The Fetal Toxicology research team is directed toward achieving a better understanding of the mechanisms and pathogenesis associated with a variety of environmentally induced or genetically based birth defects.

• Discovered that high doses of alcohol administered to pregnant mice, the equivalent to binge drinking during the third week in human pregnancy, resulted in craniofacial birth defects that paralleled those reported in babies with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. This helped establish that the birth defects clearly were due to alcohol.

• Found the effects of ethanol and other teratogens (agents that cause fetal damage) depend on the dose and timing of exposure.

• Developed new methods to study how chemicals disrupt neural crest cells, an early embryonic cell group involved in the formation of nervous tissue. These methods are providing opportunities to explore ways to reverse these birth defects.

The Center's Birth Defects Research Team isolated alcohol as the cause of a constellation of birth defects known as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS).

The pictures below show the similarities between a mouse and a child's facial abnormalities caused by drinking while pregnant compared to a mouse (far right) with normally developed facial features. Other FAS abnormalities include low birth weight and mental retardation.

FAS Education & Prevention Tools & Resources

More Information about the Fetal Toxicology Research Team

For publications see Dr. Sulik's page

Article on lab's research from the Center Line newsletter

Article on graduate student Jan Smith's award from the Teratology Society