David O'Loughlin, PhD student in the MacFarlane lab at the MRC Toxicology Unit, has been awarded the 2024 Mary Amdur Student Award by the Society of Toxicology (SOT) at their Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The prize, named in honour of a pioneer in air pollution toxicology who overcame gender, political and scientific barriers to assert the potential for interactions between specific air pollutants Dr Mary Amdur, is awarded to a student whose research best addresses environmental health and air pollution toxicology challenges.
David is the first recipient of the award from outside the United States of America and will be presenting his research to the Inhalation and Respiratory Specialty Section (IRSS) of SOT in a webinar later this year. On receiving the news, David shares "I'm delighted and honoured to have received a Mary Amdur Award at SOT this year and thanks to the IRSS for hosting such a fantastic session. Following on from Dr Amdur's work on the 1948 Donora smog, we are working to assess the potential respiratory toxicity and chemistry of tyre wear particles, an emerging microplastic which significantly contributes to urban air and environmental pollution".
Special thanks to Wolfson College and the Royal Society of Chemistry whose grants supported David's travel to the conference.