Jacinta Martin
Dr Jacinta Martin is a Lecturer in the College of Engineering, Science and Environment at the University of Newcastle and a member of HMRI's Infertility and Reproduction Research Program, researching how PFAS "forever chemicals" affect reproductive health.
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Aug 23, 2026
13:50
After the break, what Jacinta and her colleagues are learning about the impact of PFAS on future generations.
Jacinta MartinGUEST
So if we talk about our work in male reproduction, which is where we've done the most to date, we found that PFAS exposure can actually affect several aspects of reproductive health in male mice.
Jacinta MartinGUEST
And when we looked at mice that had been directly exposed, we saw that there was significant changes to their hormones.
Jacinta MartinGUEST
So testosterone, for example, and dihydrotestosterone, two really important androgens that actually help make sperm but also other male characteristics.
Jacinta MartinGUEST
We also saw that their ability to produce sperm was decreased so they had fewer sperm made on a day-to-day basis and one of the main things we've seen change is that sperm gene expression or the biological instructions that that sperm is providing that can be changed.
Jacinta MartinGUEST
Like the makeup of the sperm? Not the makeup, say, but the instructions that it's carrying to the egg fertilization.
8 MINS LATER