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Duke Superfund Research Center Newsletter
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SRC Director Presents at Elizabeth River Project Sediment Remediation Partnership Meeting
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On November 3rd, the Duke University Superfund Research Center sponsored and attended the Elizabeth River Project Sediment Remediation Partnership (ERPSRP) meeting. Dr. Richard Di Giulio, Director of the Duke University Superfund Research Center and Investigator on Project 3, gave a presentation entitled: “Sediment toxicity and adaptation in Elizabeth River killifish populations at multiple sites in the Elizabeth River Under the Auspices of the Duke University Superfund Research Center." The ERPSRP is a group of stakeholders that meet to discuss updates about the health of the Elizabeth River, with a focus on cleaning up polluted river sediments. Read more about this year's meeting on the DUSRC website.
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Public Webinar on Flame Retardants in Furniture Foam
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Research Translation Core Holds Seminar on Science Communication
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On Monday, September 26, Dr. Heather Stapleton and Dr. Ellen Cooper, with the support of the Duke Superfund Research Translation Core, held a webinar for participants and parties interested in our furniture foam flame retardant (FR) screening study. The purpose of this webinar was to update study participants on current research findings, answer frequently asked questions from participants, and share methods for reducing personal exposure to FRs.
Learn more about the event here.
View a recorded version of the webinar here.
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On Friday, September 2, 2016, the staff of the Research Translation Core lead a seminar called “Communication Outside the Box: Why We Need Research Translation and Community Engagement” at the Nicholas School of the Environment.
The seminar concluded with an interactive component: trainees and faculty were asked to spend five minutes drawing a picture that clearly illustrates their research topic and spend one minute explaining it to a small group.
Read about this event and see the amazing illustrations by our participants here.
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Duke University Integrated Toxicology and Environmental Health Program Fall Seminar Series
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Organizers and presenters of the ITEHP Alumni Career Symposium. The presenters included seven former superfund trainees & two SRP Wetterhahn Memorial Award winners.
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Throughout the year the SRC co-sponsors a seminar series held by the Duke University Integrated Toxicology and Environmental Health Program (ITEHP) which are open to the public. ITEHP seminars include presentations from Superfund researchers and and other experts on topics relevant to Superfund. Past speakers include the SRC’s Research Translation Core, as well as speakers from UNC, NIEHS, EPA, and elsewhere. Seminars occur every Friday at noon in the Field Auditorium in Environmental Hall on Duke's campus. See the fall seminar schedule here. (Photo by Caitlyn Cooper)
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SRC Trainees and Investigators Attend NC Society of Toxicology Meeting on October 25
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The North Carolina Division of the Society of Toxicology (NCSOT) held their annual meeting on October 25, 2016. The theme of this year’s meeting was “Stem Cells and Epigenetics: Methods and Applications for Toxicology.” Several Duke SRC trainees and investigators attended and participated. Members of Dr. Joel Meyer's lab presented a poster entitled Persistent and Transgenerational Adverse Metabolic Effects of Developmental Arsenic Exposure in C. elegans, and trainee Rafael Trevisan from Dr. Di Giulio's lab presented on Evaluating Protein Oxidation in Aquatic Species: Different Assays Applied to Oysters and Fish Exposed to Environmental Stressors.
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RTC Staff Presents at North Carolina Environmental Justice Summit
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On October 21, three members of the Research Translation Core–Dr. Elizabeth Shapiro-Garza, Bryan Luukinen, and Catherine Kastleman–traveled to Whitakers, North Carolina, to attend the 18th Annual Environmental Justice Summit. The theme of this summit was Environmental Justice: Moving Beyond Electoral Politics and Toxic Representation. During the research poster session, the RTC team presented a poster detailing their ongoing work with North Carolina community gardeners to engage them around understanding and reducing or mitigating exposures to soil contaminants and pesticides at community garden sites across the state.
Academics from other institutions spoke about issues ranging from the impacts of coal ash contamination in low-income communities of color, lead poisoning prevention programs in North Carolina, antibiotic resistance and controlled animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in North Carolina, and contemporary dilemmas of environmental justice activism.
Read more about the event here.
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On October 4, the Superfund Research Center held its first “Science Pub” gathering at the home of Dr. Charlotte Clark with 11 trainees, faculty, and staff affiliated with the SRC. Dr. Ed Levin provided background on the national Superfund program and how research at Duke fits in, and everyone shared brief updates on their work. This will be a regular event for Superfund affiliates to provide opportunities for internal and external networking in an informal setting.
