Rick Shukla

Ritwik Shukla is a Toxicology Scholar and a PhD student in Dr. Indrani Bagchi’s lab in the Department of Comparative Biosciences. His research focuses on the effect of a mixture of phthalates metabolites on the estrogen receptor signaling pathway and uterine homeostasis. Phthalates are endocrine disrupting chemicals which humans are exposed to in everyday life. It has been well established that phthalates impact reproductive health in numerous ways including reducing testosterone levels, altering pubertal timing, disrupting ovarian follicular development and so on. Ritwik’s research focuses on how the phthalate mixture enhances estrogen receptor signaling pathway and disrupts uterine function.