Thomas Burbacher

Thomas Burbacher, PhD, is professor of environmental and occupational health sciences and the director of the Infant Primate Research Laboratory at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Education
Burbacher earned his bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Cincinnati in 1973, and his doctorate from the University of Washington in 1983, also in psychology.

Research
Burbachers research interests include behavioral toxicology and the neurodevelopmental effects of pre- and postnatal exposure to environmental contaminants, including pesticides and heavy metals. His studies using primate models have revealed significant long-term effects of prenatal exposure to methylmercury, a common neurotoxin, and to methanol, a potential motor fuel alternative. In-utero exposure to methylmercury has been linked to mental retardation, sensory disturbances such as blindness and deafness, and significant delays in motor development. In addition to his well-known thimerosal-related research, Burbacher was a peer reviewer for an EPA report on mercury exposure. His 2005 study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, has been the subject of some controversy in that some have argued that it proves that ethylmercury is cleared from the body faster than methylmercury, but others have argued that "While thimerosal gets flushed from the body much faster than methyl mercury, what remains is more likely to accumulate in the brain, as inorganic mercury..."

Infant Primate Research Laboratory
Over one hundred monkeys reside at the University of Washington's Infant Primate Research Laboratory (IPRL), where Burbacher and other researchers conduct some of the world's most expensive and exclusive medical research. "It's one of the only facilities in the country where we can observe animals as they mature from infancy," said Thomas Burbacher

Burbacher studied a group of macaque monkeys, from birth to sixteen years of age, to evaluate near- and long-term effects of in-utero methylmercury exposure on physical development, cognition, and sensory function. The similarity of macaque monkey DNA to that of humans, 92% identical, makes them useful as models of the human body and brain. Burbacher's research on macaques has been used in the development of safety policies aimed at setting maximum human exposure levels for environmental contaminants associated with adverse health effects and developmental disabilities.

Publications

 * Thomas M. Burbacher, Danny D. Shen, Noelle Liberato, Kimberly S. Grant, Elsa Cernichiari, and Thomas Clarkson, "Comparison of Blood and Brain Mercury Levels in Infant Monkeys Exposed to Methylmercury or Vaccines Containing Thimerosal", Environmental Health Perspectives, vol 113, no 8, August, 2005