Dr. Propper’s Environmental Endocrinology Laboratory studies on how environmental contaminants affect development, reproduction and behavior. We try to understand the interaction between the environment and molecular mechanisms involved in thyroid signaling during development, sexual differentiation of the gonads, and adult reproductive physiology and behavior. We investigate how individual compounds and complex mixes of environmental contaminants, such as those found in wastewater effluent and agricultural systems, impact reproduction and development in tadpole development and frog and fish reproductive behavior. We have projects ranging from the impact of arsenic on cancer and wound healing using zebrafish as models to using amphibian development and diversity as biomarkers for rural rice farmer pesticide exposure in Asia.