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As part of their 50th Anniversary Celebration the NIEHS is holding an Environmental Health Science FEST December 5-8 in Durham, NC. Several Superfund Center projects will be represented at this event.
In summer of 2016, Duke SRP trainees from Project 4 helped out at the 2016 Appalachian Health and Well Being Forum in Kentucky along with other NIEHS and Superfund affiliates. Read more about the forum here.
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Upcoming Events and Conferences
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Dr. Claudia Gunsch Awarded Huber Prize by ASCE
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Principal Investigator of Project 3 and Director of the Superfund Basic Research Center Dr. Richard Di Giulio was awarded a distinguished professorship at a ceremony on May 4 at the American Tobacco Campus in Durham. Dr. Di Giulio was named the Sally Kleberg Professor of Environmental Toxicology.
Dr. Di Giulio’s studies focus on the molecular and organismal responses of aquatic animals to contaminants and other environmental stressors.
Through more than 150 peer-reviewed papers, his work has advanced scientists’ understanding of the mechanisms of contaminant metabolism, adaptation and toxicity in model species, and furthered efforts to devise new tools for assessing risks in the wild. Read more here.
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Dr. Claudia Gunsch, a principal investigator on Project 4 at the Duke Superfund Research Center, was recently awarded the prestigious Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The prize honors, among other achievements, her trailblazing work on bioremediation of organic contaminants using gene silencing water disinfection technology, which has helped scientists to better understand how emerging contaminants—those not commonly monitored in the environment but that may cause potential harm—affect the treatment of wastewater.
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Trainee Casey Lindberg Awarded Competitive Research Fellowship
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Superfund trainee and PhD student Casey Lindberg has received a research fellowship from the N.C. Sea Grant and the Water Resources Research Institute to study the cumulative impacts environmental stressors, including hypoxia and chemical pollutants, are having on native fish populations in East Coast estuaries. She’s one of only five graduate students statewide selected to receive the highly competitive fellowship this year. Rich Di Giulio is her faculty advisor. (Photo by Jessica Brant) |
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Trainee Claudia Gonzales-Hunt Wins Poster Competition at NC GEMS
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Claudia Gonzalez-Hunt, a trainee in Dr. Joel Meyer's lab, received first prize in the poster competition at the Genetics and Environmental Mutagenesis Society (GEMS) of North Carolina meeting on November 9, 2016. Her poster was entitled, Mechanism of rotenone mitotoxicity in C. elegans and the role of the glyoxylate pathway. Dr. Meyer gave a talk at the conference, and Tony Luz also presented a poster.
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Research Led by Dr. Joel Meyer Featured on Cover of August Issue of Toxicological Sciences
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The August issue of Toxicological Sciences features the work of Dr. Joel Meyer, co-investigator on Project 3 at the Duke SRC, on its cover. The paper outlines the work that Dr. Meyer and his team have done to illuminate the mechanisms of arsenic toxicity in mitochondria. The image shared on the cover illustrates the mitochondrial membrane potential in the pharyngeal bulb of C. elegans, the versatile nematode that the lab uses in much of their research.
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What's In my Foam Project Results Published in Environmental Science and Technology
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Dr. Ellen M. Cooper, Gretchen Kroeger, Dr. Katherine Davis, Dr. Charlotte R. Clark, Dr. P. Lee Ferguson, and Dr. Heather M. Stapleton published current results of their research on flame retardants in household furniture foam in August 2016. The research project, led by Dr. Stapleton, engages the Analytical Chemistry Core of the Duke SRC to analyze samples of polyurethane foam submitted by the public for common flame retardants. The article, titled Results from Screening Polyurethane Foam Based Consumer Products for Flame Retardant Chemicals: Assessing Impacts on the Change in the Furniture Flammability Standards, outlines the main findings from over 1000 foam samples collected and tested over the past two years.
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The Duke Superfund Research Center (SRC) includes four research projects and five support cores. The overarching goal of the Duke SRC is to foster the further development of synergistic interactions among Center Investigators, their laboratories and students, and the diverse fields they represent. The SRC also places a heavy emphasis on the successful translation of research to communities and policy makers.
In humans and other vertebrates, early life development is a time of rapid growth and complex cellular differentiation and migration that is inherently sensitive to environmental influences. Thus, the Duke Superfund Research Center emphasizes how early life exposure to Superfund toxic chemicals impacts development and later-life health.
