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. Our current research projects span from studies that evaluate remediation strategies of managed aquatic systems (e.g., wetlands, reservoirs), understanding how perturbations are impacting contaminants on the landscape (e.g., sea-level rise, permafrost thaw), and how metals could impact humans through aerosols. Check out the Research page for more information!

Recent Lab News

2-Year Postdoc Position Available on Metals in Arctic Rivers!

Achievement Rewards for College Scientists

Virginia Krause awarded the prestigious scholar award from ARCS!

Ania Szlembarska awarded the ETOX Matsumura Research Fellowship

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New study and video document concerns of metal mobilization from thawing permafrost!

Iron rock drainage on the Igning River, Gates of the Arctic National Park

Blue crab checking out a pore water sipper (Shark River, Everglades National Park)

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

Cape Krusenstern Nat. Monument, Alaska (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)

Periphyton from the Florida Everglades used for experiments on mercury methylation

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)

Our trusty YSI measuring in-situ conditions of an acidic seep (pH 2.5!) on the Agashashok River (Noatak National Preserve)

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

Waters samples from the Nakolikruk Creek staged for filtering (Noatak National Preserve)

Brett Poulin with an crystal analyzer at ID26 of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), Nov 2023

Red Mangrove stands at low tide in the coastal Shark River, Everglades National Park

Ben Peterson filtering water on Kelly River (Alaska) at sunset

PhD student Taylor Evinger collecting water for the radiocarbon age of DOC in thermokarst lakes, Alaska

PhD Student Mark Salazar presenting at the Society of Toxicology meeting (March, 2024)

PhD student Ania Szlembarska and Brett Poulin sampling pore water from mangroves along the Shark River in Everglades National Park.

Students of ETX180 tour the Advanced Light Source (Spring, 2024).

Fall 2024 Lab Outing - strikes and gutters...