Caren Weinhouse, Ph.D.

  • Assistant Professor, Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences

Biography

My research program focuses on mechanisms of transcriptional regulation and epigenetic patterning in response to environmental cues or stressors, with a particular focus on chemical pollutants. I completed my PhD at University of Michigan, where I studied epigenetic modifications at the metastable epiallele viable yellow Agouti and DNA methylation changes in mice with developmental bisphenol A exposure that subsequently developed liver cancer. I completed my postdoctoral training at Duke University, where I studied DNA methylation differences in methylmercury-exposed communities living near artisanal and small-scale gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon. In my current work, I focus on the relative roles of stochastic heterogeneity, genetic variation, and environmental stressor exposures in epigenetic and gene expression profiles among cells, cell types, and individuals in a population. In addition, I study the roles of baseline chromatin states and structures in regulating transcription of environmental stress response genes, as well as formation of transcriptional memories at these genes. My broader goal is to translate mechanistic environmental epigenetics to human populations, or "bench to community" translation. 

Education and training

  • Degrees

    • B.S., 2006, Wayne State University
    • M.P.H., 2011, University of Michigan School of Public Health
    • Ph.D., 2015, University of Michigan School of Public Health
  • Fellowship

    • NIH T32 Environmental Toxicology and Epidemiology Program, University of Michigan
    • Duke Global Health Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship

Memberships and associations:

  • Society of Toxicology
  • Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society

Areas of interest

  • Chromatin features of inducible genes
  • Transcriptional memory
  • Gene x environment interactions in epigenetic patterning

Honors and awards

  • School of Public Health Dean's Award, University of Michigan
  • Rackham Graduate School/OVPR Distinguished Faculty/Graduate Student Seminar Award, University of Michigan [Awarded to develop a new Data Visualization seminar on campus]
  • SciComm Science Communication Fellowship, Duke Initiative for Science and Society [Awarded to 15 faculty and 8 postdoctoral fellows across Duke University]

Publications

Publications

  • In Utero Exposure to Metals and Birth Outcomes in an Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining Birth Cohort in Madre de Dios, Peru

    Environmental health perspectives
    1. Axel J. Berky
    2. Caren Weinhouse
    3. Joao Vissoci
    4. Nelson Rivera
    5. Ernesto J. Ortiz
    6. Susy Navio
    7. J. Jaime Miranda
    8. Andres Mallipudi
    9. Emma Fixen
    10. Heileen Hsu-Kim
    11. William K. Pan
  • Stability of Free Available Chlorine Levels in Dilute Sodium Hypochlorite Solutions over a 6-Week Period

    Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science
    1. Christopher K. Gow
    2. Caren Weinhouse
    3. Graham O.Brien Johnson
    4. Kim E. Saunders
  • A population-based mercury exposure assessment near an artisanal and small-scale gold mining site in the Peruvian Amazon

    Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology
    1. Caren Weinhouse
    2. John A. Gallis
    3. Ernesto Ortiz
    4. Axel J. Berky
    5. Ana Maria Morales
    6. Sarah E. Diringer
    7. James Harrington
    8. Paige Bullins
    9. Laura Rogers
    10. John Hare-Grogg
    11. Heileen Hsu-Kim
    12. William K. Pan
  • CoNaMad-Cohorte de Nacimiento de Madre de Dios/madre de dios birth cohort to study effects of in-utero trace metals exposure in the southern peruvian amazon

    Annals of Global Health
    1. William K. Pan
    2. Caren Weinhouse
    3. Ernesto J. Ortiz
    4. Axel J. Berky
    5. Emma Fixsen
    6. Andres Mallipudi
    7. Beth J. Feingold
    8. Suzy Navio
    9. Nelson A. Rivera
    10. Heileen Hsu-Kim
    11. J. Jaime Miranda
  • Efficacy of hair total mercury content as a biomarker of methylmercury exposure to communities in the area of artisanal and small-scale gold mining in madre de dios, Peru

    International journal of environmental research and public health
    1. Faye Koenigsmark
    2. Caren Weinhouse
    3. Axel J. Berky
    4. Ana Maria Morales
    5. Ernesto J. Ortiz
    6. Eric M. Pierce
    7. William K. Pan
    8. Heileen Hsu-Kim
  • The roles of inducible chromatin and transcriptional memory in cellular defense system responses to redox-active pollutants