Our current projects are as follows:
Project 1: Developmental Neurotoxicants: Sensitization, Consequences, and Mechanisms
Lead Investigator: Theodore Slotkin
Project 2: Thyroid Metabolism Disruption in Toxicant-Induced Developmental Impairment
Lead Investigator: Heather Stapleton, Co-Investigator: Lee Ferguson
Project 3: Developmental PAH Exposures in Fish: Mechanisms of Toxicity, Adaptation, and Later Life Consequences
Lead Investigator: Richard Di Giulio, Co-Investigators: David Hinton and Joel Meyer
Project 4: Metal-based Nanoparticles for Groundwater and Surface Water Remediation: Limitations, Concerns, Synergies, and Antagonistic Effects in Bioremediation
Lead Investigator: Mark Wiesner, Co-Investigators: Claudia Gunsch and Helen Hsu-Kim
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Stay up to date with our recent publications on the Duke University Superfund Center website.
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Helping Community Gardeners Understand and Reduce Soil Contaminant Exposure
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The Research Translation Core is initiating a community engagement project with gardeners in North Carolina to help them understand and reduce exposures to potential contaminants in the soil. The goal is to help gardeners to make informed decisions about how they might reduce risks from exposure to potential contaminants like lead, arsenic, PAHs, and pesticides. Three Master’s students from Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment are assisting with research on gardener behaviors and management choices that might lead to exposure risks at potentially contaminated garden sites. For more information on the project, please contact Program Coordinator Catherine Kastleman at ck205@duke.edu.
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EPA Invites RTC Staff to Participate in Science Outreach Activity With Youth
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On November 15, Research Translation Core staff members Bryan Luukinen and Catherine Kastleman, along with second year Duke Master’s of Environmental Management (MEM) student Elissa Tikalsky, traveled to the Durham Hub Farm to lead an educational workshop with middle-schoolers from Carrington Middle School for an EPA Science Outreach Day event. Duke SRC staff were invited to participate by the Director of STEM Outreach for the U.S. EPA in Research Triangle Park. The activity arose from the research project that the Duke SRC is initiating with North Carolina community gardens (see above). Read more here.
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Angling for Understanding in the Elizabeth River
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Fish Consumption Advisories on the Cape Fear River
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Last summer, staff from the Duke Superfund Research Center (SRC) packed their bags in Durham and drove up to the Hampton Roads area of Virginia to talk to anglers fishing in the Elizabeth River. Their goal: to find out more about the anglers’ fishing habits and if they knew about fish consumption advisories in the river. Why? The Elizabeth River has a long legacy of industrial activity and pollution. We wanted to make sure the anglers understood their potential for exposure to environmental contaminants. RTC staff recently shared the results of the survey with the public at the Elizabeth River Fest in Portsmouth, Virginia. Read more about our work with anglers here.
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Community partners in Northeastern North Carolina, led by the Cape Fear River Watch, recently received an EPA Environmental Justice grant to conduct participatory research on subsistence fish consumption in three communities. Contaminants of concern in the area include mercury, PCBs, dioxins, and fluorine. Results of the survey will be used to create an educational campaign to inform fish consumption advisory practices and policy. The Duke SRC RTC will take a support role and assist with education and outreach based on survey results. Collaborators include the Cape Fear River Watch, Wake Forest School of Medicine, and the Duke Environmental Law and Policy Clinic.
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Catherine Kastleman joined the Center in June 2016 as the Program Coordinator for Research Translation, Outreach, and Engagement. At the SRC, Catherine focuses on community engagement and translating research related to early-life exposures to toxins that have impacts in later life.
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Bryan Luukinen started in February 2016 in his role as Senior Program Coordinator for Research Translation, Outreach, and Engagement. He works to accelerate the application of research conducted at the SRC and find ways to effectively engage communities and other stakeholders around the research findings.
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A Big Thanks to Our Summer Interns!
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This summer we were lucky enough to have six summer interns working with the Superfund Center through our Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program.
Katelyn Liu - Research Translation Core
Andy Geleske - Community Engagement Core
Mattie Blue - Project 3
Tanner Waters - Project 3
Josh Wilkinson - Project 4
Sonum Tharwani - Levin lab
To learn more about the REU program, contact Dr. Ed Levin by email.
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