Kavita R Dhanwada
Associate Dean
Associate Professor

McCollum Science Hall
kavita.dhanwada@uni.edu
Phone: (319) 273-5976

• Ph.D. 1992 Loyola University of Chicago, Maywood, IL., Department of Microbiology/Immunology
  • Dissertation: Characterization of human cell lines transformed by herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2) and human papilloma virus type 16 (HPV-16) and human papilloma virus type 18 (HPV-18).
• B.S. 1986 University of Illinois, Champaign, IL., Department of Microbiology

Research

Effects of pesticides on human cells. Pesticides are commonly used chemicals in the United States, particularly in the Midwest with its primarily agricultural economy. Atrazine is one of the most widely used herbicides in this region along with metolachlor (herbicide) and diazinon (insecticide). Thus, the frequent use of pesticides has lead to the contamination of natural water systems and drinking water. In fact, a recent study by the National Association of Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) found that in surface and ground water in the United States, atrazine, metolachlor and diazinon were the most frequently detected pesticides. The research question that we are very interested in asking is do these pesticides affect normal human cells when they are in contact with them and if so can they lead to any human health effects? We have shown that when normal cells are exposed to very low levels, even below the allowable limits of each pesticide, these normal cells grow slower compared to cells that have never been exposed to the pesticides. We are currently asking what happens inside the cell, at the molecular level, to produce the slower rate of growth in pesticide treated cells and how that may lead to alterations in human health.

Selected publications

Manske, M.K., L. Beltz, and K.R. Dhanwada. 2004. Low-level atrazine exposure decreases cell proliferation in human fibroblasts. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 46:438-44.

Dhanwada, K.R., Y. Deng and M.E. Clayton. 2004. Effects of pesticides atrazine, metolachlor and diazinon and binary mixtures on proliferation of human fibroblasts. International Journal of Global Health. 2:21-36.

Ustyugova, I.V., C. Zeman, K.R. Dhanwada, and Lisa Beltz. 2002. Nitrates/Nitrites alter lymphocyte proliferation and cytokine production. Arch Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 43:270-276.

Dhanwada, K.R, U. Vijapurkar, and M.Ascoli. 1996. Two mutations of the lutropin/choriogonadotropin receptor that impair signal transduction also interfere with receptor-mediated endocytosis. Molec. Endo. 10:544-554.

Dhanwada, K.R., M. Dickens, R. Neades, R. Davis and J.C. Pelling. 1995. Differential effects of UV-B and UV-C components of solar radiation on MAP kinase signal transduction pathways in epidermal keratinocytes. Oncogene. 11:1947-1953.

Liu, M., K.R. Dhanwada, D.F. Birt, S. Hecht, and J. C. Pelling. 1994. Increase in p53 protein half-life in mouse keratinocytes following UV-B irradiation. Carcinogenesis 15:1089-1093.

Dhanwada, K.R., L. Garrett, P. Smith, K.D. Thompson, A.D. Doster, and C. Jones. 1993. Characterization of human keratinocytes transformed by high risk human papillomavirus 16 and 18 and herpes simplex-2. J.Gen.Virol. 74:955-963.

Jones, C., F. Zhu, and K.R. Dhanwada. 1993. Analysis of a herpes simplex virus 2 fragment from the open reading frame of the large subunit of ribonucleotide reductase with transcriptional regulatory activity. DNA Cell Biol. 12:127-137.

Dhanwada, K.R., V. Veerisetty, F. Zhu, A. Razzaque,K.D. Thompson, C. Jones. 1992. Characterization of human fibroblasts transformed by human papilloma-virus type 16 and herpes virus 2 DNA sequences. J. Gen. Virol. 73:791-799.

Recently taught courses

I teach many courses for majors including Cell Biology, Cancer and Infectious Diseases, General Microbiology and laboratory sections of General Biology:  Cell Structure and Function.  I also have taught the non-majors course, Life:  Continutiy and Change, both lecture and lab.

Other courses