|
January 12, 2024 (Issue 240) |
|
Abstract Submissions Now Open for APHA 2024
The American Public Health Association (APHA) is now accepting abstract submissions for oral and poster presentations for the Annual Meeting and Expo to be held October 27-30 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Authors are encouraged to submit abstracts related to the meeting theme — Rebuilding Trust in Public Health and Science — and current and emerging public health issues. The abstract submission deadline is March 29, 11:59 p.m. PDT.
SOT 2024: New Investigator Session and Funding Insights Room
The annual meeting of the Society of Toxicology (SOT) will take place in Salt Lake City, Utah, March 10-14, 2024. Sessions to be offered during SOT include:
- New Investigator/Funding 101 Session: Grant Opportunities and Tips for Toxicologists, March 11, 2024. This session will feature a Grants 101 presentation by staff from funding agencies and grant writing advice by principal investigators. For more information, contact Anika Dzierlenga.
- Funding Insights Room, March 11-13, 2024. This session will allow grant recipients, applicants, and anyone interested in grants to participate in one-on-one meetings with funding agency staff. For more information, contact Danielle Carlin.
Applications for the HHS Environmental Justice Community Innovator Challenge Close January 30
The HHS Environmental Justice Community Innovator Challenge is a national competition to identify innovative and effective approaches to enhance community-driven efforts to address the health consequences of communities burdened by environmental and climate change-related hazards. Projects should have a clear focus on community specific health issues and address community or Tribal interests. Applications for Phase I are due January 30.
|
|
NIEHS SRP News Stories
Take a moment to read about some of our colleagues' latest activities in this month's Environmental Factor, the NIEHS newsletter:
-
Rollie Mills Wins 2023 Wetterhahn Award: SRP selected Rollie Mills, from the University of Kentucky SRP Center, as the 26th recipient of the Karen Wetterhahn Memorial Award.
-
Collaboration and Training Key to Superfund Success: The 2023 SRP grant recipient meeting showcased how collaborative research can accelerate scientific discovery to protect the health of communities exposed to harmful contaminants.
-
NIEHS News in Brief: University of New Mexico (UNM) SRP Center artist-in-residence Mallery Quetawki was featured about her artwork to share research findings and public health messages with Native Americans.
Visit the SRP page for more stories about the program:
-
New Workflow Improves Data Management and Sharing A team of scientists funded by the NIEHS Superfund Research Program (SRP) published a new workflow to help researchers across disciplines share environmental health data more effectively. The workflow provides a standardized framework for collecting, organizing, and distributing scientific data so that it can be more easily understood and used by other groups.
Meyer Gains News Attention
Duke University SRP Center researcher Joel Meyer and colleagues were featured in a news story about their research that found that Gulf War Illness, which affects approximately 250,000 U.S. veterans, significantly reduces their white blood cells' ability to make energy and creates a measurable biochemical difference in veterans who have the disease.
Joel Meyer was also interviewed for Duke’s Climate Pulse podcast about air pollution and climate change.
NCSU PFAS Research in the News
Jane Hoppin and Katy May, researchers at the North Carolina State University (NCSU) SRP Center, were featured in NC Health News about their visits to Wilmington, North Carolina, to discuss PFAS contamination in the town’s drinking water source, the Cape Fear River. Another center researcher, Erin Baker, was interviewed by Popular Science about PFAS in the Cape Fear River. Baker said that despite decades of monitoring, PFAS can be challenging to catalog.
|
|
Analyzing Metal Exposures in Navajo Nation Children
This month we spoke with Rayna Vue, a trainee at the UNM SRP Center who is mentored by Debra MacKenzie.
What is the focus of your research at the UNM SRP Center?
There are over 500 abandoned uranium mines across the Navajo Nation, exposing communities to toxic metals. My focus is assessing the distributions of metal concentrations in Navajo children. So far, we have analyzed metal concentrations in children from birth to five years of age. We are now collecting and analyzing samples at later timepoints to further assess outcomes of long-term exposure to environmental metals.
|
How did you become interested in this work?
As an undergraduate at UNM, I participated in a research program that sparked my interest to work on a research team. I knew I was interested in doing community-based research in hopes of improving health within local communities. As I am not native to New Mexico, being able to learn about Navajo Nation and conduct research to help Indigenous populations was something I became very interested in and felt would be meaningful to pursue.
