2026 Society of Toxicology (SOT) Annual Meeting Awards and Announcements

Congratulations to CIEHS members and their trainees who served as chairs, won awards, and presented at the Society of Toxicology (SOT) annual meeting that occurred March 22-25 in San Diego, CA (Members names in red).

The Society of Toxicology (SOT) Annual Meeting and ToxExpo is a premier international conference where scientists, trainees, and professionals discuss the latest advancements in toxicology. It features scientific sessions, networking events, career development opportunities for young scientists, and an exhibition showcasing cutting edge research and technology.

Awards:

Two publications out of Alex Carll’s laboratory received Paper of the Year Awards from SOT, including one award from the Inhalation and Respiratory Section for a paper in Journal of the American Heart Association (Anand Ramalingam et al., 2025) and another award from the Cardiovascular Toxicology Section for a paper in American Journal of Physiology - Heart and Circulatory Physiology (Brittany Reynolds et al. 2025).

Women in Toxicology Travel Award 
Winner: Andrea Arroyo 
Mentor: Alexandra Nail, States Lab

Best Abstract, Mixtures Specialty Section
Winner: Paxton Ames 
Mentor: Matthew Cave and Walter Watson

Metals Specialty Section Postdoctoral Research Award 
Winner: Idoia Meaza Isusi 
Mentor: John P. Wise, Sr.

Hispanic Organization of Toxicologists Travel Award
Winner: Idoia Meaza Isusi 
Mentor: John P. Wise, Sr.

Celebrating Women in Toxicology Award, Postdoctoral Category
Winner: Idoia Meaza Isusi 
Mentor: John P. Wise, Sr.

Inhalation and Respiratory Specialty Section (IRSS) Postdoctoral Award 
Winner: Idoia Meaza Isusi 
Mentor: John P. Wise, Sr.

Carl C. Smith Award
3rd Place: Esther Bolatimi
Mentor: Banrida Wahlang
*This Award is afforded by the SOT Mechanisms Specialty Section and in addition to its prestige, it is also the oldest Award given by Mechanisms.

Symposium Sessions: 

Tracking Biomarkers of Exposure and Biomarkers of Cardiovascular Harm of a Novel Non-nicotine Analog 
Daniel Conklin

Diet and Eating Pattern as Determinants of Air Pollution Susceptibility 
Petra Haberzettl

Oral Microplastics Consumption and Atherogenesis 
Timothy O’Toole

Generative Artificial Intelligence for Accessible Research Translation in Toxicology and Environmental Health and the Ethical Considerations 
Ted Smith

Poster Presentations (Author Underlined, CIEHS member in bold):

The RAD50 Zinc Hook Motif as a Vulnerable Target in Heavy Metal-Induced Genotoxicity 
A. Arroyo, A. N. Nail, M. Banerjee, and J. States.

Arsenic disrupts autophagosome-lysosome fusion in a zinc dependent manner 
M. Banerjee, R. V. Goff, S. Elmoustapha, and S. D. Thomas.

Sex-dependent Hepatotoxicity of an Environmentally Relevant Dioxin Mixture in a Humanized AHR Mouse Model 
O. E. Bolatimi, Y. Hua, S. Singh, P. Brizendine-Ames, A. Ekuban, G. J. Phillips, F. A. Ekuban, W. H. Watson, and B. Wahlang

Strain-Dependent Effects of Trichloroethylene Exposure and Western Diet in Wild Type and Humanized PPARα Mice 
P. M. Brizendine-Ames, A. Ekuban, M. Cave, and W. Watson

Mice Exposed to Chronic Cadmium Display Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension-like Pathogeneses 
D. D. Cathey, X. Hui, Y. Tan, J. Cai, L. Cai, and J. Huang

Environmental Pollution Exposures Indirectly Contribute to the Severity of Human Alcohol-Associated Steatohepatitis 
M. C. Cave, X. Li, M. R. Smith, J. Luo, W. Zhang, Y. Go, D. P. Jones, C. J. McClain, M. Kong, and H. Jiang

Advancing Chemical Exposomics: Untargeted and Targeted LC-MS Approaches for Phase II Metabolite Analyses 
J. Y. Chen, B. Taylor, T. Krivokhizhina, Z. Xie, P. Lorkiewicz, and S. Srivastava

