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August 9, 2024 (Issue 247) |
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Save the Date! SRP Annual Meeting
The SRP Annual Meeting will be June 16-18, 2025. Stay tuned for more information!
Wetterhahn Memorial Award Applications
SRP will soon accept applications for the annual Karen Wetterhahn Memorial Award. The award was established to recognize an outstanding graduate student or postdoctoral trainee that best demonstrates the qualities of scientific excellence exhibited by Karen Wetterhahn, who died in 1997. The award is open to all SRP trainees who are funded directly by an SRP grant (P42 or R01) or who are conducting research or activities funded by an SRP grant. Please be on the lookout for upcoming information about the nomination period.
SRP-funded Small Business Featured in Public Health Impact Story
SRP’s latest Public Health Impact story features an innovative technology, developed by SRP-funded small business Cyclopure, Inc., which successfully removes PFAS from water. The technology has been adapted to a variety of applications, including tabletop filters, whole-house water filtration systems, and large-scale cleanup projects.
SRP Budget Update
Here are updates on Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations bills from the House and Senate Interior and Environmental Appropriations Subcommittees, from which the SRP budget is derived (and the NIEHS Worker Training Program). In short, the FY25 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill in the House included a 6% cut relative to the FY24 final appropriation (which represents a 10% cut relative to the FY23 appropriation and the FY25 President’s Budget Request). This bill was passed by the House on July 24 by a vote of 210-205.
The Senate FY25 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill proposes a 2.4% increase from FY24 (which is a 2.2% cut relative to FY23 appropriation and the FY25 President’s Budget Request). This bill was passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee on July 25. It is unclear, at this time, when the Senate will be voting on their FY25 appropriations bills.
More information on the bills and report language can be found in the following links:
Congress is expected to return from August recess on September 9.
You are welcome to email April Bennett, the NIEHS Congressional Liaison, if you have any questions: april.bennett@nih.gov.
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NIEHS SRP News Stories
Visit the SRP page for more stories about the program:
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SRP Grant Recipients Lead the Conversation on PFAS: Scientists across the country, including many funded by SRP, gathered with community groups, public officials, and others to share experiences and research related to PFAS. Through several recent events, they aimed to understand challenges and discuss strategies to protect the health of communities affected by the toxic and persistent chemicals.
Newman Featured in Environmental Defense Fund Article
Texas A&M University (TAMU) SRP Center researcher, Galen Newman, was featured in the Environmental Defense Fund article, Hurricanes' Hidden Risk: Toxic Chemicals. Newman and his students designed a green infrastructure plan for Galena Park and a guide on nature-based solutions to help control stormwater and toxic flood waters in nearby communities.
UK SRP Trainee Interviewed by College of Medicine
Jerika Durham, a University of Kentucky (UK) SRP Center trainee, was interviewed by the UK College of Medicine magazine. Durham, who works in the fields of toxicology and cancer biology, is currently researching environmental toxins and their potential impacts on colon cancer.
Campen Talks About the Dangers of Microplastics
Matt Campen, deputy director of the University of New Mexico SRP Center, spoke with CBS News on the dangers of microplastics and how they are ingested by humans.
Columbia University SRP Trainee Studies Heavy Metals in Navajo Nation
Columbia University SRP Center trainee, Kevin Patterson, was featured in an AZ Mirror article about his research to understand the environmental health threats of uranium and vanadium affecting his Navajo Nation community.
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Using Microbes to Clean Up Pollutants
This month we spoke with Christopher Olivares, a former University of Arizona SRP Center trainee who was mentored by Jim Field, a professor at the school's College of Engineering. Olivares is now an assistant professor at the University of California, Irvine in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
What is the purpose of your current research?
I am currently evaluating how microbes and organic pollutants interact, particularly in the context of climate-related disasters. Specifically, we are looking at microbial markers of PFAS in soils and groundwater and are studying how wildfires change the water microbiome. We also use data science tools to identify hotspots of PFAS unmeasured in previous years and to predict the concentration of PFAS in wastewater.
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What was the focus of your research at the University of Arizona SRP Center?
I researched microbial transformations under different conditions with Jim Field and Reyes Sierra-Alvarez. I also learned about zebrafish embryo toxicity thanks to the K.C. Donnelly Externship and the Robyn Tanguay Lab at the Oregon State University (OSU) SRP Center.
How did you become interested in this work?
I grew up in Mexico City, but visited my cousins many summers in South Tucson, a community impacted by nearby Superfund sites and trichloroethylene, or TCE, which is a widely used industrial chemical. As an undergraduate, I later learned about microbial remediation, and I became fascinated that microorganisms were capable of cleaning up industrial contaminants.
