Please join Wayne State University's Center for Leadership in Environmental Awareness and Research (CLEAR) and Center for Urban Responses to Environmental Stressors (CURES) for their upcoming hybrid seminar on February 12, 2026 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. The seminar is free; registration is required.

The guest speaker will be Dr. Robyn L. Tanguay, Oregon State University. Dr, Tanguay will present, "Advancing Predictive Toxicology Through Automated Zebrafish Phenotyping and Molecular Analysis."

Toxicology in the 21st century faces two major challenges: evaluating newly introduced chemicals and reassessing those already widely in use. Zebrafish serve as a powerful model to meet these challenges because of their distinctive biological traits and conserved gene functions, which enable direct translation of findings to human health risk assessment. Using multi-dimensional zebrafish assays, researchers can quickly identify and compare the biological activities of chemicals, supporting more informed decision-making and deeper mechanistic insights.

This presentation will showcase how automated, high-throughput zebrafish screening, combined with computational biology and bioinformatics, enables rapid evaluation of thousands of chemicals. These methods reveal bioactivity profiles and mechanisms underlying toxicity, disease, and system dysfunction. Case studies will illustrate how high-dimensional zebrafish phenotypic data improve early hazard detection, enhance chemical safety predictions, and streamline prioritization for safer product development and environmental health protection.

The talk will emphasize how integrating in vivo zebrafish assays with computational tools opens new, transformative pathways for toxicology research and strengthens environmental health safeguards. By generating comprehensive data on zebrafish phenotypes and gene expression responses across a wide array of chemical structures, this approach facilitates accurate predictions of toxicity and biocompatibility. Ultimately, it guides science-based decisions for chemical safety and human health protection.

Biography: Dr. Robyn Leigh Tanguay is a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology at Oregon State University. She also directs the Superfund Research Center and the Sinnhuber Aquatic Research Laboratory. Dr. Tanguay earned her Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Cal State University-San Bernardino, her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of California-Riverside and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research group has pioneered a high-throughput zebrafish platform to evaluate and predict the toxicity of chemicals and chemical mixtures. Furthermore, she has dedicated herself to mentoring and guiding the next generation of scientists.

We hope  you are able to join us for this interesting talk.