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Rufer, Echoleah
 Echoleah Fluegel Rufer - Email
PhD Candidate - Started 2004
Native of Wisconsin
Lab of Susan Smith, PhD
Undergraduate Work
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Bachelor of Science, Pharmacology & Toxicology (2004)
Memberships
Research Society on Alcoholism (2007 - Present), Society of Toxicology (2005 - 2007), Science Alliance (2004 – present), METC Student Liaison Committee (2005 - 2007), METC Graduate Achievement and Curriculum Committee (2005 – 2007)
Interests/Hobbies
Reading, scrapbooking, spending time with family
Funding
National Research Service Award Predoctoral Traineeship (NIEHS Training Grant T32, 09/2006 to 08/2009)
Awards
2009-March - Society of Toxicology's, Neurotoxicology Specialty Section Best Abstract Award
2008-July - Selected as finalist for the Enoch Gordis Young Investigators Award at the annual meeting of Research Society on Alcholism's (RSA). Awarded student merit travel award.
2008 - June Vilas Travel Award, University of Wisconsin
Research as of Fall 2009
Prenatal alcohol exposure is the leading known cause of mental retardation. Because prevention of alcohol use is difficult there is great interest in therapies that ameliorate alcohol?s damage. The severity of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) increases with parity, implying the depletion of a protective maternal factor, perhaps nutritional. Although micronutrient deficiencies (e.g. vitamins, minerals) are common in alcoholics this hypothesis remains largely untested. Because chronic alcohol consumption may alter micronutrient homeostasis, as well as its effects on food choice and intake, there is growing interest in the potential interaction between maternal nutrient status and alcohol-induced fetal injury.
Iron deficiency is the most common single nutrient deficiency in women, affecting 22% of women of child-bearing age (Stoltzfus 2001). Iron inadequacy (ID) strongly correlates with maternal parity (Milman et al. 1992). Importantly, Streissguth et al. (1983) found that 10-20% of alcoholic pregnant women, 50% in the heaviest drinkers, were iron deficient. In human and animal studies, gestational ID produces psychomotor deficits that affect attention, learning and motor skills. These deficits can occur even when overt anemia is absent. Developmental ID causes neurodevelopmental deficits that parallel FASD, thus I hypothesize that ID and alcohol may synergize to heighten alcohol's neurotoxicity.
I found that ID dams had iron inadequacy without anemia, a condition that is common in U.S. women. At P10, ID pups had ID with anemia. We evaluated the pups? associative learning skills using short-delay ECC, a simple cerebellum-dependent task. There was no difference in the frequency or amplitude of conditioned responses (CR) reached by pups in the ID-0, IS-0, IS-3.5, and IS-5 groups. In contrast, ID-5 pups had a dramatically reduced frequency and strength of CR; values were ~30% of control values. Main effects for pup iron status and alcohol dose and a significant iron status x alcohol dose interaction were seen for both CR frequency and CR strength. Our work is the first to demonstrate that a moderate maternal iron inadequacy profoundly exacerbates the effects of alcohol upon learning in offspring.
Publications- Rufer ES, Tran T, Attridge MM, and Smith SM. Moderate maternal iron inadequacy worsens the neurobehavioral outcomes of developmental alcohol exposure in adolescent rats. (In preparation)
- Rufer ES, Attridge MM, Hassen Z, and Smith SM. Moderate maternal iron deficiency modulates cerebellar dysmorphology caused by developmental alcohol exposure. (In preparation)
- Tran T, Rufer ES, and Smith SM. Moderate maternal iron deficiency exacerbates cerebellar neuronal losses caused by developmental alcohol exposure in off spring. (In preparation)
- Rufer ES, Hacker TA, Flentke GR, Drake VJ, Brody MJ, Lough J, and Smith SM. 2009. Altered Cardiac Function and Ventricular Septal Defect in Avian Embryos Exposed to Low-Dose Trichloroethylene. (Submitted to Environmental Health Perspectives August 2009)
Oral Presentations At National Meetings- Rufer ES, Tran T, Attridge MM, and Smith SM. Moderate maternal iron inadequacy worsens the neurobehavioral outcomes of developmental alcohol exposure in adolescent rats. (In preparation)
- Rufer ES, Attridge MM, Hassen Z, and Smith SM. Moderate maternal iron deficiency modulates cerebellar dysmorphology caused by developmental alcohol exposure. (In preparation)
- Tran T, Rufer ES, and Smith SM. Moderate maternal iron deficiency exacerbates cerebellar neuronal losses caused by developmental alcohol exposure in off spring. (In preparation)
- Rufer ES, Hacker TA, Flentke GR, Drake VJ, Brody MJ, Lough J, and Smith SM. 2009. Altered Cardiac Function and Ventricular Septal Defect in Avian Embryos Exposed to Low-Dose Trichloroethylene. (Submitted to Environmental Health Perspectives August 2009)
Posters- Rufer ES, Tran T, and Smith SM. 2009. Moderate maternal iron inadequacy exacerbates neurobehavioral deficits of developmental alcohol exposure in adolescent rats. Research Society on Alcoholism Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA.
- Rufer ES, Tran T, and Smith SM. 2009. Moderate maternal iron inadequacy exacerbates neurobehavioral deficits of developmental alcohol exposure in adolescent rats. Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD.
- Rufer ES, Tran T, and Smith SM. 2008. Moderate maternal iron inadequacy exacerbates neurobehavioral outcomes of developmental alcohol exposure in adolescent rats. International Society for Developmental Psychobiology, Washington, DC.
- Rufer ES, Tran T, and Smith SM. 2008. Moderate maternal iron inadequacy worsens neurobehavioral outcomes of developmental alcohol exposure in adolescent rats. Research Society on Alcoholism Annual Meeting, Washington, DC.
- Rufer ES, Tran T, and Smith SM. 2008. Moderate maternal iron inadequacy worsens neurobehavioral outcomes of developmental alcohol exposure in adolescent rats. Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA.
- Rufer ES, Hacker TA, Lough JW, and Smith SM. 2008. Low-dose trichloroethylene exposure during valvuloseptal morphogenesis causes ventricular septal defects in hatched chicks. Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA.
- Rufer ES, Drake VJ, Hacker TA, Lough JW, and Smith SM. 2007. Determination of the Cardioteratogenic Window for Low-Dose Trichloroethylene Exposure to Chick Embryos. Weinstein Cardiovascular Development Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana.
- Rufer ES, Drake VJ, Lough JW, and Smith SM. 2006. Examination of the Critical Window for Low Dose Trichloroethylene Exposure to Chick Embryos. Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA.
- Drake VJ, Fluegel ES, Daleo MA, Lough JW, and Smith SM. 2005. Trichloroethylene Exposure Increases Cardiac Cushion Proliferation and Cellularity in the Chick Embryo. Weinstein Cardiovascular Development Conference, Tuscon, AZ.
Echo Rufer (standing)
Susan Smith, PhD (sitting)
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