Education and Training

B.A.: Emory University (Chemistry)
Ph.D.: University of Kentucky (Toxicology)

Research Interests

• Oxidative stress and redox signaling
• Mechanistic toxicology
• Alcoholic and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Featured Publications

• Bolatimi OE, Head KZ, Luo J, Gripshover TC, Lin Q, Adiele NV, Watson WH, Wilkerson C, Cai L, Cave MC, Young JL. Can Zinc Supplementation Attenuate High Fat Diet-Induced Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease? Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Jan 16;24(2):1763. doi: 10.3390/ijms24021763. PMID: 36675277; PMCID: PMC9864360.
• Watson WH, Ritzenthaler JD, Torres-Gonzalez E, Arteel GE, Roman J. Mice lacking α4 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors are protected against alcohol-associated liver injury. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2022 Aug;46(8):1371-1383. doi: 10.1111/acer.14893. Epub 2022 Jul 3. PMID: 35723023; PMCID: PMC9427714.
• Ritzenthaler JD, Torres-Gonzalez E, Zheng Y, Zelko IN, van Berkel V, Nunley DR, Kidane B, Halayko AJ, Summer R, Watson WH, Roman J. The profibrotic and senescence phenotype of old lung fibroblasts is reversed or ameliorated by genetic and pharmacological manipulation of Slc7a11 expression. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2022 Mar 1;322(3):L449-L461. doi: 10.1152/ajplung.00593.2020. Epub 2022 Jan 5. PMID: 34984918; PMCID: PMC8917919.
• Zelko IN, Taylor BS, Das TP, Watson WH, Sithu ID, Wahlang B, Malovichko MV, Cave MC, Srivastava S. Effect of vinyl chloride exposure on cardiometabolic toxicity. Environ Toxicol. 2022 Feb;37(2):245-255. doi: 10.1002/tox.23394. Epub 2021 Oct 30. PMID: 34717031; PMCID: PMC8724461.
• Bushau-Sprinkle AM, Barati MT, Zheng Y, Watson WH, Gagnon KB, Khundmiri SJ, Kitterman KT, Clark BJ, Siskind LJ, Doll MA, Brier ME, Coventry S, Lederer ED. Na/H Exchange Regulatory Factor 1 Deficient Mice Show Evidence of Oxidative Stress and Altered Cisplatin Pharmacokinetics. Antioxidants (Basel). 2021 Jun 28;10(7):1036. doi: 10.3390/antiox10071036. PMID: 34203453; PMCID: PMC8300832.
• Zhou B, Gentry A, Xu Q, Young JL, Yan X, Pagidas K, Yang Y, Watson WH, Kong M, Cai L, Freedman JH. Effects of cadmium and high-fat diet on essential metal concentration in the mouse testis. Toxicol Rep. 2021 Mar 20;8:718-723. doi: 10.1016/j.toxrep.2021.03.016. PMID: 33889501; PMCID: PMC8047427.
• Watson WH, Greenwell JC, Zheng Y, Furmanek S, Torres-Gonzalez E, Ritzenthaler JD, Roman J. Impact of sex, age and diet on the cysteine/cystine and glutathione/glutathione disulfide plasma redox couples in mice. J Nutr Biochem. 2020 Oct;84:108431. doi: 10.1016/j.jnutbio.2020.108431. Epub 2020 May 24. PMID: 32615368.
• Banerjee M, Ferragut Cardoso AP, Lykoudi A, Wilkey DW, Pan J, Watson WH, Garbett NC, Rai SN, Merchant ML, States JC. Arsenite Exposure Displaces Zinc from ZRANB2 Leading to Altered Splicing. Chem Res Toxicol. 2020 Jun 15;33(6):1403-1417. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrestox.9b00515. Epub 2020 Apr 27. PMID: 32274925; PMCID: PMC7405655.
• Zheng Y, Merchant ML, Burke TJ, Ritzenthaler JD, Li M, Gaweda AE, Benz FW, Roman J, Watson WH. Redox States of Protein Cysteines in Pathways of Protein Turnover and Cytoskeleton Dynamics Are Changed with Aging and Reversed by Slc7a11 Restoration in Mouse Lung Fibroblasts. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2020 Jun 7;2020:2468986. doi: 10.1155/2020/2468986. PMID: 32587657; PMCID: PMC7298344.
• Watson WH, Ritzenthaler JD, Peyrani P, Wiemken TL, Furmanek S, Reyes Vega AM, Burke TJ, Zheng Y, Ramirez JA, Roman J. Plasma cysteine/cystine and glutathione/glutathione disulfide redox potentials in HIV and COPD patients. Free Radic Biol Med. 2019 Nov 1;143:55-61. doi: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2019.07.031. Epub 2019 Jul 29. PMID: 31369840; PMCID: PMC6848776.