Scrambling the Genome: Mechanisms of Cr(VI)-induced Chromosome Instability in Lung Carcinogenesis 
S. S. Diven, I. Meaza, D. Chiarugi, and J. P. Wise

Sex-Dependent Hepatotoxicity of Trichloroethylene in Humanized PPARα Mice Fed a Western Diet 
A. Ekuban, P. Ames, F. A. Ekuban, J. Luo, O. E. Bolatimi, Y. Hua, M. Iyer, C. Gorga, J. Hardesty, J. Schlezinger, B. Wahlang, M. Cave, and W. H. Watson

PPARα-Mediated Species-Specific Hepatic Responses to PFOS Exposure in Humanized and Knockout Mouse Models of Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease 
F. A. Ekuban, P. M. Ames, A. Ekuban, O. E. Bolatimi, A. Centers, Y. Hua, J. Luo, J. H. Hardesty, T. C. Gripshover, W. H. Watson, B. Wahlang, D. Bello, J. J. Schlezinger, C. J. McClain, and M. C. Cave

N-acetyltransferase 2 acetylator phenotype modifies N-acetylation, DNA damage and oxidative stress responses of 2-amino-9H-pyrido[2,3-b]indole 
D. W. Hein, R. A. Salazar-González, and M. A. Doll

Effect of Heat Stress on Vascular Functions 
H. Husain, S. McFall, A. Hussain, M. V. Malovichko, I. Zelko, J. Hellmann, D. J. Conklin, and S. Srivastava

Neuroinflammation in Rats after 90 Day Drinking Water Exposure to Low Concentration Hexavalent Chromium 
H. Jamal, S. H. Roof, S. T. Vielee, W. J. Buchanan, H. Lu, S. S. Dive, I. Meaza, J. L. Wise, and J. P. Wise Jr.

A Survey of DNA Damage and Metal Exposure in American Alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) in Florida 
H. Lu, I. Meaza, R. M. Wise, J. T. Wise, S. S. Diven, T. J. Croom-Pérez, J. H. Toyoda, and J. P. Wise, Sr

Immune Dysregulation in E-Cigarette Users: Contribution of Volatile Organic Compounds and Nicotine 
M. V. Malovichko, M. Etemadi, T. Malik, T. V. Krivokhizhina, M. Kulkarni, R. J. Keith, P. K. Lorkiewicz, A. Bhatnagar, D. Riggs, and S. Srivastava

A New Model for Studying Arsenic-induced Skin Carcinogenesis 
A. N. Nail, M. Banerjee, A. P. Ferragut Cardoso, S. Thomas, J. Hwang, J. W. Park, and J. C. States

β-Adrenergic Inhibition Prevents Gestational E-cig Exposure-Induced Sympathetic Dominance and Ventricular Arrhythmias throughout Pregnancy and Postpartum 
B. R. Reynolds, L. Watson, H. E. Collins, and A. P. Carll

Investigating the Effects of Chronic Arsenic Exposure in Human Keratinocytes Overexpressing hsa-miR-362 
J. L. Scott, G. Rodriguez, T. B. Emran, L. Abozaid, and J. C. States

Sex- and Diet-Specific Disruption of the Adipose-Liver Axis with Subchronic Exposure to a Dioxin Mixture 
K. D. Stewart, O. E. Bolatimi, G. J. Phillips, Y. Hua, and B. Wahlang

Spatial single-cell transcriptomic analysis of benzene-exposed atherosclerotic plaque 
B. Taylor, S. McFall, M. Malovichko, S. Srivastava, and I. N. Zelko

A Lesson in Exposure Relevance: How Cr(VI) Concentrations Change Pathways of Toxicity in a C. elegans Model 
S. T. Vielee, H. Lu, N. Besaw, L. Cai, M. Aschner, and J. Wise, Jr.

Sex-Specific Hippocampal Metabolomic Perturbations Following Chronic Hexavalent Chromium Exposure in Guinea Pigs 
Q. Wise, S. T. Vielee, M. Delnicki, G. C. Griffin, S. S. Diven, J. Easley, J. C. Kouokam, I. Meaza, H. Lu, A. Brownell, S. F. Gueye, N. Butzke-Souza, J. T. Wise, A. I. Vitorino Maia, F. Donnarumma, J. P. Wise Sr., J. L. Wise, and J. P. Wise Jr.