L.M. (Lilly) Meerts, PhD Student

My name is Lilly and I am working on my PhD project titled “The longitudinal associations of bisphenols and phthalates with development of brain and behavior”. All of us are nowadays using plastic products frequently during the day. But did you ever wonder if using these plastic products could be harmful to your health? We think bisophenols and phthalates, chemicals frequently found in these plastic products, could be affecting the development of our brain. My goal is to investigate what potential associations between phthalates, 5bisphenols and brain there could be.

In my research we take a life course approach with exposure and outcome measurements during different time periods. For example, we assess exposure during the prenatal period, early childhood, preadolescence and peri-adolescence. Additionally, we assess behavior at five different time points and brain structure (by MRI) is assessed at two different time points. Moreover we hope to identify a sensitive period for the effects of bisphenols and phthalates on the brain and behavior. Within this study we use data from The Generation R study. This is a large population based prospective cohort study designed to identify environmental and genetic causes leading to normal and abnormal development.

My education includes a bachelor in Biomedical Sciences and a master degree in Neuroscience and Cognition. Both degrees were obtained at Utrecht university. Next to my PhD I am currently enrolled in the Health Sciences master from the Netherlands Institute of health sciences at Erasmus MC.  

After finishing my Neuroscience and Cognition master degree and before I started my PhD, I worked at the dutch Public Health service for the COVID department. I worked here as a Medical supervisor and policy officer for the Source and Contact Tracing Department.