Hello, this is

John McLachlan

Professor Emeritus of Pharmacology at Tulane University.

My research interests include developmental pharmacology, toxicology and endocrinology, estrogen action and environmental estrogens, signaling, gene regulation, and gynecologic cancers.

John McLachlan

Biography

John A. McLachlan, Ph.D., received his undergraduate degree from the Johns Hopkins University where he was co-captain of the varsity football team. He is currently the Celia Scott Weatherhead and Albert J. Weatherhead, III Distinguished Chair in Environmental Studies as well as holding a Professorship in the Department of Pharmacology in the School of Medicine and an adjunct Professorship in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in the School of Science and Engineering at Tulane University. From 1995 to 2012, he was also the Director of the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research (CBR), a comprehensive center that deals with environment in an inclusive manner. 

Prior to coming to Tulane, McLachlan was Scientific Director at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH. While at NIEHS, Professor McLachlan developed the conceptual framework thirty years ago for what is now called Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals. Dr. McLachlan has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers and sixty review articles dealing with the environment and the reproductive system and, in the process, helped introduce the concept of epigenetics to environmental research and thinking. He has been a leader in research and communication about the environment and women’s reproductive health.

At Tulane, Professor McLachlan established a translational research program on women’s health focusing on ovarian hormones and the environment. He expanded the vision in hormone biology to include evolutionary aspects of hormone action. His research and outreach team emphasized understudied diseases like uterine fibroids. McLachlan’s commitment to “use-inspired research” led him to explore community-based issues that could be approached in trans-disciplinary ways, using the Mississippi River as an overarching metaphor for research and teaching. Faculty from the humanities, performing arts, natural sciences, social sciences came together around the ideas related to urban centers in river deltas. For a period of time, Tulane operated the only research vessel dedicated to river research. A highlight of this effort was, in collaboration with the author, John Barry, the planning and design of RiverSphere, a research and cultural center located on seven acres of riverfront in the center of New Orleans. 

In September 2005, Professor McLachlan confronted the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by establishing the NSF-funded Katrina Environmental Research and Restoration Network to coordinate research and restoration and, since 2009, has been co-principal investigator on a multi-disciplinary NSF grant, entitled, The “New Normal”: The Impact of Trauma on Urban Ecological and Social Diversity which studies how cities and communities function in the context of their natural ecosystems to gain a better understanding of resilience, recovery, and sustainability. McLachlan’s restoration efforts focused on the Lower Ninth Ward. He also took an active role in public education serving on the organizing committee for the New Orleans Charter High School in Science and Mathematics recently rated one of the top high schools in Louisiana.

McLachlan has had a career long commitment to diversity in science and with various partners has maintained funded programs to facilitate the entry of minority students into scientific research since 1995.

McLachlan’s current research focuses on using the principles of hormone signaling to understand how factors as diverse as trauma, stress, heavy metals and environmental chemicals exert their adverse effects on human health. He emphasizes differentiating systems such as stem cells for his studies and thinking.

 

Curriculum Vitae Contact Me

Activities

Teaching and Mentoring

Organized and taught a course on environmental impact on health and disease called Environmental Pharmacology for graduate students each spring. Also taught Gynecologic Pharmacology to medical students. In support of his career-long commitment to mentoring underrepresented minority students, McLachlan was Director and Co-PI of an NSF funded research based undergraduate mentoring program called Enhancing Diversity in Environmental Biology bringing minority students from Tulane and Xavier to graduate school through research.

Research

Relevant foci include developmental pharmacology, toxicology and endocrinology; estrogen action and environmental estrogens, signaling, gene regulation, and gynecologic cancers. Looking at the principles of hormone signaling to understand how trauma, stress, heavy metals, and environmental chemicals exert their adverse effects on human health. Dr. McLachlan is also working with investigators in a project entitled "Developmental Estrogenization Syndrome: Multiple Disease Endpoints Associated with Exogenous Estrogenic Chemicals".

Service and Outreach

Dr. McLachlan gave advice to community groups such as the Children’s Environmental Health Network. He also worked with advocacy groups around communication issues related to the drug and environmental toxin diethylstilbestrol (DES), lectured to community groups on women’s health and the environment, and served on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Environmental Health Center at Jackson State University.

