UC Foundation Professor Sean Richards lecturing his students during his Air and Water Pollution Control class in Holt Hall. Photo by Angela Foster.
Dr. Sean Richards, a UC Foundation professor in the Department of Biology, Geology and Environmental Science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, has spent the last 25 years conducting research.
Over that span, Richards has focused primarily on two research topics: ecotoxicology and environmental health. His work examines the exposure and effects of toxicants on bacteria, humans and ecosystems.
He currently serves as an associate editor for Ecological Risk Assessment: Ecotoxicology, is a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Food Quality Protection Act Science Review Board, and serves on the editorial board of the Global Journal of Environmental Science and Management.
Initially wanting to enter the game and fish management field, Richards transitioned into veterinary medicine before finding a path in toxicology at the University of Arkansas College of Medicine.
“I started as a biology major,” Richards said. “I was interested in natural ecosystems and the biology of life.”
====================================================
Click here for more “Behind the research at UTC” stories
====================================================
Why are ecotoxicology and environmental health of interest to you?
“There was a guy from the University of Arkansas Medical School who was talking about toxicology and the study of poisons—how you can study poisons as it relates to pharmaceuticals in the body, or you can study poisons as to how they relate to pollutants in the body. That was very intriguing to me, how one molecule in a body can change your entire physiology. Based on that one lecture, I applied to the medical school’s master’s program.
“I found a pivotal point that directed me toward toxicology. I was at the medical school and appreciated all the toxicity issues going on there, but I also had a strong love for the environment.
“I started studying the fate and transport effects of insecticides on songbirds, how those things get into ponds and rivers, and how they affect amphibians. I studied the pesticides that were put onto the farm crops: how much was in the soil, how it was transported offsite into the rivers, how it went into the insects, how those insects went into the birds, how the birds then fed them to their nestlings and how it affected their brain development.”
Tori McCroskey, a student working with Dr. Sean Richards, is researching placentas for toxic substances.
Where does your passion for this come from?
“I teach courses on human physiology or environmental science because I find it fascinating. I marvel at the complexities and beauty of both ecosystems and ecosystem functions, and at how intricately they work together to provide us with a living environment. We don’t have to do anything but walk around this planet. We’ve got fresh food, fresh water and fresh air provided to us at no cost.
“It cleans its own air. It cleans its own forest through things like forest fires. That amazes me: we, as humans, are just plopped down in the middle of this fully functioning ecosystem. If we take care of and don’t abuse, we could live and be completely taken care of with no input from us at all.”
What are you currently researching?
“I work a lot with Dr. Steve Symes in chemistry. He and I are very close collaborators. We started down the road of metabolomics, and it’s fascinating that your body is constantly breaking things down. The microbes in your gut are breaking things down. Depending on the type of bacteria that you have in your gut, they will produce different metabolites that end up getting into your blood. What you eat, genetics, lifestyle and fitness all affect which metabolites circulate in your blood.
“We can take a small sample of blood and basically look at a large number of these metabolites both in presence and in concentration, and that becomes a unique fingerprint for you. If you are a person who has a specific condition, say diabetes, that fingerprint oftentimes looks very much like other people with diabetes. Even if you didn’t know you had diabetes, we could take a blood sample from you and take that blood fingerprint and say, ‘You’ve got indicators of diabetes or prediabetes.’ We can do this with a whole host of diseases, everything from autism to cancer.
“It’s a wide-open field, fairly new, but that’s where I am right now. I’m working with physicians at Erlanger. We’ve got a study on endometriosis and endometrial cancer going on where we are taking blood, saliva and urine from women and measuring the metabolites in all three.”
For students interested in this field, what advice would you give them?
“You need to be engaged. You need to be engaged in the course and with your professors. You need to search for these opportunities and information online. We’re blessed with so much information at our fingertips that a lot of self-education can go on, but the most significant part is putting yourself out there, getting involved and making an effort.
“When you’re making that effort, you need to do it right the first time and be respectful of people’s time and understand that you have a unique opportunity to learn. We’re privileged to learn and do the things we do. I oftentimes say this kind of position is a lot more perspiration than intelligence. If you try, read and apply yourself, you can go as far as you want.”
Learn more
UTC Department of Biology, Geology and Environmental Science
