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As part of the nation's Superfund research and clean-up efforts, the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, in cooperation with the
Environmental Protection Agency, has awarded $16 million to scientists at the
University.
The grant will enable the public health and engineering experts to continue
work begun with NIEHS support in 1991 for another five years.
"We're trying to understand the human health and environmental risks associated
with hazardous waste sites and to devise strategies for cleaning up such sites
to minimize public health concerns," said James A. Swenberg, professor of
environmental sciences and engineering at the School of Public Health and
Superfund Basic Research project director. "We have created an
interdisciplinary group of scientists leading eight research projects and five
cores supporting studies of the health consequences of exposure to toxic
substances. These dedicated people are examining the potential of neutralizing
hazardous wastes and developing new strategies for cleaning up Superfund
sites."
The program projects are supported by core facilities in chemistry, molecular
epidemiology, mathematical modeling, outreach and student training. The
chemistry core includes a synthesis laboratory and a mass spectrometry
facility. The former provides custom synthesis of metabolic intermediates for
dosing experiments, labeled compounds for spiking standards for microanalysis,
products for structural verification and specialized reagents. The latter does
both routine analysis and methods development using a variety of ionization
sources and combining the ionization sources with chromatographic techniques.
The chemistry core also assists in interpreting spectroscopic data and
collaborates with the various projects in applying chemical strategies. The
molecular epidemiology core provides high-throughput genotyping to examine the
effect of DNA repair and metabolism genes on susceptibility to diseases linked
to toxic chemicals. The mathematical modeling core will assist all
investigators with advanced modeling and statistical analysis.
"Over the past nine years, we've trained about 110 graduate students and 40
postdoctoral fellows to do specialized research that involves interdisciplinary
interaction between health science and engineering," Swenberg said. "That's
unusual but very much needed."
The nation spends about $2 billion a year on Superfund issues alone, not
including money spent on environmental issues by the defense and energy
departments, he said.
The University Superfund Basic Research Program, which has always disseminated
its research findings to the professional community, now has a formal Community
Outreach and Education Program, which serves the general public, school
teachers and policymakers. That effort is being directed by Frances Lynn, with
Kathleen Gray as the deputy director.
More information is available at the program's Web site:
http://www.sph.unc.edu/sfcoep/research
"The site contains lay versions of each of our research projects and has links
to EPA Superfund issues and all kinds of information for teachers, students and
others," Swenberg said.
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