![[logo] US EPA](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081010172951im_/http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}
Exposure Research Recent Additions and News
NERL Highlights
- Upcoming Presentations by EPA's Exposure Researchers
- Recent Publications from EPA's Exposure Researchers
- Subscribe to the Nerlscience ListServe for the latest in exposure research information. This publication comes out bimonthly and includes the lastest publications, reports, upcoming conferences and web sites by EPA exposure researchers.
You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more about PDF, and for a link to the free Acrobat Reader.
September 11, 2008
- Upcoming Presentations by EPA’s Exposure Researchers. - September to December, 2008
- Recent Exposure Research Publications. - June 1, 2008 to September 10, 2008
September 9, 2008
- Title 42 Positions - Application Date Extended - Division Director positions in Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division, and Environmental Sciences Division.
September 8, 2008
- Updated information concerning SEAOES - Scientific and Ethical Approaches for Observational Exposure Studies.
- Assistance Opportunity Cancelled (amendment 3) - Observational Studies to Characterize the Determinants of Exposure to Chemicals in the Environment for Early-Lifestage Age Groups.
August 28, 2008
- Updated Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products (PPCP) literature references. - Listing of literature references to Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the environment.
August 18, 2008
- Assistance Opportunity - Request for Application. - Amendment 2 for the May 29 Announcement.
August 1, 2008
July 10, 2008
July 10, 2008
July 7, 2008
- EPA report on Scientific and Ethical Approaches for Observational Exposure Studies. - NERL has produced this document to assist researchers as they plan and implement observational exposure studies.
July 2, 2008
- Updated PPCP literature references. - Listing of literature references to Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the environment.
June 25, 2008
June 17, 2008
- Year 2008 added to NERL Publications and Presentations. - Database for NERL citations in all divisions.
June 16, 2008
- Assistance Opportunity - Request for Application. - Amendment for the May 29 Announcement.
May 29, 2008
- Assistance Opportunity - Request for Application. - Observational Studies to Characterize the Determinants of Exposure to Chemicals in the Environment for Early-Lifestage Age Groups.
May 29, 2008
- A Conceptual Framework for U.S. EPA's National Exposure Research Laboratory (draft)(PDF) (draft document, 34 pp., 450 KB)
May 7, 2008
- Southwest Regional Gap Analysis Project Final Report. U.S. Geological Survey, Gap Analysis Program
- W.G. Kepner and D.F. Bradford, Plant Communities, Land Ownership, and Topography in Nevada (PDF) (poster, 1 pp., 718KB), Southwest Regional Gap Analysis Project.
May 2, 2008
- What’s Coming Out of the Tap? - EPA scientist Susan Richardson has received the "Award for Creative Advances in Environmental Science and Technology" for her work exploring disinfection byproducts in the water supply.
April 10, 2008
- Andrew H. Grange and G. Wayne Sovocool. Identification of Compounds in Water above a Pollutant Plume by High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (PDF) (37 pp, 783KB) Environmental Forensics, 2007, 8, 391-404.
- Andrew H. Grange, Rapid Spatial Mapping of Chemicals Dispersed Across Surfaces using an Autosampler /DART/TOFMS (PDF) (4 pp., 642KB), 55th ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics, Indianapolis, IN, June 3-7, 2007.
- Interim Guidance for Developing GPS Data Collection Standard Operating Procedures and Quality Assurance Project Plans - a Geospatial Quality Council Product
March 21, 2008
March 19, 2008
March 17, 2008
- Bioaccumulation and Aquatic System Simulator (BASS) (Version 2.2) -
a model that simulates the population and bioaccumulation dynamics of age-structured fish communities. Although BASS was specifically developed to investigate the bioaccumulation of chemical pollutants within a community or ecosystem context, it can also be used to explore population and community dynamics of fish assemblages that are exposed to a variety of nonchemical stressors such as altered thermal regimes associated with hydrological alterations or industrial activities, commercial or sports fisheries, and introductions of non native or exotic fish species.
- BASS User Manual (PDF) (128pp, 2MB)
- SERAFM - Spreadsheet-based Ecological Risk Assessment for the Fate of Mercury (Version 1.0.4) - SERAFM Conceptual Model - SERAFM is a process-based, steady-state modeling system based in a spreadsheet framework incorporating a series of process modules. SERAFM predicts speciated mercury concentrations (Hg0, HgII, MeHg, HgT) in water (filtered and unfiltered) and sediments, and total mercury concentrations in fish tissue.
