Laura Van Winkle (Thumbnail)

Co-Director, Pilot Projects Program, Environmental Health Sciences Center

Dr. Laura Van Winkle is a professor of Respiratory Toxicology at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. Her research focused on the interaction of environmental pollutants and specific lung regions, such as the distal conducting airway epithelium of the lung and how that contributes to lung remodeling.

The Van Winkle Lab is interested in exploring how exposure to lung toxicants leads to lung disease and alters normal lung biology. Pollutants under investigation include ozone, allergens, tobacco smoke, particulate matter, bisphenol A, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, such as naphthalene.

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Positions at UC Davis

  • Professor of Respiratory Toxicology
  • Center for Health and the Environment Faculty, Van Winkle Lab
  • Chair, Pharmacology and Toxicology Graduate Group at UC Davis

Areas of Expertise

  • Respiratory Pharmacology and Toxicology
  • Molecular, Cellular and Biochemical Toxicology
  • Environmental Toxicology
  • Developmental Toxicology

Major Research Papers

Biological dose response to PM2.5: effect of particle extraction method on platelet and lung responses. Toxicol Sci. 2015 Feb; 143(2):349-59. Van Winkle LS, Bein K, Anderson D, Pinkerton KE, Tablin F, Wilson D, Wexler AS. PMID: 25389146; PMCID: PMC4306718.

Fetal exposure of rhesus macaques to bisphenol a alters cellular development of the conducting airway by changing epithelial secretory product expression. Environ Health Perspect. 2013 Aug; 121(8):912-8. Van Winkle LS, Murphy SR, Boetticher MV, VandeVoort CA. PMID: 23757601; PMCID: PMC3734491.

Age specific responses to acute inhalation of diffusion flame soot particles: cellular injury and the airway antioxidant response. Inhal Toxicol. 2010 Dec; 22 Suppl 2:70-83. Van Winkle LS, Chan JK, Anderson DS, Kumfer BM, Kennedy IM, Wexler AS, Wallis C, Abid AD, Sutherland KM, Fanucchi MV. PMID: 20961279; PMCID: PMC3111018.

Airway mast cells in a rhesus model of childhood allergic airways disease. Toxicol Sci. 2010 Jul; 116(1):313-22. Van Winkle LS, Baker GL, Chan JK, Schelegle ES, Plopper CG. PMID: 20403968; PMCID: PMC2886865.

Impaired recovery from naphthalene-induced bronchiolar epithelial injury in mice exposed to aged and diluted sidestream cigarette smoke. Toxicol Lett. 2004 Dec 01; 154(1-2):1-9. Van Winkle LS, Brown CD, Shimizu JA, Gunderson AD, Evans MJ, Plopper CG. PMID: 15475173

Education and Degree(s)
  • BS, Pharmacology, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1987
  • PhD, Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of California, Davis, 1995