Research in Dr. Michael Collins' laboratory studies aspects of developmental toxicology or teratology. A common theme for many of the ongoing projects is the understanding of gene-environment interactions.

Collins' current projects include determining the chromosomal loci and eventually isolating the genes responsible for a murine strain difference in the induction of forelimb defects by cadmium or retinoic acid using quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis, gene expression profiling, and proteomics; fine mapping as a prelude to positionally cloning a gene on mouse chromosome 3 (cdm) that was determined to cause resistance to cadmium-induced testicular toxicity and sensitivity to cadmium-induced forelimb defects; gene-gene and gene-environment interactions in the induction of teratogenesis with a mutant form of the mouse Pax3 gene (aka Splotch); and studies to determine the role of retinoids in normal and abnormal neural tube closure via analyses of the nuclear receptors and interactions with genes and nutrients.