February 28, 2008
January 30, 2008
- Detroit Exposure and Aerosol Research Study (DEARS) Updates
January 10, 2008
- Office of Water Methods for Emerging Contaminants
- 1694 Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in Water, Soil, Sediment, and Biosolids by HPLC/MS/MS
- 1698 Steroids and Hormones in Water, Soil, Sediment, and Biosolids by HRGC/HRMS
- 1699 Pesticides in Water, Soil, Sediment, Biosolids, and Tissue by HRGC/HRMS
December 27, 2007
- Detroit Exposure and Aerosol Research Study (DEARS) Select Preliminary Findings - Presentations and Abstracts of select preliminary findings from the DEARS.
December 14, 2007
- Updated state pages: Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, New Mexico, Missouri, Puerto Rico, Wisconsin
- Updated regional pages: Region 4, Region 8, Region 9, Region 10
December 13, 2007
December 10, 2007
- Red Shiner Invasion of the Upper Coosa River System: Dynamics and Ecological Consequences (PDF) (67 pp., 1MB)
- Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment Tool (AGWA) - The Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment (AGWA) tool is a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) interface jointly developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service, and the University of Arizona to automate the parameterization and execution of the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and KINematic Runoff and EROSion (KINEROS2) hydrologic models. The application of these two models allows AGWA to conduct hydrologic modeling and watershed assessments at multiple temporal and spatial scales.
November 29, 2007
- NERL Post-Doctoral Research Program - The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA'S) National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) is accepting applications for approximately 8 federal, three-year post-doctoral research positions. NERL has opportunities for conducting high priority research that contributes to protecting human health and the environment. Our primary focus is research and development that leads to improved methods, measurements and models to assess and predict exposures of humans and ecosystems to harmful pollutants and other conditions in air, water, soil, and food. Candidates will engage in areas such as environmental monitoring and characterization; exposure reconstruction; computer modeling of the transport, transformation, and fate of pollutants in multiple media and at multiple scales; human and ecological exposure analysis; remote sensing applications; and landscape ecology. The interdisciplinary nature of our research affords numerous opportunities for collaboration with other researchers both inside and outside of EPA. The application period is November 29, 2007 through January 31, 2008.
November 14, 2007
- Notice of Willingness to Participate in Funding Opportunities of Other Federal Agencies (PDF) (2pp, 16K)
- Investigation of the Associations Between Air Pollution and Health Using Alternative Estimates of Human Exposure (PDF) (28pp, 134K) - Initial Announcement. To be considered timely, printed hard-copy applications must be received by 3:00 p.m. local time in RTP, NC on January 30, 2008 from the U.S. Postal Service or other commercial delivery service. Applications submitted electronically through grants.gov must be received by grants.gov by 3:00 p.m. EDT on January 30, 2008.
November 5, 2007
- NERL's Ecosystem Research Division located in Athens, GA has a Environmental Multimedia Modeler position open. Applications will be accepted November 5, 2007, through January 4, 2008.
October 24, 2007
- Interim Report on the Evolution and Performance of the Eichrom Technologies Procept® Rapid Dioxin Assay for Soil and Sediment Samples (PDF) (45pp, 360KB) - The SITE MMT program has completed another report (EPA/540/R-07/001) on the use of alternative screening methods for dioxins in soil and sediment samples. In this demonstration, Eichrom Technologies implemented improved sample preparation procedures and incorporated the use of site specific calibration materials. The report documents better correlation of the bio-assay procedure to conventional laboratory methods, this was one of the primary goals of the original demonstration. One more evaluation of these alternative technologies is planned for FY08 to complete the verification process.
- A journal article, History and Accomplishments of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) Monitoring and Measurement Technology (MMT) Program summarizing the history and evolution of the MMT program has been published in the Journal of Testing and Evaluation , Volume 35, No.5, pages 486-495, 2007. This legacy document traces the history and accomplishments of the program as well as the evolution of the field verification process. The article includes the results of a survey of the 70 participants and reflects an overall appreciation for the program. The conclusion is that the MMT program provided an important contribution to the Superfund program and the use of field analytical technologies. The program also established guidelines for field testing and verification that have been adopted by other EPA programs and Federal Agencies. Article Abstract. (Journal subscriptions are needed for full access to articles.)
