As part of the 2024 Summer Lecture Series at the University of Michigan Biological Station in northern Michigan, Dr. Matthew Rand, an associate professor of environmental medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, will give a talk titled “Environmental Mercury Toxicity: Lessons From History, Hair, Microbes and Flies."

The event on the Pellston campus is free and open to the public.

Rand is an ecotoxicologist who studies the molecular mechanisms of how environmental factors impact animal development. Much of his work has focused on methylmercury (MeHg), a ubiquitous environmental contaminant and high-priority toxicant of great concern to human and wildlife health.

He has done innovative work regarding environmental mercury toxicity and the developmental effects of mercury exposure on animals. Using fruit flies as a model, Rand’s lab recently discovered that the developing muscular system is a sensitive target to methyl mercury along with the nervous system.

Founded in 1909, UMBS is one of the nation’s largest and longest continuously operating field research stations.

Laboratories and cabins are tucked into more than 10,000 acres along Douglas Lake just south of the Mackinac Bridge to support long-term climate research and education.