Research Officer & PhD
BSc(Hons)
Katherine is a final year PhD student studying the toxic effects of biodiesel exhaust exposure. Biodiesel is a renewable diesel fuel that can be made from almost any fat or oil, including the waste from cooking fryers. Katherine’s research has shown that it is critical that the right type of oil is used to make the biodiesel, in order to minimise health impacts of exhaust exposure. Children are some of the most at risk from air pollution due to their still growing lungs and it is vital that the right type of biodiesel is chosen before more widespread usage, in order to minimise those health impacts.
Katherine studied genetics and biochemistry at the University of Western Australia and completed her Honours in 2016 in the field of cancer immunology. She is currently completing her PhD at Curtin University in the fields of Public Health and Toxicology. She is interested in continuing research in the toxicology field, particularly on how everyday environmental exposures can have great impacts on health.
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Publications
March 2023
Respiratory Health Effects of In Vivo Sub-Chronic Diesel and Biodiesel Exhaust Exposure
Biodiesel, which can be made from a variety of natural oils, is currently promoted as a sustainable, healthier replacement for commercial mineral diesel despite little experimental data supporting this. The aim of our research was to investigate the health impacts of exposure to exhaust generated by the combustion of diesel and two different biodiesels.
Asthma Published research Airway Epithelial Research Respiratory Environmental Health Child and adolescent healthOctober 2022Biodiesel feedstock determines exhaust toxicity in 20% biodiesel: 80% mineral diesel blends
To address climate change concerns, and reduce the carbon footprint caused by fossil fuel use, it is likely that blend ratios of renewable biodiesel with commercial mineral diesel fuel will steadily increase, resulting in biodiesel use becoming more widespread.
Published research Airway Epithelial Research Respiratory Environmental Health Subsite: WalyanSeptember 2022Biodiesel Exhaust Toxicity with and without Diethylene Glycol Dimethyl Ether Fuel Additive in Primary Airway Epithelial Cells Grown at the Air-Liquid Interface
Biodiesel usage is increasing steadily worldwide as the push for renewable fuel sources increases. The increased oxygen content in biodiesel fuel is believed to cause decreased particulate matter (PM) and increased nitrous oxides within its exhaust.
Published research Airway Epithelial Research Respiratory Environmental Health Subsite: WalyanApril 2022Toxicity of different biodiesel exhausts in primary human airway epithelial cells grown at air-liquid interface
Biodiesel is created through the transesterification of fats/oils and its usage is increasing worldwide as global warming concerns increase. Biodiesel fuel properties change depending on the feedstock used to create it.
Published research Airway Epithelial Research Respiratory Environmental HealthMay 2022Azithromycin inhibits mucin secretion, mucous metaplasia, airway inflammation, and airways hyperresponsiveness in mice exposed to house dust mite extract
Excessive production, secretion, and retention of abnormal mucus is a pathological feature of many obstructive airways diseases including asthma. Azithromycin is an antibiotic that also possesses immunomodulatory and mucoregulatory activities, which may contribute to the clinical effectiveness of azithromycin in asthma.
Asthma Published research Respiratory Environmental Health Allergy Immune systemOctober 2021In Vitro primary human airway epithelial whole exhaust exposure
The method outlined in this article is a customization of the whole exhaust exposure method generated by Mullins et al. (2016) using reprogrammed primary human airway epithelial cells as described by Martinovich et al. (2017). It has been used successfully to generate recently published data (Landwehr et al. 2021). The goal was to generate an exhaust exposure model where exhaust is collected from a modern engine, real-world exhaust concentrations are used and relevant tissues exposed to assess the effects of multiple biodiesel exposures.
Published research Airway Epithelial Research P4 Respiratory Health for Kids Respiratory Environmental HealthJuly 2021Fuel feedstock determines biodiesel exhaust toxicity in a human airway epithelial cell exposure model
Biodiesel is promoted as a sustainable replacement for commercial diesel. Biodiesel fuel and exhaust properties change depending on the base feedstock oil/fat used during creation. The aims of this study were, for the first time, to compare the exhaust exposure health impacts of a wide range of biodiesels made from different feedstocks and relate these effects with the corresponding exhaust characteristics.
Published research Airway Epithelial Research Respiratory Environmental Health -
Education and Qualifications
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Awards/Honours
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Active Collaborations