Examining Environmental Factors Related to Autism

Saleh Smadi, Verrazano Class of 2018, earned a degree in Biology and Minor in Arabic.

Saleh presenting at the Undergraduate Research Conference

My name is Saleh Smadi and I started the Verrazano program as a sophomore. When I started my working on my research thesis, I was very excited for the new world of wonders and fascinating experience that I am entering. I worked under the supervision of Dr. Abdeslem Elidrissi; one of the greatest faculty members in the biology department. Throughout his mentorship, I have closely observed his experiences while conducting research. I was fascinated by the broad world of research and was amazed by the amount of knowledge I started acquiring. Now, I had the opportunity to apply the knowledge I was learning from the college classes in all disciplines to my research. I felt that my entire life had change since I started research. My way of thinking and perceiving problems has changed by thinking deeper and trying to think out of the box. Here I started to see how everything is connected in the body the way it functions and the extraordinary system that we humans have. My capstone project was about “Gestational Exposure to DBP in the Etiology of Autism” that focuses mostly on the nervous system and the neurobehavioral alterations that are elicited by an environmental toxin found in plastic.

First, I started to look at the literature behind this research study by reading all articles that have been written on the DBP plasticizer and the way it effects the body as well as studying the nervous system and the brain that is the most outstanding organ in the body. I started to develop a greater understanding on animal behavior by performing behavioral tests on mice. Then I started to carry out further lab work utilizing biochemical techniques. In my opinion it is one of the greatest things that I have ever done. I observed my mentors strong work ethic and wanted to be like him. It amazed me every time I saw him doing work.

My duties mainly included handling the animals, dissecting them, carrying out experiments that requires biochemical techniques such as: immunohistochemistry, western blot, protein estimation and imaging by confocal microscopy and analyses of the work. These were very interesting and well-informed skills that I later mastered.

Honorable Mention for presentation at CSTEP conference

One of the great honors was receiving an honorable mention in the poster presentation of my research at a NY state conference, titled: “Gestational Exposer to DBP in the Etiology of Autism.”. I have also presented this research at the undergraduate conference twice in 2016 and 2017.