Selected Publications


  1. 2016, Thaddeus T. Schug, Anne F. Johnson, Linda S. Birnbaum, Theo Colborn, Louis J. Guillette, Jr David, Crews, Terry Collins, Ana M. Soto, Frederick S. vom Saal, John A. McLachlan, Carlos Sonnenschein, and Jerrold J. Heindel. Minireview: Endocrine Disruptors: Past Lessons and Future Directions, Molecular Endocrinology, Endocrine Society

  2. 2015, Strong, A.L., Shi, Z., Strong, T.A., Miller D., Rusch D.B., Buechlein, A., Flemington E.K., McLachlan, J.A., Nephew, K.P., Burow, M.E., Bunnell, B.A. Effects of the Endocrine-Disrupting Chemical DDT on Self-Renewal and Differentiation of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells. Environmental Health Perspectives.

  3. 2013, Tilghman, S.L., Rhodes, L.V., Bratton, M.R., Carriere, Preyan, L.C., Boue, S.M., McLachlan, J.A., Burow, M.E. Phytoalexins, miRNAs and Breast Cancer: a review of phytochemical- mediated miRNA regulation in breast cancer. Journal of Healthcare for the Poor and Underserved

  4. 2013, Johnson, K.P., Johnson, D.E., Hawthorne, T., Gibbs, L., Burow, M.E., Rhodes, L.V., Gray, M., Tilghman, S.L., McLachlan, J.A., Ochieng, J. In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation of Novel Anticancer Agents in Triple Negative Breast Cancer Models. Journal of Healthcare for the Poor and Underserved

  5. 2008, Bratton, Frigo, Vigh, Fan, Wadsworth, McLachlan, and Burow, Organochlorine mediated potentiation of the general coactivator p300 through p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase, Carcinogenesis

  6. 2008, Crain, Janssen, Edwards, Heindel, Ho, Hunt, Iguchi, Juul, McLachlan, Schwartz, Skakkebaek, Soto, Swan, Walker, Woodruff, Woodruff, Giudice, and Guillette, Female reproductive disorders: the roles of endocrine-disrupting compounds and developmental timing, Fertility and Sterility

  7. 2008, Fox, Burow, McLachlan , Miller,Detecting ligands and dissecting nuclear receptor-signaling pathways using recombinant strains of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Nature Protocols

  8. 2007, Wetherill, Akingbemi, Kanno, McLachlan, Nadal, Sonnenschein, Watson, Zoeller, Belcher, In vitro molecular mechanisms of bisphenol A action, Reproductive Toxicology

  9. 2007, vom Saal, Akingbemi, Belcherc, Birnbaum, Crain, Eriksen, Farabollini, Guillette, Hauser, Heinde, Shuk-Mei Ho, Hunt, Iguchi, Jobling, Kanno, Keri, Knudsen, Laufer, LeBlanc, Marcus, McLachlan, Myers, Nadal, Newbold, Olea, Prins, Richter, Rubin, Sonnenschein, Soto, Talsness, Vandenbergh, Vandenberg, Walser-Kuntz, Watson, Welshons, Wetherill and Zoeller, Chapel Hill bisphenol A expert panel consensus statement: Integration of mechanisms, effects in animals and potential to impact human health at current levels of exposure, Reproductive Toxicology

  10. 2007, Fox, Gulledge, Engelhaupt, Burow, and McLachlan, Pesticides reduce symbiotic efficiency of nitrogen-fixing rhizobia and host plants, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

  11. 2006, Crews and McLachlan, Epigenetics, Evolution, Endocrine Disruption, Health, and Disease, Endocrinology

  12. 2006, McLachlan, Nierth-Simson, Martin, Endocrine disrupters and female reproductive health, Best Practice & Research Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism

  13. 2006, Guillette, Conard, Lares, Aguilar, McLachlan, Guillette, Altered breast development in young girls from an agricultural environment, Environmental Health Perspectives

  14. 2006, Frigo, Basu, Nierth-Simpson, Weldon, Dugan, Elliott, Collins-Burow, Salvo, Zhu, Melnik, Lopez, Kushner, Curiel, Rowan, McLachlan, Burow, p38 MAPK Stimulates, Estrogen-Mediated transcription and proliferation through the phosphorylation and potentiation of the p160 coactivator GRIP1, Molecular Endocrinology

  15. 2006, McLachlan, Commentary: Prenatal exposure to DES: a continuing story, International Journal of Epidemiology

  16. 2005, Frigo, Vigh, Struckhoff, Elliott, Beckman, Burow, McLachlan, Xenobiotic-induced TNF-alpha expression and  apoptosis through the p38 MAPK signaling pathway, Toxicology Letters

  17. 2004, Frigo, Tang, Beckman, Scandurro, Alam, Burow, McLachlan, Mechanism of AP-1 mediated gene expression by select organochlorines through the p38 MAPK pathway , Carcinogenesis

