Where's the beef? Egg yolk is induced in turtle and fish by estrogen in runoff from beef farms

Dr. Eva Oberdörster
Department of Biological Sciences, SMU

Campus Map to the Dedman Life Sciences Building (Building 30). 

Eva Oberdörster received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with a minor in Anthropology in 1992 from Binghamton University, Binghamton, N.Y. She received her Ph.D. in Zoology at Duke University in 1997, where she was a student in the Integrated Toxicology Program. She was a post-doctoral Fellow at Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research at Tulane University, New Orleans, where she worked with Dr. J. A. McLachlan. In 2001 she became an Assistant Professor of Biochemical Ecotoxicology and Molecular Toxicology at Clemson University in the Department of Environmental Toxicology, where she remains an Adjunct Professor.

Dr. Oberdörster joined the faculty of Southern Methodist University in 2001 where she is a Lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences.

The research interests of Dr. Oberdörster are not only significant, but timely, as they focus on the effects of chemical pollutants on the reproductive success of aquatic animals. She and her colleagues have identified several physiological and biochemical changes (molt, reproduction in crustacea; feminization in fish and turtles; binding of contaminants to egg yolk; changes in P450s) which can be linked to endocrine disruption. The question is "so what?". What are the consequences on the population after exposure to contaminants which interact with the endocrine system?