How did your time as a trainee at the University of Arizona SRP Center inform your current work?
It helped me think more holistically about my research and about having a research vision that integrates environmental health, community engagement, and the need of environmental literacy.
Could you tell us more about the writing skills workshop that you recently hosted?
A group of graduate students, postdocs, and faculty met last year at the University of California, Santa Cruz to increase participation of Latinas in STEM and academia. It became clear that a common challenge was the lack of formal training in proposal writing and other topics relevant to academia. We wanted to share broadly some tips, resources, and opportunities to connect trainees and early career faculty, and to practice some of these skills.
What factors contributed most to your growth as a researcher throughout your time as an SRP trainee?
The opportunities available through the community engagement core helped my growth, and still continues to ground my research and service. At the University of Arizona, I had the opportunity to volunteer in translating factsheets into Spanish and help to develop educational modules. I am also very thankful for Stephanie Cormier's invitation to allow me to cohost a session as a student with her in the SRP Annual Meeting.
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RemTEC and Emerging Contaminants Summit - Westminster, CO, October 15-17, 2024
The RemREC and Emerging Contaminants Summit will convene academic, consulting, regulatory, stakeholder, and other thought leaders to address today's most pressing environmental science, remediation technology, and emerging contaminants challenges through collaborative action. The Summit, which will occur October 15-17 in Westminster, Colorado, will showcase cutting edge research and practice case studies.
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Machine Learning Advances Scientists’ Ability to Predict Health Risks
TAMU SRP Center researchers created a new method to identify points of departure (PODs), or the lowest dose of a chemical that triggers a biological response.
Regulatory agencies use PODs to assess health risks from chemical exposures. However, most chemicals lack PODs due to insufficient toxicity data. To address this challenge, the team created a machine learning model to predict the biological activity of chemicals based on their physical and chemical properties.
The model performs in two stages. The first stage identifies the structural, physical, chemical, and toxicological properties of chemicals, from a variety of databases. The second stage uses those properties and data on health effects to predict chemicals’ biological activity.
The researchers tested their model on over 34,000 chemicals and found that it accurately predicted PODs for chemicals that already had them available. The model also identified PODs for chemicals that previously lacked PODs. The results identified several thousand chemicals of moderate concern and several hundred of high concern for health effects.
This new approach significantly increases the number of chemicals that can be evaluated for health risks, according to the authors.
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OSU Trainee Wins Awards
OSU SRP Center trainee Francesca Germano received a student travel award for the Pacific Northwest Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry conference. OSU also honored her with the Dr. Hari S and Dr. Renuka R. Sethi Graduate Fellowship.
TAMU-UTMB Receives $7.5 Million Grant
The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences awarded a $7.5 million grant to TAMU SRP Center researcher Ivan Rusyn, and other researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), to establish a center dedicated to promoting women's and pregnancy health research. Major aims of the five-year grant include using a cutting-edge technology called Microphysiological Systems (MPS), or "organ-on-a-chip," to replicate aspects of female reproductive organs involved in pregnancy as a drug development tool.
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NIH: Innovative Technologies for Research on Climate Change and Human Health
What: Encourages small business entrepreneurs and researchers to develop commercializable tools, resources, and approaches to address the effects of climate change on human health, and to support adaptation or mitigation strategies to minimize health risks from climate change, as part of the NIH-wide Climate Change and Health Initiative.
When: Applications are due September 5.
NIH: New Small Business Funding Opportunity for Emerging Entrepreneurs Released
What: Aims to support career development and research and development under a new entrepreneur’s direction. Will provide support for preparing and executing a career development plan to successfully navigate the entrepreneurial process, develop and commercialize products, or operate a small business.
When: Applications are due September 5, January 5, 2025, and April 5, 2025.
NIH: Intervention Research to Improve Native American Health
What: Supports research on interventions to improve health in Native American populations, including research that will directly inform interventions or adaptations and research that develops, adapts, or tests interventions for health promotion, prevention, treatment, or recovery.
When: Applications are due October 1.
NIH: Data Informed, Place-Based Community-Engaged Research to Advance Health Equity
What: Aims to stimulate community-engaged research that leverages geospatial data to probe the influence of geographic factors on disease development and health outcomes, with the goal of using place-based research to help advance health equity in different communities.
When: Applications are due October 5.
NIH: Clinical and Translational Science Award Program: Collaborative and Innovative Acceleration Award for Advancing Recruitment through Trial Innovation Network
What: Invites applications to design, develop, demonstrate, implement, and evaluate innovative tools and resources that will (1) transform, increase, and improve the recruitment of participants in clinical trials and (2) improve the use of participant-based information that will inform safety and efficacy for improving participants recruitment in clinical trials.
