Mitchell Turker
Oregon Health & Science University

Dr. Mitchell Turker is a Senior Scientist at the Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology (CROET) and a Professor of Medical and Molecular Genetics. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1984 and a J.D. from the Lewis and Clark Law School in 2008. Dr. Turker was a NSF postdoctoral fellow in Plant Biology and a faculty member at the University of Kentucky before moving to Oregon in 1996. Dr. Turker’s research emphasis is on the interaction between the environment and the cellular DNA, with a focus on early events in cancer initiation. These events include mutations, which are alterations in the DNA sequence, and epigenetic changes, which are more subtle DNA modifications. Ongoing research supported by NASA is designed to determine the effects of space radiation on cells in intact organs. An ongoing project supported by NIH will develop a model that will be used to test the ability of dietary compounds to prevent the transition of normal cells to cancer cells. Future work will examine the ethical, legal and social implications from rapid advances being made in epigenetic science, including the effects of chemical exposures.