Tell us about the poster award you received at the latest SRP Annual Meeting and what it meant to you.
The 2023 SRP Annual Meeting poster award was my first scientific recognition, and so it will truly hold a special place in my heart. I have so much more to learn as I am new to the research field, but this award furthered my motivation to keep pursuing community-based research and have a positive impact on the health of local populations.
What factors have contributed most to your growth as a researcher throughout your time as an SRP trainee?
Being able to collaborate with leaders within the Navajo community has been a humbling and enlightening experience. I think working with Indigenous communities has given me the unique chance of developing cultural humility and realizing the importance of community-researcher engagement.
What is one piece of advice that you have for other SRP trainees?
Present your research at any chance you get! It’s good practice and a great way to meet new researchers. Getting questions and feedback can allow for better poster building in the future as well.
|
|
ITRC Contaminants of Emerging Concern Identification Framework Webinar
In 2023, the ITRC Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CEC) Framework was published to help environmental regulatory agencies and other stakeholders identify, evaluate, and manage CEC's while acknowledging uncertainties in their environmental fate and transport, receptor exposure, and toxicity. The webinar will take place January 25, 1:00-3:00 p.m. ET.
|
|
Culinary Inspired Technique Enhances Carbon Filters to Remove Arsenic
Taking a page from culinary arts, researchers at the Harvard University SRP Center, led by Paul Westerhoff, developed a new method inspired by French cooking to improve the ability of carbon block filters to remove arsenic from water. This technique may offer a cheaper and more practical solution for people to reduce arsenic exposure at the tap.
Carbon block filters are commonly used to treat water for pathogens or to remove unwanted tastes and odors. They are also used to remove organic contaminants from water but have not been effective at removing arsenic until now.
The study builds on earlier findings showing that adding titanium hydroxide to the carbon filters could trap arsenic. However, the earlier approach did not evenly distribute titanium within the filter and negatively affected water flow. To overcome these challenges, the researchers used an approach inspired by sous vide cooking techniques — which entail cooking food in a water-filled, vacuum-sealed container — to infuse commercially available carbon blocks with titanium hydroxide. In short, they removed air from the carbon block using a flexible pouch, added the titanium solution, sealed the pouch, and slowly heated the assembly in a water bath.
Compared to traditional autoclave heating methods, this approach uses 70% fewer chemicals, the researchers reported. Their technique also resulted in more uniform and stable distribution of titanium and did not affect water flow.
Next, they tested the ability of their modified carbon block filter to remove two common forms of arsenic from water — arsenate and arsenite. The team reported that the filter removed both types of arsenic from tap water containing either 10 or 100 micrograms per liter of the contaminant.
According to the authors, the new approach is particularly effective for removing arsenite, the more toxic of the two forms, and performs better than alternative filters when arsenic levels are low. Removing arsenic from water even when it is present at low levels is particularly important as there is no known safe level of arsenic exposure, they noted.
|
|
New Research from TAMU
Texas A&M University (TAMU) SRP Center researcher Arum Han received a grant from the TAMU Engineering Experiment Station to develop synthetic programmable bacteria for immune-directed killing in tumor environments (SPIKES). The idea is to engineer bacteria to help T cells kill cancerous tissue, destroy itself once the cancer is gone, and leave the body safely as human waste.
Travel Award, Outstanding Graduate Award Presented to TAMU Trainee
Lucie Ford, a trainee at the TAMU SRP Center, received a Pfizer Society of Toxicology (SOT) Undergraduate Student Travel Award to attend the 2023 Pfizer Pharmaceutical Careers and Postdoctoral Opportunities Educational Event. She was also awarded the 2023 TAMU Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology Outstanding Graduate Student Award.
LSU Trainee Named 2023 Science Policy Fellow by Gulf Research Program
Jennifer Irving, a doctoral candidate at Louisiana State University (LSU) and trainee at the LSU SRP Center, was named a Science Policy Fellow in the National Academies’ Gulf Research Program. Irving will spend her time as a fellow working at the Houston Advanced Research Center, a non-profit environmental and energy research hub.
Young and Emerging Scholar Awards Given to Trainees
University of Rhode Island (URI) SRP Center trainee Asta Habtemichael was selected by the URI Coastal Institute as a 2023 Emerging Coastal Leader.