    Free Radical Biology and Medicine
    1. Caren Weinhouse
  • Predictors of mitochondrial DNA copy number and damage in a mercury-exposed rural Peruvian population near artisanal and small-scale gold mining

    Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis
    1. Axel J. Berky
    2. Ian T. Ryde
    3. Beth Feingold
    4. Ernesto J. Ortiz
    5. Lauren H. Wyatt
    6. Caren Weinhouse
    7. Heileen Hsu-Kim
    8. Joel N. Meyer
    9. William K. Pan
  • Hair mercury level is associated with anemia and micronutrient status in children living near artisanal and small-scale gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon

    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
    1. Caren Weinhouse
    2. Ernesto J. Ortiz
    3. Axel J. Berky
    4. Paige Bullins
    5. John Hare-Grogg
    6. Laura Rogers
    7. Ana Maria Morales
    8. Heileen Hsu-Kim
    9. William K. Pan
  • Mitochondrial-epigenetic crosstalk in environmental toxicology

    Toxicology
    1. Caren Weinhouse
  • Novel epigenetic biomarkers mediating bisphenol a exposure and metabolic phenotypes in female mice

    Endocrinology
    1. Olivia S. Anderson
    2. Jung H. Kim
    3. Karen E. Peterson
    4. Brisa N. Sanchez
    5. Karilyn E. Sant
    6. Maureen A. Sartor
    7. Caren Weinhouse
    8. Dana C. Dolinoy
  • Epigenome-wide DNA methylation analysis implicates neuronal and inflammatory signaling pathways in adult murine hepatic tumorigenesis following perinatal exposure to bisphenol A

    Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis
    1. Caren Weinhouse
    2. Maureen A. Sartor
    3. Christopher Faulk
    4. Olivia S. Anderson
    5. Karilyn E. Sant
    6. Craig Harris
    7. Dana C. Dolinoy
  • Stat3 is a candidate epigenetic biomarker of perinatal Bisphenol A exposure associated with murine hepatic tumors with implications for human health

    Epigenetics
    1. Caren Weinhouse
    2. Ingrid L. Bergin
    3. Craig Harris
    4. Dana C. Dolinoy
  • Dose-dependent incidence of hepatic tumors in adult mice following perinatal exposure to bisphenol A

    Environmental health perspectives
    1. Caren Weinhouse
    2. Olivia S. Anderson
    3. Ingrid L. Bergin
    4. David J. Vandenbergh
    5. Joseph P. Gyekis
    6. Marc A. Dingman
    7. Jingyun Yang
    8. Dana C. Dolinoy
  • Adaptive radiation-induced epigenetic alterations mitigated by antioxidants

    FASEB Journal
    1. Autumn J. Bernal
    2. Dana C. Dolinoy
    3. Dale Huang
    4. David A. Skaar
    5. Caren Weinhouse
    6. Randy L. Jirtle
  • Bisphenol A-associated epigenomic changes in prepubescent girls

    Environmental Health: A Global Access Science Source
    1. Jung H. Kim
    2. Laura S. Rozek
    3. Amr S. Soliman
    4. Maureen A. Sartor
    5. Ahmed Hablas
    6. Ibrahim A. Seifeldin
    7. Justin A. Colacino
    8. Caren Weinhouse
    9. Muna S. Nahar
    10. Dana C. Dolinoy
  • Epigenetic responses following maternal dietary exposure to physiologically relevant levels of bisphenol A

    Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis
    1. Olivia S. Anderson
    2. Muna S. Nahar
    3. Christopher Faulk
    4. Tamara R. Jones
    5. Chunyang Liao
    6. Kurunthachalam Kannan
    7. Caren Weinhouse
    8. Laura S. Rozek
    9. Dana C. Dolinoy
  • An expression microarray approach for the identification of metastable epialleles in the mouse genome

    Epigenetics
    1. Caren Weinhouse
    2. Olivia S. Anderson
    3. Tamara R. Jones
    4. Jung Kim
    5. Shayna A. Liberman
    6. Muna S. Nahar
    7. Laura S. Rozek
    8. Randy L. Jirtle
    9. Dana C. Dolinoy
  • Variable histone modifications at the Avy metastable epiallele

    Epigenetics
    1. Dana C. Dolinoy
    2. Caren Weinhouse
    3. Tamara R. Jones
    4. Laura S. Rozek
    5. Randy L. Jirtle