Gillings School Directory
Rebecca Fry, PhD
Rebecca Fry, PhD
Carol Remmer Angle Distinguished Professor in Children’s Environmental Health
Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering
Associate Chair for Strategic Initiatives
Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering
Director of Graduate Studies
Curriculum in Toxicology
Research Professor
Department of Pediatrics
Director
Institute for Environmental Health Solutions (IEHS)
Dr. Fry is Director of the Institute for Environmental Health Solutions and The Carol Remmer Angle Distinguished Professor in Children’s Environmental Health in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at UNC-Chapel Hill. Her lab focuses on understanding how environmental exposures to toxic substances are associated with human disease. With a particular focus on genomic and epigenomic perturbations, her labs use toxicogenomic and systems biology approaches to identify key molecular pathways that associate environmental exposure with diseases. A current focus in the lab is to study prenatal exposure to various environmental contaminants including arsenic, cadmium, and perflourinated chemicals. Dr. Fry aims to understand molecular mechanisms by which such early exposures are associated with long-term health effects in humans. Ultimately, Dr. Fry’s lab aims to identify mechanisms of contaminant-induced disease and the basis for inter-individual disease susceptibility.
Rebecca Fry in the Gillings news
- Professorship supports Fry's work toward healthier N.C.
- UNC researchers develop mapping tool to protect populations from environmental chemicals
- PFAS Testing Network releases final report, shares scientific recommendations for NC
- Researchers receive $900K+ in grants to investigate links between arsenic exposure, COVID-19 risk
- Styblo, Koller develop novel humanized mouse model with implications for studying arsenic exposure in humans
Honors and Awards
NAS Committee on Inorganic Arsenic2012, National Academy of Sciences
Teaching Innovation Award2014, Gillings School of Global Public Health
Teaching Innovation Award2012, Gillings School of Global Public Health
Newton Underwood Memorial Teaching Award2011, UNC Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering
PopTech Science Public Leadership Fellowship2010
Fellow2009, Aspen Cancer Conference
Pfizer Scholar in Public Health2009
Research Activities
Cancer
Child development
Environment (water)
Global health
Key Publications
Air toxics and epigenetic effects: Ozone altered microRNAs in the sputum of human subjects. Neil Alexis, Rebecca Bauer, Rebecca Fry, Ilona Jaspers, David Peden, Julia Rager, Elizabeth Sebastian (2014). American Journal of Physiology - Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, 306(12), L1129-L1137.
Cadmium exposure and the epigenome: Exposure-associated patterns of DNA methylation in leukocytes from mother-baby pairs. Allison Ashley-Koch, Tristan DeBussycher, Rebecca Fry, Jessica Laine, Marie Miranda, Julia Rager, Daniel Rojas, Alison Sanders, Lisa Smeester, Geeta Swamy, Fred Wright, Michael Wu, Yi-Hui Zhou (2014). Epigenetics, 9(2).
Cadmium levels in a North Carolina cohort: Identifying risk factors for elevated levels during pregnancy. Sharon Edwards, Rebecca Fry, Pamela Maxson, Marie Miranda (2014). Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.
Cellular interactions and biological responses to titanium dioxide nanoparticles in HepG2 and BEAS-2B cells: Role of cell culture media. Carl Blackman, David Demarini, Rebecca Fry, Micaela Killius, Andrew Kligerman, Raju Prasad, Steven Simmons, Robert Zucker (2014). Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis.
Cellular interactions and biological responses to titanium dioxide nanoparticles in HepG2 and BEAS-2B cells: Role of cell culture media. Carl Blackman, David DeMarini, Rebecca Fry, Micaela Killius, Andrew Kligerman, Raju Prasad, Steven Simmons, Robert Zucker (2014). Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis, 55(4), 336-342.
Sexual epigenetic dimorphism in the human placenta: Implications for susceptibility to stressors during the prenatal period. Martin, E., Smeester, L., Bommarito, P.A., Grace, M.R., Boggess, K., Kuban, K., Karagas, M.R., Marsit, C.J., O’Shea, T.M., Fry, R.C. (2017). Epigenomics.
A cross-study analysis of prenatal exposures to environmental contaminants and the epigenome: support for stress-responsive transcription factor occupancy as a mediator of gene-specific CpG methylation patterning. Martin EM, Fry RC (2016). Environmental Epigenetics.
Prenatal arsenic exposure and the epigenome: Identifying sites of 5-methyl cytosine alterations that predict functional changes in gene expression in newborn cord blood and subsequent birth outcomes. Rojas D, Rager JE, Smeester L, Bailey KA, Drobná Z, Rubio-Andrade M, Stýblo M, García-Vargas G, Fry RC (2014). Toxicology Science.
Maternal Arsenic Exposure, Arsenic Methylation Efficiency, and Birth Outcomes in the Biomarkers of Exposure to ARsenic (BEAR) Pregnancy Cohort in Mexico. Laine JE, Bailey KA, Rubio-Andrade M, Olshan AF, Smeester L, Drobná Z, Herring AH, Stýblo M, García-Vargas GG, Fry RC (2014). Environmental Health Perspectives.
Altered DNA Methylation Patterns in Individuals with Arsenicosis. Smeester L, Rager J, Zhang L, Guan X, Bailey K, Smith N, Garcia-Vargas G, Del Razo L, Drobna Z, Kelkar H, Schroth G, Styblo M, Fry RC (2011). Chemical Research in Toxicology.
Education
PhD, Biology, Tulane University, 2000
MS, Biology, Tulane University, 1997
BS, Biology, William Smith College, 1995