Ashley Connors, a trainee at the NCSU SRP Center, was a co-winner of the 2023 Young Scholars Award from the NCSU Comparative Medicine Institute.
Duke SRP Center trainee Kate Morton received the Young Investigator Award at the 2023 Society for Redox Biology and Medicine annual meeting. Morton presented a poster and gave a lightning talk at the conference titled “C. elegans are a popular neurotoxicology model - but lack dopaminergic neuron sensitivity to Complex I inhibitors.”
MIT CEC Leader Earns Presenter Award
Kathleen Vandiver, leader of the community engagement core at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) SRP Center, was awarded as “Recognized Presenter” by her peers during the Massachusetts Science Teacher (MAST) Conference. This award is given to a presenter at the conference that is voted as the most impactful by their peers.
MSU Researchers Receive Multiple Awards
Hui Li, of the Michigan State University (MSU) SRP Center, received two prestigious awards for excellence in research. Li was selected as the recipient of the Impact Award from the MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, as well as the 2023 Environmental Quality Research Award from the American Society of Agronomy.
Karina Orlowska was selected for the InSphero and Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine HUMAIN (Human Advanced In Vitro Model Initiative) Award. The award includes $20,000 towards InSphero technology, training, and funding for promotion of research findings.
Duke Researchers Awarded Grants
David Dunson, of Duke SRP’s data management and analysis core (DMAC), was awarded an NIH grant for his research, titled “Improving inferences on health effects of chemical exposures.” He received the grant alongside his co-investigator, DMAC co-leader Amy Herring.
Joel Meyer is a co-investigator on a recently awarded Department of Defense grant. Meyer and principal investigator Elizabeth Hauser, alongside co-investigators Scott Lynch and Elizabeth Gifford, will receive $750,000 over three years to study accelerated aging in Gulf War Illness.
Heather Stapleton will serve as a co-investigator on a R21 NIEHS grant awarded to the University of Kentucky SRP Center investigator Erin Hayes. The research will characterize PFAS soil contamination in East Liverpool, Ohio, after a hazardous waste incinerator caught fire in 2022.
UNC Trainee Honored with Scholarship
Holly Haflich received the 2023 Larson Aquatics Research Ph.D. Scholarship from the American Water Works Association, which provides support and encouragement to outstanding graduate students preparing for careers in the fields of science or engineering.
|
|
HHS Environmental Justice Community Innovator Challenge
What: Community-led strategies and tools to address health disparities in communities disproportionately impacted by environmental risks and hazards including those related to climate change, and the cumulative impacts of other stressors.
Funder: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
When: Applications are due January 30.
21st Annual People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) National Student Design Competition
What: Develop and demonstrate solutions to environmental and public health challenges of people across the U.S., including those in small, rural, Tribal, and underserved communities. P3 highlights the use of scientific principles in creating innovative technology-based projects that achieve the mutual goals of improved quality of life, economic prosperity and environmental protection.
Funder: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
When: Applications are due February 21.
|
|
Machine Learning Algorithm for Zebrafish Neutrophil Counting
NCSU SRP Center researchers developed a machine learning method to count fluorescently labeled cells in zebrafish larvae in vivo. Using a Multi-Camera Array Microscope (MCAM), the researchers captured 18 gigapixels of images across a full 96-well plate in 75 seconds and processed the resulting datastream using an algorithm. Overall, they were able to acquire enough data to create an automated algorithm and execute a biological experiment with statistical significance. This software can be modified for studies of other cell lineages and model species.
Application of Artificial Intelligence for Lung Black Carbon Quantification
Researchers at the UNM SRP Center created an algorithm to quantify airway microphage black carbon. The machine learning algorithm for Engulfed carbon Particles (MacLEAP) produced associations with ambient fine particulate matter and plasma clara cell protein, a lung injury biomarker, that were nearly identical in magnitude to those obtained through manual counting. This method can help understand lung black carbon deposition, which is crucial for comprehending health effects of combustion particles.
4D Nucleome Hackathon
The 4D Nucleome (4DN) program is accepting applications for the 2024 4DN Hackathon, which will be hosted March 18-21 at the University of Washington. The hackathon is open to all students, faculty, and staff from the general scientific community — no coding experience is required. This opportunity offers participants the chance to explore genome organization, build something novel, learn from peers, and get familiar with the 4DN program’s data and research. Applications are due January 20.
