HMP 2010: Valerie Meyers, Ph.D., on Immune Suppression Study
Valerie Meyers, Ph.D., talks about her Immune Suppression Study this field season with the Haughton-Mars Project.
Dr. Meyers received a B.A. in chemistry from Texas A&M University in 2000 and a Ph.D. in pathology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2004. She is certified in general toxicology by the American Board of Toxicology. After working briefly as a scientific writer, she joined the toxicology group at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality where she developed effects screening levels (ESLs) for air monitoring and industrial air permitting, performed risk assessments, and communicated risk to the public, industry representatives, advocacy groups, and government officials. Since 2008, she has been a scientist with Wyle’s Integrated Science and Engineering Group supporting NASA’s toxicology office at the Johnson Space Center. In this position, Dr. Meyers performs toxicity hazard assessments of spacecraft payload and system chemicals and develops interim spacecraft maximum allowable concentrations (SMACs) to protect astronauts from toxic exposures. Currently, she is conducting and participating in a five-week study on immune suppression on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic. The field work consists primarily of collecting saliva samples as part of the viral reactivation project being conducted by NASA’s microbiology group and analyzing specific markers on the surface of T cells.
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Dr. Valerie Meyers
Scientist, Toxicology
Wyle, Integrated Science and Engineering Group
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Credit: NASA/Mars Institute/Haughton-Mars Project
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