Margaret Bell

Dr. Bell joined Biological Sciences and Health Sciences at DePaul in the Fall of 2016 and is also affiliated with the Neuroscience Program. She earned her BA in Biology from Boston University, PhD in Neuroscience from Michigan State University with Cheryl Sisk, and completed a postdoc with Andrea Gore at University of Texas at Austin. She teaches Cell Biology (BIO 250), Intro to Endocrinology (BIO 386), Intro Bio (191) labs, Brain and Behavior (BIO 126), Foundations in Health Sciences (HLTH 200), and Physiology of Poverty (HLTH 325/BIO225). She has two loud kiddos, a teacher husband, and a shy cat. In all her spare time, she likes to run and camp.

Research Interests

Dr. Bell’s research is focused on the effects of a chronic and ubiquitous environmental contaminant, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). PCBs are a model endocrine disrupting chemical, and are known to independently affect brain function, hormone actions, and immune processes. As such, the lab is interested in understanding how PCBs affect interactions between the neural, endocrine, and immune systems during development, and their long-term consequences on brain and behavior. They use molecular and behavioral analysis and cell culture to study this in a rat model. ​