Input for Sharing NIH Supported Research Software
NIH is soliciting input on best practices for openly sharing research software including source code, algorithms, scripts, computational workflows, and executables that were created during the research process or for a research purpose. This request for information will inform and frame NIH’s guidance regarding development, refactoring, implementation, and sharing of NIH-supported research software. Responses are due February 1.
Input to Update NIH Strategic Plan for Data Science
NIH seeks public input on its updated Strategic Plan for Data Science. Stakeholders, including the scientific community and the public, are invited to provide feedback on goals, strategies, partnership opportunities, emerging research needs, and other relevant topics. The complete draft plan is available for review, and voluntary responses reflecting organizational or individual perspectives are encouraged by March 15.
RADx Tribal Data Repository Launch
NIH launched the RADx Tribal Data Repository: Data for Indigenous Implementations, Interventions, and Innovations (RADx TDR: D4I). RADx TDR: D4I will establish a data repository consistent with Tribal sovereignty for researchers and their collaborators interested in working with RADx data provided by American Indian and Alaska Native research participants to better understand and address the impact of COVID-19 and other health disparities. Read the Director’s Corner Blog on this announcement.
|
|
|
On November 10, 2023, Community Engagement Core and Human Subjects and Sampling Core team members participated in March of Dimes 27th March for Babies event in San Juan, Puerto Rico. March of Dimes is a nonprofit organization that is focused on ending preventable maternal health risks and preterm birth and closing the health equity gap for mothers. (Photo courtesy of the PROTECT SRP Center)
|
|
Multiple Opportunities with NIEHS
NIEHS’s Reproduction and Developmental Biology Laboratory is recruiting a staff scientist 1 for the Pregnancy and Female Reproduction Group under the leadership of Francesco DeMayo, chief and senior investigator. The Pregnancy and Female Reproduction Group uses molecular genetics, bioinformatics, cell culture, and animal models to the molecular mechanisms governing female reproductive tract function during pregnancy.
The Biostatistics and Computational Biology Branch in the Division of Intramural Research is also recruiting a staff scientist to support the research activity in the Applied Statistics Group led by Shanshan Zhao. Successful candidates may be expected to employ statistical methodological developments and collaborative population-based studies to reveal the social and physical determinants of health outcomes.
University of Michigan Opportunities
The University of Michigan has a research associate opening for a productive chemist, in the College of Osteopathic Medicine. Based in East Lansing, Michigan, the role will involve research on recently funded projects of early drug discovery and chemical biology.
University of Rhode Island SRP Center Seeking Postdoctoral Research Associate
The URI SRP Center has an opening for a postdoctoral research associate. The primary responsibility of this position will be to develop and implement data management practices based on the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) principles for data collected from experiments, simulations, field research, and clinical studies. Inquiries should be directed to Harrison Dekker at hdekker@uri.edu.
Senior Level Position at University of Pennsylvania
The Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology at the University of Pennsylvania has an opening for a senior environmental health scientist. The primary appointment will be in Systems Pharmacology & Translational Therapeutics, but appointments in other departments are possible depending on expertise.
|
|
|
Mapping Microbe Interactions That Support PCB-Degrading Bacteria
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
USA Exposome Symposium
January 22-24, 2024
Nashville, Tennessee
|
|
|
|
Correcting Some Misconceptions about EPA's Superfund Approach for Radiation Risk Assessment
January 31, 2024
Virtual
|
|
|
|
|
Partnerships for Environmental Public Health 2024 Meeting
February 20-22, 2024
Durham, North Carolina
|
|
|
|
Microplastics Webinar
February 27, 2024
Virtual
|
|
|
|
|
ITRC PFAS Introductory Training
February 29, 2024
Virtual
|
|
|
|
Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting & ToxExpo
March 10-14, 2024
Salt Lake City, Utah
|
|
|
|
|
Environmental Data Management (EDM): Best Practices for Achieving and Maintaining Quality within Environmental Data Management
March 19, 2024
Virtual
|
|
|
 |
|
JOIN THE @SRP_NIEHS KNOWLEDGE NETWORK!
NIEHS uses X (formerly Twitter), a popular social media tool, for information sharing through tweets. Many SRP Centers also have accounts, and it would be great if all participated! Follow @SRP_NIEHS to instantly hear news about the program, noteworthy publications, events, and job opportunities for trainees.
|
|
|
|
|
|
