Research

Human exposure to tens of thousands of chemical contaminants (the human “exposome”) occurs continually through air, drinking water, food, and dermal contact. Exposure to these chemicals has been linked to increasing rates of chronic disease, yet most compounds remain uncharacterized in terms of their toxicity and biological activity. With the number of chemicals in commerce (>350,000) continuously growing, the risk of their exposure to humans necessitates a comprehensive understanding of their health implications. Research in the Barrett group aims to answer two central questions:

1. What bioactive contaminants are present in the biological matrices (e.g., blood, serum) of diseased versus healthy humans?

2. What roles do these contaminants play in driving human disease at the mechanistic, molecular, and population levels?

To answer these questions, our group applies a multi-pronged strategy integrating non-targeted high-resolution mass spectrometry, exposomics and other multi-omics, protein affinity–guided pulldown approaches, chemical biology, and in vitro, in silico, and in vivo toxicological assays. This framework enables the discovery of new bioactive environmental chemicals and elucidation of their mechanisms of action in humans and other organisms.