Hello everyone, My co-authors and I are pleased to announce and share our recent paper titled: Contaminant-Associated Disruption of the Skin Transcriptome in the Endangered St. Lawrence Estuary Beluga Antoine É. Simond, Véronique Lesage, Jonathan Verreault, Lisa Loseto, Magali Houde, Ashley Elliott, Marie Noël, and Tanya M. Brown Abstract The St. Lawrence Estuary (SLE) beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) population in Canada is Endangered, and endocrine disrupting contaminants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and other halogenated flame retardants, have been identified as a threat to the recovery of this population. Here, potential impacts of these contaminants on SLE beluga were evaluated by comparing skin transcriptome profiles and biological pathways between this population and a population less exposed to contaminants (Eastern Beaufort Sea) used as a reference. Differential gene expression analysis indicated potential seasonal or geography-related (Arctic vs temperate regions) effects on the skin transcriptome. Among the gene transcripts that were associated with Σ31PCB (123 genes), Σ29PBDE (198 genes), HBB (347 genes), and PBEB (126 genes) blubber concentrations, several were related to immune response pathways. In addition, 18 toxicology-related gene transcripts selected from the literature were correlated with organohalogen concentrations and were used to derive new threshold values in beluga skin for potential biological effects of ΣPCB (1,500 ng/g lw), ΣPBDE (52 ng/g lw), and two other flame retardants, i.e., HBB (1.2 ng/g lw) and PBEB (0.04 ng/g lw). Results suggest that exposure to these organohalogens pose a risk to the immune system of SLE beluga. DOI: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.4c08272 The paper is open access and can be downloaded here: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.4c08272 Please contact me at asimond@sfu.ca <mailto:asimond@sfu.ca> if you would like a copy of the manuscript or if you have any questions. Best regards, ********************************************************* Antoine Simond, Ph.D. Chercheur postdoctoral | Postdoctoral Research Fellow Simon Fraser University Resource & Environmental Management Pacific Science Enterprise Centre 4160 Marine Drive West Vancouver (BC), Canada V7V 1N6 Courriel | E-mail: asimond@sfu.ca<mailto:simond.antoine@courrier.uqam.ca> ********************************************************* I live and work on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples of the šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmaɁɬ təməxʷ (Musqueam), S’ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō), Stz’uminus, Skwxwú7mesh-ulh Temíx̱w (Squamish), and Səl̓ilwətaɁɬ təməxʷ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. « We feel fundamentally disconnected from nature and therefore not responsible for the ecological consequences of our actions. Once we learn that our very being, essence, health and happiness depend on Mother Earth, we have no choice but to radically shift the way we treat her. » - David Suzuki.