September 13, 2007
- Recent Exposure Research Publications.
- Upcoming Presentations by EPA's Exposure Researchers.
- An updated version of the U.S. EPA's Wellhead Analytic Element Model, WhAEM2000, has been posted on the CEAM web site. WhAEM2000 for Windows (98/NT/2K/XP), is a groundwater flow model designed to facilitate capture zone delineation and protection area mapping. A detailed list of changes is available in the release notes.
- The Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code (EFDC) has been posted on CEAM. EFDC is a multifunctional surface water modeling system which includes hydrodynamic, sediment-contaminant, and eutrophication components.
- EFDC has be used to:
- study high fresh water inflow events in the northern portion of the Indian River Lagoon, Florida
- model flow through high vegetation density-controlled wetland systems in the Florida Everglades.
- discharge dilution studies in the Potomac, James and York Rivers.
- salinity intrusion studies include the York River, Indian River Lagoon and Lake Worth.
- sediment transport studies include the Blackstone River, James River, Lake Okeechobee, Mobile Bay, Morro Bay, San Francisco Bay, Elliott Bay - Lower Duwamish Waterway, and Stephens Passage.
- power plant cooling studies include Conowingo Reservoir, the James River and Nan Wan Bay.
- contaminant transport and fate studies include the Blackstone and Housatonic Rivers, James River, San Francisco Bay, and Elliott Bay - Lower Duwamish Waterway.
- water quality eutrophication studies include Norwalk Harbor, Peconic Bay, the Christina River Basin, the Neuse River, Mobile Bay, the Yazoo River Basin, Arroyo Colorado, Armand Bayou, Tenkiller Reservoir, and South Puget Sound.
- Atmospheric Sciences Modeling July Highlights
- Atmospheric Sciences Modeling June Highlights
September 12, 2007
- Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium (MRLC) - National Land Cover Data information has been updated.
September 10, 2007
- Land Preservation and Restoration Research - an overview of the National Exposure Research Laboratory's land preservation and restoration effort. NERL's Land Research Program is an integral part of ORD's, and is directed to help ORD achieve two long term goals by providing the scientific foundation for decisions about: (1) mitigation, management and long-term stewardship of contaminated sites; and (2) waste management and resource conservation.
September 6, 2007
- EPA Unmix 6.0 Model - EPA Unmix is a receptor model that is freely distributed by ORD. The model uses ambient measurements to determine the number of source types and their impacts at a monitoring site.
- ERDEM 5.1 is now available. - ERDEM is a physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model with a graphical user interface (GUI) front end. Such a mathematical model was needed to make reliable estimates of the chemical dose to organs of animals or humans because of uncertainties of making route-to route, low-to-high exposure, and species-to-species extrapolations when there are exposures to one, or to multiple chemicals.
August 7, 2007
- Watershed Deposition Tool - The Watershed Deposition Tool (WDT) was developed to provide an easy to use tool for mapping the deposition estimates from CMAQ (Models-3/Community Multiscale Air Quality) to watersheds to provide the linkage between air and water needed for TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) and related nonpoint-source watershed analyses. This software tool takes gridded atmospheric deposition estimates from NOAA/EPA’s regional, multi-pollutant air quality model, CMAQ, and allocates them to 8-digit HUC’s (hydrologic cataloging units of rivers and streams) within a watershed, State or Region. The WDT can calculate the weighted average CMAQ atmospheric deposition (wet, dry, wet + dry) across a selected HUC or a set of selected HUC’s for a given scenario. The WDT can also calculate the average change in air deposition across a HUC between two different air deposition simulations.
July 18, 2007
- Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) as Pollutants - This site is dedicated to the scientific issues associated with the occurrence of PPCPs in the environment.
- Water Quality Vulnerability in the Ozarks using Landscape Ecology Metrics: Upper White River Browser (v2.0) - The principal focus of this project is the mapping and interpretation of landscape scale (i.e., broad scale) ecological metrics among contributing watersheds of the Upper White River, and the development of geospatial models of water-quality vulnerability for several suspected non-point source pollutants in the region.
