Women in STEM Award Winner profile: Dr. Eliane El Hayek
UNM professor explores link between microplastics and respiratory distress
Key info:
Every day, we inhale plastics that are too small to see. Eliane El Hayek, a research assistant professor in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the College of Pharmacy at UNM is studying the impact.
Quote:
“The impact of polymer plastics on human health is currently a critical topic. These polymers are deeply integrated into our daily lives, yet we know little about their health effects. My lab will continue conducting studies aimed at generating valuable insights into the toxicity of environmentally relevant plastics. This research will help us develop effective intervention strategies to address plastic exposure.”
Editor’s note: This Women in STEM Award winner profile is part of a series of stories that explores what recipients have been working on since the awards began in 2106.
A UNM scientist is studying the health impacts of human exposure to plastic and polymer fiber with the help of an ADVANCE at UNM Women in STEM Award.
Eliane El Hayek, a research assistant professor in Pharmaceutical Sciences College of Pharmacy, is exploring the link between polymer fiber exposure and respiratory inflammation and allergic asthma.
El Hayek in 2023 published an article in the journal Toxicological Sciences. Later that year, The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences named the article as a paper of the month. Along with its other findings, the study looked at how exposure to sunshine can change the chemistry of microplastics – possibly giving them increased toxicity upon inhalation.
The ADVANCE award allowed El Hayek to travel to the University of Arizona to visit a lab that specializes in lung infections and asthma in September 2023. Along with U of A researcher Julie Ledford and collaborators at UNM, El Hayek studied nasal exposure to polymer fiber in an asthmatic model. The study showed that exposure led to changes in immune responses in the lungs.
The ADVANCE award research also involved characterizing flame-retardant polyester baby clothes, which allowed the team to detect fibers with a diameter below 100 nm. This in turn helped identify mutagenic compounds in the leachate. By conducting lung proteomic analysis, the outcome of the project illuminates the often-underestimated environmental determinants that can alter asthma pathophysiology, especially among vulnerable populations like young children.
The work through the Women in STEM Award is only part of the research El Hayek has been doing on the dangers of micro (nano)plastics and metals.
El Hayek and co-investigator Jorge Gonzalez-Estrella from Oklahoma State University received a pilot award in 2023 from the Center for Native American Environmental Health Equity in Research and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to also study microplastics and microbes, this time related to trash burning on the Crow Nation in Montana. In 2025, El Hayek received new pilot funding to continue the development of this project with Cristina Takacs-Vesbach, a UNM Biology professor and principal investigator, and in collaboration with Sara Plaggemeyer, instructor from Little Big Horn Community College. The project is developed based on the community’s need to investigate the impact of plastic landfill dumping on human health and the environment. This initiative promotes community participation and provides training for students.
El Hayek will continue her work on plastics and metals exposure as a research project leader at the Center for Metals in Biology and Medicine at UNM. Her team collaborates with the School of Medicine at UNM to investigate the effect of micro(nano)plastics bioaccumulation on the mechanisms of brain waste clearance. Her team is currently developing advanced methods to isolate and quantify nanoplastics in human cerebrospinal fluid. She envisions this as a pivotal step in advancing exposomic research on micro(nano)plastics and neurological diseases, enhancing transformative growth in the field.
The impact of polymer plastics on human health is currently a critical topic. These polymers are everywhere in our environment and are deeply integrated into our daily lives; however, we know very little about their health effects.,” she said. “My lab will continue conducting studies aimed at generating valuable insights into the toxicity of environmentally relevant plastics. This research will help us develop effective intervention strategies to address plastic exposure.