When: Applications are due October 18.
NIH: Notice of Intent to Publish a Funding Opportunity Announcement for Environmental Health Disparities Centers (P50)
What: Solicits applications for the Environmental Health Disparities Centers program. The centers will conduct environmental health disparities and environmental justice research, engage in research capacity building, and provide training across diverse disciplines and backgrounds with a disease agnostic focus.
When: Applications are due November 1.
EPA: Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants Program
What: Funds environmental and climate justice activities to benefit disadvantaged communities through projects that reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity to address environmental and climate justice challenges.
When: Applications are due November 21.
EPA: Models to Predict the Removal of Emerging Micropollutants from Water by Novel Adsorbents in Fixed-Bed Column Processes
What: Through the Innovative Water Technology Grant Program, EPA is seeking applications for research to develop, test, and deploy predictive models for novel adsorbents and estimate the effectiveness of these adsorbents to remove emerging micropollutants in drinking water and wastewater treatment operations.
When: Applications are due October 2.
EPA: Developing and Demonstrating Nanosensor Technology to Detect, Monitor, and Degrade Pollutants
What: Through the Science to Achieve Results program, EPA is seeking applications for research to develop and demonstrate nanosensor technology with the potential to detect, monitor, and degrade PFAS in groundwater or surface water that may be used as drinking water sources.
When: Applications are due November 13.
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August Data Sharing and Reuse Seminar
The August Data Sharing and Reuse Seminar will feature Robert Schuler and Jifan Feng who will be presenting “FaceBase: Empowering Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research through Data Sharing and Reuse” on August 9, Noon – 1:00 p.m. ET. The seminar will introduce FaceBase, a trusted data resource for research and education on craniofacial and dental development, and on malformations and diseases across human and animal models.
Medical Image De-Identification Benchmark (MIDI-B) Challenge
The MIDI-B Challenge invites developers to evaluate their Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) image de-identification tools, emphasizing automated methods that maintain research utility. By utilizing diverse medical imaging data from the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Imaging Archive, participants can contribute to the MIDI-B Challenge report as co-authors.
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Javier Huayta, of the Duke University SRP Center, facilitated an activity based on fluorescing C. elegans, or glow worms, as bioindicators for chemical soil contamination at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo courtesy of Duke SRP Center)
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- The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health is expanding their Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences by offering an assistant or associate professorship.
- The Duke Toxicology Program at the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Division, which provides toxicological evaluations and risk assessments for products, is seeking a new research scientist.
- The Department of Population and Public Health Sciences at the University of Southern California invites applications for an assistant professor of clinical population and public health sciences.
- Baylor College of Medicine’s Center for Precision Environmental Health is seeking a professor who studies precision environmental health in carcinogenesis, disease pathogenesis, epidemiology, or computational biology.
- The University of Massachusetts, Amherst is seeking a postdoctoral research associate to engage in research pertinent to reducing dietary exposure to PFAS and mitigating their associated toxicity using clay-based sorbent materials.
- The Sustainability Institute at Rice University is inviting applications for postdoctoral fellows in sustainability solutions. Research proposals of interest should include an emphasis on multidisciplinary science and tackling sustainability problems in transformative ways.
- The Department of Environmental Health at the Boston University School of Public Health is seeking applications for fully funded postdoctoral research associates in environmental and molecular epidemiology.
- Open on a continuous basis, EPA has several Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education research projects seeking postdoctoral support.
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Pyrite Improves Electrochemical System for Removing a Chemical Mixture
Watch the latest Research Brief video!
Past Research Briefs are available on the SRP website. To receive the monthly Research Briefs or to submit ideas, email Brittany Trottier (brittany.trottier@nih.gov).
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RemPlex Seminar: Workforce Development in the Environmental Remediation Field
August 13, 2024
Virtual
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Environmental Justice Boot Camp: Theory and Methods to Study Environmental Health Disparities
August 15-16, 2024
Boston, Massachusetts and Virtual
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International Society for Environmental Epidemiology Annual Meeting: Addressing Challenges in Environmental Health, Justice, and Development
August 25-28, 2024
Santiago, Chile
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PFAS Management Strategies in the United States, European Union, and Australia
August 26, 2024
Virtual
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International Society of Exposure Science Annual Meeting: Exposures that Impact Health in Vulnerable Populations
October 20-24, 2024
Montreal, Quebec
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American Public Health Association (APHA) 2024 Annual Meeting and Expo
October 27-30, 2024
Minneapolis, Minnesota
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Need to get in touch with an NIEHS SRP staff member? Check out our Contact Staff page. |
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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.
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