Alumni Update from Norm Forsberg

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NormFNorm Forsberg received his PhD this year and has moved on from the Superfund Research Center and  Project 4.  One of his projects that received much attention was when he collaborated with the  Community Engagement Core to research the effects of fish smoking and dietary exposure to PAHs. He published and also presented at numerous conferences.

Forsberg ND, Stone D, Harding A, Harper B, Harris S, Matzke M, Cardenas A, Waters K, Anderson KA. Effect of Native American fish smoking methods on dietary exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and possible risks to human health. J. Agric. Food Chem., 2012, 60 (27), pp 6899–6906. DOI: 10.1021/jf300978m

From Norm on 8-27-13

I am currently working as a post-doctoral researcher with Oregon Department of Energy. I primarily provide technical guidance to the multi-agency Hanford Natural Resource Trustee Council during their ongoing natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) of the Hanford Site. The Site, established by the federal government in 1943, is located in southeastern Washington and was the site of the world’s first plutonium production facility. More than 40 years of operation resulted in the generation of large amounts of radioactive and chemically hazardous wastes at Hanford – wastes which were released to the natural environment through direct soil discharges, subsurface injections, unplanned spills, and storage tank leaks. My efforts are largely focused on collaborating with Trustees to develop and implement fit-for-purpose contaminant concentration thresholds to help identify and quantify natural resource injury, characterize natural background levels of contaminants, identify and synthesize key ecotoxicity data from the scientific literature, and help the Trustees peer review and develop new studies to fill key knowledge gaps.

The 2013 International Symposium on Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds (ISPAC 2013)

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We are excited to be hosting the ISPAC 2013 Conference on September 8-12, 2013, on the beautiful campus of Oregon State University (OSU) in Corvallis.

ISPAC 2013 will focus on the research of Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds (PACs) on multiple fronts of analytical measurements, toxicology, organic synthesis, human exposure and health effects, and environmental presences, sources, fate and transport. It is a forum that brings together researchers worldwide to communicate, learn and advance the field of PAC. In addition, we intend to have an exhibition involving chemical products, analytical instrumentations and services involving PACs.

Engage on Social Media!

We will be tweeting highlights during the conference at  #ISPAC13. Be sure to use the hashtag when sharing! If you are unable to attend, we hope you will stay connected and engage on Twitter.

Aquatic Research Highlighted

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To assist with the goals of Project 3: Systems Approach to Define Toxicity of Complex PAH Mixtures, Dr. Robert Tanguay has implemented precision robots to speed up screenings of zebrafish embryos at the Sinnhuber Aquatic Research Laboratory (SARL).  These robots are unique only to Oregon State University.

Tanguay’s research group investigates the health effects of pesticides and other environmental chemicals using zebrafish embryos. The researchers expose the zebrafish embryos to various chemicals and look for malformations. Understanding these effects on zebrafish embryos contributes to the knowledge of the chemicals’ potential to affect human health, particularly with regard to developmental pathways.

The video below entitled, The Robot’s Edge: Custom automation helps scientists screen environmental chemicals was produced by Larry Pribyl and Lee Sherman from OSU News and Research Communications. They appreciated the help from Chappell Miller and others in the Tanguay lab who contributed.

 

Other Recent SARL Stories

  • From Zebrafish to You: Popular aquarium fish provides a window on environmental chemicals (a story and podcast from Terra Magazine, July 2013)

Congratulations to the 2013 winners of the KC Donnelly Externship Award!

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The K.C. Donnelly Externship Award Supplement from NIEHS gives SRP Trainees valuable training opportunities. We are thrilled to have two winners this year.

From NIEHS…

Leah Chibwe

Leah Chibwe

Leah Chibwe is a graduate student at the Oregon State University (OSU) Superfund Research Program under the guidance of Staci Simonich, Ph.D.  She will complete a three month externship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) with Michael Aitken, Ph.D.  Chibwe will identify potentially genotoxic compounds in bioremediated soil, originally contaminated with Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs). She plans to extract and fractionate PAHs from pre- and post-remediated soil samples and then conduct the novel DT40 bioassay to characterize genotoxicity associated with the fractions. Additionally, she will use Comprehensive 2-Dimensional Gas Chromatography coupled to Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (GCxGC/ToF-MS) to investigate whether parent PAHs are converted to oxygenated PAH byproducts, which are more water soluble, bioavailable, and potentially more toxic.

“This externship will give me the opportunity to learn about the operation of the UNC lab-scale bioreactor and the DT40 bioassay technique at UNC to evaluate the human health impacts of PAHs at Superfund sites,” said Chibwe. “I will also expand my knowledge and experience beyond the scope of analytical chemistry, allowing me to learn a transferable skill set that will benefit both myself and the Simonich lab at OSU.”

Erin Madeen

Erin Madeen

Erin Madeen is a graduate student in the Oregon State University (OSU) Superfund Research Program under the mentorship of David Williams, Ph.D.  She will complete a three week externship at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Ca. under the guidance of Ted Ognibene, Ph.D. Madeen will be conducting analysis of high molecular weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in blood and urine from human volunteers following micro-dosing with environmentally relevant amounts of  labeled PAHs. She will learn to use moving wire technology, an HPLC system that can separate individual metabolites coupled to accelerator mass spectrometry, for metabolite quantitation. The externship will provide support for a collaborative goal of the OSU Center to determine the ultra-low dose pharmacokinetics of PAHs and metabolites in human volunteers.

“Moving wire is a new technology and our project is the first metabolite study on this system. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is in a unique position to provide valuable training that I can bring back to my laboratory at OSU. We will rely heavily on the moving wire platform for future projects,” said Madeen. “My ultimate goal is to produce data that helps generate accurate human risk assessment decisions for better health and quality of life.”