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Overview


Laura earned her B.S. in Cognitive Science, Neuroscience track from University of California, Davis then worked as a research technician in Dr. Maxwell Leung’s lab at Arizona State University studying the possible co-exposure effects of cannabinoids and contaminants in the neurological function of model organism c. elegans. In order to assess which contaminants pose risks to consumers, she led the effort to make a comprehensive list of all regulated contaminants in cannabis across the U.S. As an undergraduate she studied nuclear anchorage and migration proteins creating CRISPR mutations in Dan Starr’s lab at UC Davis.

Current Duke Appointments & Affiliations


Recent Scholarly Works


Regulatory trends of organophosphate and pyrethroid pesticides in cannabis and applications of the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database and Caenorhabditis elegans.

Journal article Toxicological sciences : an official journal of the Society of Toxicology · April 2025 Organophosphate and pyrethroid pesticides are common contaminants in cannabis. Due to the status of cannabis as an illicit Schedule I substance at the federal level, there are no unified national guidelines in the United States to mitigate the health risk ... Full text Cite

Comparison of State-Level Regulations for Cannabis Contaminants and Implications for Public Health.

Journal article Environmental health perspectives · September 2022 BackgroundThe presence of contaminants in cannabis presents a potential health hazard to recreational users and susceptible patients with medical conditions. Because of the federally illegal status of cannabis, there are no unified regulatory guid ... Full text Cite

Caenorhabditis elegans Neurotoxicity Testing: Novel Applications in the Adverse Outcome Pathway Framework.

Journal article Frontiers in toxicology · January 2022 Neurological hazard assessment of industrial and pesticidal chemicals demands a substantial amount of time and resources. Caenorhabditis elegans is an established model organism in developmental biology and neuroscience. It presents an ideal test sy ... Full text Cite
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