Research Interests

My research broadly focuses on how aquatic organisms interact with toxic chemicals in their environment. Specifically I am interested in how organisms accumulate and metabolize organic contaminants, and how they respond to such exposure at the cellular, biochemical, and physiological levels.   A recent focus in my lab has been development of fish embryos as test organisms.  Using embryos of zebra fish and medaka from our breeding colony, we can evaluate  gene expression, resulting enzymatic activity, and developmental defects in organisms exposed to either pure contaminants or contaminants associated with water or sediments collected from the field.  Current projects  in my lab include an examination of the combined effects of hypoxia and sewage derived contaminants in urban estuaries; evaluation of feminization of local fish species associated with sewage-derived contaminants;  and  the relationship between immune response and epizootic shell disease in lobsters from Long Island Sound.

Recent Publications

Duffy, T. A., McElroy, A.E., and  Conover, D.O.  Variable susceptibility to environmental estrogens in Menidia menidia. In review  J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol.

Mena, L, Arukwe, A., Denslow, D., and McElroy, A. 2006. Endocrine disruption in winter flounder  (Pseudopleuronectes americanus ) from an urban estuary, Jamaica Bay, NY USA. Mar. Environ. Res. 62:S223-S234.

McElroy, A.E., Bogler, A. Weisbaum, D. Norris, M., Mendelmna, L., Setlow, R. and Winn R. 2006. Uptake, metabolism, mutation frequency and mutation spectrum in cII transgenic medaka embryos exposed to benzo[a]pryene dosed sediments. Mar. Environ. Res. 62: S273-S277.

Zulkosky, A.M., Ruggieri, J.P., Terracciano, S.A., Brownawell, B.J, and McElroy, A.E. 2005 Acute Toxicity of Resmethrin, Malathion, and Methoprene to Larval and Juvenile American Lobsters (Homarus americanus) and Analysis of Pesticide Levels in Surface Waters after Scourge™, Anvil™ and Altosid™ Application.  J. Shellfish Res. 24:795-804.

Casares, F.M., McElroy, A., Mantione, K, Baggermann, G., Zhu, W. and Stefano, G.B. 2005. The American lobster, Homarus americanus, contains morphine that is coupled to nitric oxide release in its nervous and immune tissues: Evidence for neurotransmitter and hormonal signaling.  Neuroendorcin. Let. 89-97.

Wirgin, I.I. Wise, J.S. and McElroy, A.E. 2005. Physiological and genetic aspects of toxicity in Hudson River species. In The Hudson River Ecosystem. J. Levinton, and J. Waldman, Eds. Cambridge Press. pp 441-464.

Sapozhinikova, Y., McElroy A., Snyder, S., and Schlenk, D.  2005.  Estrogenic activity measurement in wastewater using in vitro and in vivo methods. In: Methods in Aquatic Toxicology, G.K Ostrander Ed. Lewis Pub. Boca Raton, FL, pp 465-478.

Rust, A.J. Burgess, R.M., Brownawell, B.J. and McElroy A.E. 2004. Relationship between metabolism and bioaccumulation of benzo[a]pyrene in benthic invertebrates. Environ. Toxicol. Chem 23:2587-2593.

Rust, A.J. Burgess, R.M., McElroy A.E., Cantwell, M.G. and Brownawell, B.J. 2004. The influence of soot carbon on the bioaccumulation of sediment-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (Pahs) by marine benthic invertebrates: an interpspecies. comparison.  Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 23:2594-2603.

Rust, A.J. Burgess, R.M., McElroy A.E., Cantwell, M.G. and Brownawell, B.J.  2004. The role of source matrix in the bioavailability of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to deposit-feeding benthic invertebrates. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 23:2604-2610.

McArdle, M.E., McElroy, A.E., and Elskus, A.A. 2004. Enzymatic and estrogenic responses in fish exposed to organic pollutants in the New York-New Jersey (USA) Harbor Complex. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 23:953-959.

Monosson, E., Ashley, J.T.F., McElroy, A.E., Woltering, D., and Elskus A.A. 2003. PCB  congener distributions in muscle, liver and gonad of Fundulus heteroclitus from the lower Hudson River Estuary and Newark Bay. Chemosphere. 52:777-787.

Todorov, J.L., Elskus, A.A., Schlenk , D. Ferguson , P.L., Brownawell, B.J., and McElroy, A.E. 2002. Estrogenic responses of larval sunshine bass (Morone saxatilis X M. chrysops) exposed to New York City sewage effluent.    Mar. Environ. Res. 54:691-695.

Zulkosky, A.M.,Ferguson, P.L., and McElroy, A.E.  2002. Effects of sewage-impacted sediment on reproduction in the benthic crustacean Leptocheirus plumulosus. Mar. Environ. Res. 54:615-619.

Ferguson, P.L., C.R. Iden, A.E. McElroy, and B.J. Brownawell. 2001.  Determination of steroid estrogens in wastewater by immunoaffinity extraction coupled with HPLC-MS. Anal. Chem., 731: 3890-3895.

Ahrens, M.J. Hertz, J., Lamoureux, E.M. Lopez, G.R., McElroy, A.E. and Brownawell, B.J.  2001.The effect of body size on digestive chemistry and absorption efficiencies of food and sediment-bound organic contaminants in Nereis succinea (Polychaeta).   J. Exp. Mar. Bio. Ecol. 263:185-209.

Ahrens, M.J. Hertz, J., Lamoureux, E.M. Lopez, G.R., McElroy, A.E. and Brownawell, B.J. 2001.The role of digestive surfactants in determining bioavailability of sediment-bound hydrophobic organic contaminants to two deposit-feeding polychaetes.   Mar. Environ. Prog. Ser. 212:145-157.

McArdle, M., Elskus, A., McElroy, A., Larsen, B., Benson, W., and Schlenk, D. 2000. Estrogenic and CYP1A response of two species of fish, killifish and striped bass, to sewage effluent. Mar. Environ. Res. 50:174-179.

McElroy, A., Leitch, K., and Fay, A. 2000. A survey of in vivo benzo[a]pyrene metabolism in small benthic invertebrates. Mar. Environ. Res. 50:33-38. 

Fay, A.A. Brownawell, B., Elskus, A.A., and McElroy, A.E. 2000. Critical body residues in Amplelisca abdita: sediment exposures to organic contaminants. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 19:1028-1035.

McElroy, A.E., Elskus, A.A., and Fay, A.A. 2000. Approaches for toxicity identification evaluation of hydrophobic organic contaminants in sediments.  In Press: Environmental Toxicology and Risk Assessment: Recent Achievements in Environmental Fate and Transport: Ninth Volume: ASTM STP 1381, F.T. Price, K.V. Brix, and N.K. Lane, Eds. American Society for Testing and Materials, West Conshohoken, PA 2000.