Alison Elder, PhD., is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Medicine in the School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY. She is a member of the Society of Toxicology, the American Thoracic Society, and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH). Dr. Elder received a B.S. in Chemistry with honors from Chatham College, Pittsburgh, PA, and then completed her Ph.D in Environmental Toxicology in 1997 at the University of CA, Irvine, with a focus on the effects of ozone on lung inflammation. She completed postdoctoral training at the University of Rochester, studying the effects of ambient particulate matter on the lungs and cardiovascular system. She later joined the faculty in the Department of Environmental Medicine. Dr. Elder has served on review panels for EPA and NIOSH extramural funding programs and is on the editorial board of the journal, Cardiovascular Toxicology. She also serves on the Chemical Substances Committee of ACGIH. Dr. Elder’s primary research is focused on the toxicological effects of both ambient and engineered nanosized particles that deposit in the respiratory tract. Areas of research commonality between these two fields include if and how the particles breech epithelial barriers and distribute to tissues outside of the respiratory tract, the dose-relatedness and mechanisms of responses in and outside of the respiratory tract (e.g. the cardiovascular and central nervous systems), how underlying disease status might affect response, and the physicochemical properties of nanosized particulates that are correlated with response. Dr. Elder’s research is funded by NIH, an NIEHS Environmental Health Sciences Center, and also through collaborative projects supported by EPA and DoD.

Representative publications:

Elder A, H Yang, R Gwiazda, X Teng, S Thurston, H He, G Oberdörster. A Testing Strategy for Nanomaterials of Unknown Toxicity: An Example using Platinum Nanoparticles of Different Shapes. Adv. Mater. 19: 3124-3129, 2007.

Elder A, JP Couderc, R Gelein, S Eberly, C Cox, X Xia, W Zareba, P Hopke, D Kittelson, M Frampton, M Utell, G Oberdörster. Effects of On-Road Highway Aerosol Exposures on Autonomic Responses in Aged, Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats. Inhal. Toxicol. 19: 1-12, 2007.

Elder A, R Gelein, V Silva, T Feikert, L Opanashuk, J Carter, R Potter, A Maynard, Y Ito, J Finkelstein, G Oberdörster. Translocation of Inhaled Ultrafine Manganese Oxide Particles to the Central Nervous System. Environ. Health Perspect. 114 (8): 1172-1178, 2006.

Medical Center Website

Respresentative Publications