Researcher Highlight: Brandon Pearson, PhD

Brandon Pearson is a neurotoxicologist with expertise. Dr. Pearson’s research program explores how environmental stressors affect gene expression, mutagenesis, development, cellular and molecular aging, and inflammatory cascades in the nervous system. One of the emerging areas of research in his lab is the impact of exposure to micro- and nanoplastics on in vitro neurological development.

Dr. Pearson is the Center's Named New Investigator for 2025-2026, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental & Molecular Toxicology. Center Director Jamie DeWitt took a deeper dive into Dr. Pearson’s research and broader perspectives.

Q&A with Brandon Pearson

You’ve lived on both sides of the continent and in Europe. What specifically about OSU appealed to you?

I have admired the EMT department at OSU for at least fifteen years prior to starting here. I eagerly read about the unique and impactful wristband passive samplers and zebrafish screening studies since I was a postdoc. When I became an Assistant Professor at Columbia University, I assigned seminal papers from those groups to my students. OSU has always been appealing to me. At the same time, I love bird-watching, trees, and mountains, and I wanted my kids to be able to have a relationship with nature. I also wanted to continue to work with kind and generous people. OSU exceeds all these criteria!

What is the most critical environmental health issue facing society today?

This is a challenging question as it is impossible to distill the myriad threats to human and ecological health to a single entity. So, I’ll avoid naming specific perturbing exposures such as PFAS, plastics, air pollution, or climate change and instead point to the growing trend of politicizing environmental health as the most insidious problem. When issues become partisan it massively decreases the ability of individuals to trust guidance from experts based on the best science. What is “the best science” (and who is an expert) is also hard to evaluate due to the political influences, binary conclusions, and media distortion surrounding a topic. We must find ways to clearly communicate science and restore or bolster trust in academic research as the gold standard for sound data that drives innovation for the protection of populations and the planet.

Could you tell a little bit about how your research vision is addressing this environmental health issue?

My research provides clear and rigorous experimental data to understand harms of chemical exposures to the brain. I believe I have been even more effective at impacting the issue of polarized perspectives and scientific issues in the classroom. I love teaching about science and society, and how, for instance, the perspectives and agendas of farmers, industry, toxicologists, lawyers, regulators, and consumers intersect and how their own biases and goals might be at odds with one another.

Tell us something about yourself that we wouldn’t find on any of your social media or OSU websites.

I am an amateur watchmaker. I collect old wristwatches and pocket watches and try to do repairs and servicing. I find it therapeutic and rewarding. The hunt for old watches at flea markets or on online auction sites is also very exciting.