  18. 2004, Fox, Starevic, Jones, Burow, McLachlan, Phytoestrogen Signaling and Symbiotic Gene Activation Are Disrupted by Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals, Environmental Health Perspectives

  19. 2003, Li, Chiang, Richard-Davis, Barrett, McLachlan, DNA hypomethlyation and imbalanced expression of DNA methyltransferases in uterine leiomyomas, Gynecologic Oncology

  20. 2003 ,Li, Hansman, Newbold, Davis, McLachlan, Barrett, Neonatal diethylstilberstrol exposure induces persistent elevation of c-fos expression and hypomethylation in its exon-4 mouse uterus, Molecular Carcinogenesis

  21. 2003, Li, Hursting, Davis, McLachlan, Barrett, Environmental exposure, DNA Methlyation, and Gene Regulation, Annals of the NY Academy of Sciences

  22. 2003, Boue, Wiese, Nehls, Burow, Elliott, Carter-Wientjes, Shih, McLachlan, Cleveland, Evaluation of the Estrogenic Effects of Legume Extracts Containing Phytoestrogens, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

  23. 2002, Frigo, Duong, Melnik, Schief, Collins-Burow, Pace, McLachlan, Burow, Flavonoid Phytochemicals Regulate Activator Protein-1 Signal Transduction Pathways in Endometrial and Kidney Stable Cell Lines, Journal of Nutrition

  24. 2002, Frigo, Burow, Mitchell, Chiang, McLachlan, DDT and Its Metabolites Alter Gene Expression in Human Uterine Cell Lines Through Estrogen Receptor-Independent Mechanisms , Environmental Health Perspectives

  25. 2001, O'Neil, Burow, Green, McLachlan, Henson, Effects of estrogen on leptin gene promoter activation in MCF-7 breast cancer and JEG-3 chorocarcinoma cells, Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology

  26. 2001, Oberdorster, Clay, Cottam, Wilmot, McLachlan, Milner, Common phytochemicals are ecdysteroid agonists and antagonists: a possible evolutionary link between vertebrate and invertebrate steroid hormones, Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

  27. 2001, McLachlan, Burow, Chiang, Li, Gene imprinting in developmental toxicology; a possilbe interface between physiology and pathology, Toxicology Letters

  28. 2001, McLachlan, Environmental Signaling: what embryos and evolution teach us about endocrine disrupting chemicals, Endocrine Reviews

  29. 2001, Li, McLachlan, Estrogen-associated genes in uterine leiomyoma, Annals of the NY Academy of Sciences

  30. 2001, Li, Chiang, Richard-Davis, Williams, Wilson, McLachlan, Expression of Wnt7a is inversely associated with the expression of estrogen receptor alpha in human uterine leiomyoma, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism

  31. 2001, Li, Ma, Chiang, Burow, Newbold, Negishi, Barrett, McLachlan, Promoter CpG methylation of Hox-a 10 and Hox-a 11 in mouse uterus not altered upon neonatal diethylstilbestrol exposure, Molecular Carcinogenesis

  32. 2001, Cheek, Brouwer, Carroll, Manning, McLachlan, Brouwer, Experimental evaluation of vitellogenin as a predictive biomarker for reproductive disruption, Environmental Health Perspectives

  33. 2001, Burow, Boue, Collins-Burow, Melnik, Duong, Carter-Wientjes, Li, Wiese, Cleveland, McLachlan, Phytochemical glyceollins, isolated from soy, mediate antihormonal effects through estrogen receptor alpha and beta, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism

  34. 2001, Burow, Weldon, Tang, McLachlan, Beckman, Oestrogen-mediated suppression of tumour necrosis alpha-induced apoptosis in MCF-7 cells: subversion of Bcl-2 by anti-oestrogens, Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

  35. 2000, Newbold, Hanson, Jefferson, Bullock, Haseman, McLachlan, Proliferative lesions and reproductive tract tumors in male descendants of mice exposed developmentally to diethylstilbestrol, Carcinogenesis

  36. 1999, Burow, Tang, Collins-Burow, Krajewski, Reed, McLachlan, Beckman, Effects of environmental estrogens on tumor necrosis factor alpha mediated apoptosis in MCF-7 cells, Carcinogenesis

  37. 1997, Klotz, Ladlie, Vonier, McLachlan, Arnold, o,p'-DDT and its metabolites inhibit progesterone-dependent responses in yeast and human cells, Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology

  38. 1978, Korach, Metzler, McLachlan, Estrogenic activity in vivo and in vitro of some diethlystilbestrol metabolites and analogs, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

PubMed Publications

Contact Information

John McLachlan, Ph.D.

 

john.mclachlan@tulane.edu