UC Davis - Poulin Research Group

Welcome!

Welcome! The Poulin lab is a young group of multidisciplinary researchers in the Environmental Toxicology Department at UC Davis. Our research focuses on understanding and addressing issues of metal contaminants in man-made and natural environments. The research carried out by our group helps decrease the amount of metals humans and wildlife are exposed to and improves the understanding of the toxicologic pathways of metals.

Recent Lab News

Congrats to Bryce Cook for completing his MS (!), and welcome to new PhD student Ania Szlembarska and undergraduate researcher Emily Richter

Congrats to Ben Peterson on his new paper in ISME(!!), which shows the diversity of microorganisms that can methylate mercury in reservoirs!

New study published in ES&T Letters highlights the sensitivity of dissolved organic sulfur to photo-oxidation

New ESPI paper on the coupled biogeochemical and hydrologic processes controlling methylmercury in a river-reservoir system

New publication by Ben Peterson on the Florida Everglades!

Subscribe to Recent Articles

New Conceptual Model of Mercury Toxicology in Birds

Our new studies define a new conceptual model to understand mercury detoxification in birds.

Hells Canyon Dam, Snake River (Idaho) (credit: Brett Poulin)

Cape Krusenstern Nat. Monument, Alaska (credit: Brett Poulin)

"Sea of Grass", Florida Everglades (credit: Brett Poulin)

Peat core from Frozen Pond Fen, Alaska (credit: Brett Poulin)

Pore water, Florida Everglades (credit: Brett Poulin)

Flasks for dissolved gaseous mercury measurements, Eight Mile Lake, Denali State Park Alaska (credit: Brett Poulin)

Snake River Dam Graffiti (credit: Brett Poulin)

X-ray Emission Spectrometer for tender X-ray range, ESRF ID26 (credit: Brett Poulin)

Dissolved Organic Matter Across A Wetland Gradient, Frozen Pond Fen Alaska (Credit: Brett Poulin)

Beaver Pond in Noatak Nat. Preserve, Alaska (credit: Jon O'Donnell)

Sampling Everglades wetlands by airboat (credit: Brett Poulin)

Tissue samples for Hg speciation by HERFD-XANES, ESRF ID26 (credit: Brett Poulin)

Postdoc researcher Ben Peterson sampling a sediment core from Rabbit Creek beaver pond for field experimentation (Cape Krusenstern NP, Alaska) (credit: Brett Poulin)

PhD student Virginia Krause collecting pore water along the Snake River (credit: Brett Poulin)

Lab group outing at the Sacramento Kings basketball game (Feb., 2023)

Jeff Murray presenting his research on mercury in fish in the Arctic at the UC Davis Undergraduate Research, Scholarship & Creative Activities Conference (April, 2023)

Comfort Chukwuere (PhD student) sampling water at depth in a selenium-impaired lake in Michigan.