-DDE or dieldrin during the reproductive season alters hepatic CYP expression in Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides). Aquatic Toxicology 81:27-35.

Denslow, N.D., Garcia-Reyero, N. and Barber, D.S. 2007. Fish-N-Chips: The use of microarrays for aquatic toxicology. J. Mol. Biosys. 3:172-177.

Barber, DS, Hancock, SK, McNally, AM, Hinckley, J, Binder, E, Zimmerman, K., Ehrich, MF and Jortner, BS. 2007. Neurological effects of acute uranium exposure with and without stress. NeuroToxicology, 28:1110-9.

Wasdo, S.C., Barber, D.S., Denslow, N.D., Powers, K.W., Palazuelos, M., Stevens, S.M., Jr., Moudgil, B., and Roberts, S.M. 2007. Differential Binding of Serum Proteins to Nanoparticles. Int. J. Nanotechnology. 5:92-115.

Barber, D.S., Stevens, S., and LoPachin, R.M. 2007. Proteomic analysis of rat striatal synaptosomes during acrylamide intoxication at a low dose rate. Toxicol. Sci. 100:156-167.

Griffitt, R.J., Weil, R.W., Denslow, N.D., Powers, K., Taylor, D., and Barber, D.S. 2007. Copper nanoparticles cause gill injury and acute lethality in zebrafish (Danio rerio). Environ. Sci. Technol. 41:8178-86.

Lopachin, R.M., Barber, D.S., and Gavin, T. Molecular mechanisms of the conjugated alpha, beta-unsaturated carbonyl derivatives: relevance to neurotoxicity and neurodegenerative diseases. Toxicol Sci. 2007 Dec 13; [Epub ahead of print]

Garcia-Reyero, N., Griffitt, R.J., Liu, L., Kroll, K.J., Farmerie, W.G., Barber, D.S. and Denslow, N.D. Construction of a robust microarray from a non-model species (Largemouth Bass) using pyrosequencing technology. J. Fish Biol., in press.

Griffitt, R.J., Luo, J., Gao, J., Bonzongo, J-C, and Barber, D.S., Toxicity of metallic nanoparticles is dependent on metal composition and species. Environ. Toxicol. Chem., in press.