UNC Superfund Scoop e-Newsletter | fall 2014 | issue #17 No Images? Click here
 
 
 
 

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
 
 
 

Understanding chemical exposure from the inside, out

Dr. James Swenberg and colleagues in Project 1 are working to characterize the endogenous exposome to better understand which exposures are most likely to cause DNA damage that can lead to cancer. They recently published a comprehensive review of the SRP’s scientific findings in the journal DNA Repair. 
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Toxic metals in well water & links to birth defects in children

Dr. Rebecca Fry and colleagues from the N.C. Birth Defects Monitoring Program (NCBDMP) found associations between statewide levels of metals in wells and detrimental health outcomes. The recent study reported that drinking metal-contaminated water may be a public health concern in NC. 
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Leveraging resources to better understand chemical exposures 

A joint effort between the Southeast Climate Science Center (SECSC) and the UNC SRP, led by Dr. Damian Shea, has led to the creation of the Southeast Global Change Monitoring Portal (GCMP), which includes a number of monitoring programs that have data on chemical exposure in the Southeast US.  
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Optimizing cleanup of PAH-contaminated soil

Alden Adrion, PhD candidate in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Aitken, is searching for ways to enhance bioremediation of PAHs by testing a variety of surfactants to determine which is most effective in optimizing the bioremediation process. He is also collaborating with colleagues to examine the toxicity of the soil at varying dose levels.
 
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RESEARCH TRANSLATION NEWS
 
 

Partnering to educate anglers about complex fish consumption advisories

RTC staff are engaging with community partners to educate recreational anglers and their families about a fish consumption advisory (FCA) related to PCB contamination in Lake Crabtree in Morrisville, NC. Multiple stakeholders were involved in developing prototype educational material. Staff are currently piloting the material with English- and Spanish-speaking anglers at four different fishing locations around the lake and its tributaries. 
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Aitken, Adrion mentor NC School of Science and Mathematics student 

Dr. Michael Aitken is mentoring Margaret Bertoni (pictured above, right), a high school student at the NC School of Science and Mathematics, as she works with Alden Adrion (above, left) on Project 5's surfactant-enhanced remediation project. Margaret is particularly interested in investigating the side effects of bioremediation and its effect on human health. She is traveling to UNC weekly through early 2015 to work with Dr. Aitken and Alden.  
 

RTC staff present at national meetings

September was a busy month for RTC staff. Kat Bawden, community engagement coordinator, presented a poster on the ongoing fish consumption advisory work around Lake Crabtree at the 2014 National Forum on Contaminants in Fish in Alexandria, Virginia.  

This research was also presented by Sarah Yelton, environmental education coordinator, at the 2014 Partnerships for Environmental Public Health Annual Meeting focused on environmental health literacy and held at NIEHS in Research Triangle Park, NC.  
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Teachers explore connections between water quality & health

Twenty teachers from across North Carolina met in Chapel Hill this summer to investigate the many connections between water quality, toxic chemicals and human health during a three-day professional development institute sponsored by the UNC SRP, UNC Institute for the Environment and the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Program.

New lessons bring advanced biology, environmental science concepts to high schoolers

RTC staff are presenting at several state and national conferences this fall to bring current science to high school teachers. Dana Haine, science educator for the RTC, has developed several new biology-based lessons related to SRP research that will be highlighted during these conferences. Concepts covered include: 

  • Biomagnification/ Bioavailability
  • DNA repair
  • Epigenetics
  • Exposome

These lessons are posted on the SRP website and in the PEPH Resource Center.
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NEWS and NOTES
 
 
 

Rusyn departs UNC

Ivan Rusyn, UNC SRP Deputy Director and PI of Project 2, left UNC in August for a new position as Professor of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Texas A & M University. We appreciate the dedication and service that Dr. Rusyn gave the SRP during his tenure at UNC. Rusyn will continue as Project 2 PI through the remainder of the current grant term. Thank you and best wishes, Dr. Rusyn! We will miss you.

Fry named UNC SRP Deputy Director

Rebecca Fry, associate professor in the department of Environmental Sciences & Engineering, director of the Systems Toxicology Laboratory, and leader of Project 3, has been named Deputy Director of UNC SRP.  

"Dr. Fry has incredible energy, enthusiasm and magnetism for bringing researchers together," remarked SRP Director James Swenberg.

"We are excited to have her as our Deputy Director, as we have seen her excel in basic research with emphasis on children’s environmental health. She also brings a high degree of knowledge of UNC and the RTP region’s best scientists for building great teams."

Let’s hear it for Rebecca!
 

Drs. Wright and Fry were invited speakers at the Genetics & Environmental Mutagenesis Society Fall Meeting on October 22 . 
 
 
 
 

Trainee Spotlight:
Samantha Tulenko

SRP trainee Samantha Tulenko, an MSPH candidate in Dr. Rebecca Fry's lab, is working with Project 3 to identify biological pathways that are most significantly affected upon exposure to the top 100 ATSDR priority substances and conducting computational and systems-biology analyses with this data. Samantha has also been an integral part of the survey team engaging anglers at Lake Crabtree as part of the Research Translation Core's community engagement project.           
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Aitken presents bioremediation research in South Korea

Project 5 investigator, Dr. Michael Aitken gave an invited presentation at the International Symposium on Microbial Ecology in Seoul, South Korea in August. His talk, titled Challenges in the Applied Biodegradation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, was part of a session co-chaired by Lisa Alvarez-Cohen of the University of California-Berkeley SRP. 

Dr. Swenberg was an invited speaker at Environmental Exposure Science Symposium at The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences on September 30.

Dr. Fry gave the keynote address at the Duke Epigenetics & Epigenomics Symposium on October 16.
 
 

UNC Superfund Research Program
 
 
 

This newsletter is published by the
UNC-Chapel Hill Superfund Research Program, with funding from grant number  P42-ES005948 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH.

James A. Swenberg
Program Director
919.966.6139 

Kathleen Gray
Research Translation 
919.966.9799 
 
 
 

The UNC SRP brings together a diverse group of more than 70 biomedical researchers, engineers, chemists, statisticians, experts in conventional and biological remediation, environmental modelers, graduate students and postdoctoral trainees.

Together, we are achieving the program’s goal to advance society’s understanding of the human health and environmental risks associated with hazardous waste and to develop new environmental strategies and technologies for the cleanup of Superfund sites, thereby minimizing human and environmental risk.
 
 
sph.unc.edu/srp
 
 
UNC Superfund Research Program
Funding provided by grant number P42-ES005948
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences