SUPERFUND RESEARCH CENTER

The Texas A&M Superfund Research Center, with scientists from across campus, is conducting four environmental research projects funded by a five-year, $10 million grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). Established in 1987, the NEIHS Superfund Research Program is a highly competitive, grant-based program that funds a network of 16 university-based multidisciplinary research teams that study human health and environmental issues related to hazardous chemicals, with a goal of understanding the link between exposure and disease.

Texas A&M Superfund Center researchers, led by Dr. Ivan Rusyn, professor in VIBS at the CVMBS, and Dr. Anthony Knap, professor of oceanography and director of the Geochemical and Environmental Research Group in the College of Geosciences, will work to translate science into the practice of mitigating the health and environmental consequences of exposure to hazardous chemical mixtures.

The ultimate goal of the program is to create packages that will serve as “how-to's” for affected areas during any form of environmental emergency situation, from weather-related disasters to chemical spills to industrial accidents.

Highlights from FY21 include:

• Researchers at Texas A&M developed a tool called HGBEnviroScreen that makes data reporting environmental and social risks more accessible to community members and community-based organizations (CBOs). • Dr. Rusyn and Dr. Chiu, in collaboration with North Carolina State University, have developed the Pandemic Vulnerability Index (PVI) Dashboard to map the global spread of COVID-19. • Texas A&M University Superfund Research Center and Galveston Bay Foundation collaborated to address community concerns following chemical fires at the Intercontinental Terminals Companies (ITC) facility. • NIEHS Trainee Spotlight: Dr. Fabian Grimm Explores New Approaches to Understand Chemical Toxicity Dr. Tim Phillips and SRP trainees Sara Hearon (left) and Dr. • Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Meichen Wang (right) Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) Certification (eight trainees) • Project 2 researcher Dr. Tim Phillips and Superfund Research Program (SRP) trainees Sara Hearon and Dr. Meichen Wang were featured in NIEHS Global Environmental Newsletter (April 2020). https://tinyurl.com/yc578pbp • A case study on a new comparative approach to better determine trade-offs in remediation scenarios to maximize benefits while minimizing risks. • Texas A&M researchers using innovative technology to develop new chemical safety testing method.

Publications

• Dr. Chimeddulam Dalaijamts uses Physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling to predict the variability factors in perc metabolism, leading to a better understanding of population variation of adverse effects of perc. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.taap.2020.115069 • Dr. Weihsueh Chiu and colleagues at the University of Michigan were highlighted in Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) Science Selection news article, Unbalanced Burden? Potential Population-Level Health Risks & Benefits of Superfund Cleanup. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP7050 • Asuka Orr, Project 2 trainee, and her colleagues show how computational and experimental methods, combined, can characterize clay binding and sorption of toxic compounds, paving the way for future investigation of clays to reduce Bisphenols A (BPA) and S (BPS) exposure. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compchemeng.2020.107063 • Project 2 researchers Drs. Meichen Wang and Tim Phillips developed a dietary sorbent strategy for shellfish to reduce exposures to PCBs. This strategy significantly reduced PCB residues in oysters in a dose & time-dependent manner. Patent pending on this acid processed clay sorbent. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13530-020-00058-2 • Project 3, Data Science core, and Decision Science core collaborated on a study showing that rapid hazard characterization of chemicals can be achieved using only five human cell types from different organs. https://doi.org/10.14573/altex.2002291