July 17, 2007
- Great Lakes Basin (GLB) Landscape Ecology Metric Browser (v2.0) - The principal focus of this project is the mapping and interpretation of landscape scale (i.e., broad scale) ecological metrics among hydrologic units and within 1 km, 5 km, and 10 km regions of coastal land in the Great Lakes Basin (GLB). Much is still unknown about the ecological relationships between human activities, surface water quality, and the biological characteristics with the GLB. This browser is an important step toward understanding the distribution of these phenomena and the analyses of their interrelationships.
- EMAP-West Metric Browser - The United States Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) is conducting a study in the western United States. This study will advance the science of ecological monitoring and demonstrate techniques for regional-scale assessment of the condition of aquatic resources in the western united states (EPA Regions 8, 9, 10, and New Mexico).
- EPA Technology for Mold Identification and Enumeration - This page briefly describes EPA patented technology for mold detection and identification. It lists contact information for the companies licensed to utilize this technology
- Atmospheric Sciences Modeling May Highlights
- Atmospheric Sciences Modeling April Highlights
June 26, 2007
- Integrated Earth Observations: Application to Air Quality and Human Health (PDF) (38 pp, 482 KB) - workshop report. On 1-2 August 2005, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the Environmental Protection Agency sponsored a workshop, “Integrated Earth Observations: Application to Air Quality and Human Health”. The goal of the workshop was to identify the data user requirements and products that would enable air quality and climatological data derived from the international Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) and from the U.S. Integrated Earth Observation System (IEOS) to be used effectively in public health research, planning, policy, and management of disease. The workshop brought together data producers, data organizers, and data users in a multi-disciplinary, interactive format to identify user requirements and research gaps and needs in the respiratory, cardiovascular and developmental abnormalities/birth defects fields. The workshop was limited to forty experts in data production, organization, and health applications.
June 7, 2007
- WebIce - New Version. The Web-based Interspecies Correlation Estimation (Web-ICE) application estimates acute toxicity to aquatic and terrestrial organisms for use in risk assessment.
June 6, 2007
- Performance of Statistical Tests for Site Versus Background Soil Comparisons When Distributional Assumptions Are Not Met - Statistical distributions of site and background soil samples often do not meet the assumptions of statistical tests. This is true even of “non-parametric” tests. This paper evaluates several statistical tests over a variety of cases involving realistic population distribution scenarios and sampling schemes. Over the range of cases, performance was erratic for most tests. When planning a project, the sampling scheme must be designed together with the statistical test, and the choice of test may vary depending on which scenario best matches the conceptual model for the site. This report began as an inquiry into the ability of the Wilcoxon Rank Sum (WRS) test to distinguish between background and contaminated soils in the “Choccolocco Corridor” (CC) area of Fort McClellan Army Base in Alabama.
May 30, 2007
- The Watershed and Water Quality Modeling Technical Support Center is offering an introductory course in water quality modeling featuring the Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program (WASP). The course will be offered July 23-27, 2007 in Atlanta, GA. The course is free of charge and is on a first come first serve basis. For additional information or to register for the workshop please contact Tim Wool at 404-562-9260 or wool.tim@epa.gov. More information on the workshop and the WASP model can be found at http://www.epa.gov/athens/wwqtsc/html/training.html
May 29, 2007
- United States Meteorological Data: Daily and Hourly Files to Support Predictive Exposure Modeling (PDF) (397pp, 2M) - ORD numerical models for pesticide exposure include a model of spray drift (AgDisp), a cropland pesticide persistence model (PRZM), a surface water exposure model (EXAMS), and a model of fish bioaccumulation (BASS). A unified climatological database for these models has been assembled from several National Weather Service (NWS) datasets, including Solar and Meteorological Surface Observation Network (SAMSON) data for 1961-1990 (versions 1.0 and 1.1), combined with NWS precipitation and evaporation data. Together these NWS products provide coordinated access to solar radiation, sky cover, temperature, relative humidity, station atmospheric pressure, wind direction and speed, and precipitation. The resulting hourly and daily weather parameters provide a unified dataset for use in coordinated exposure modeling. This report covers a period from May 2, 2001 to December 27, 2004 and work was completed as of December 27, 2004.
May 10, 2007
- EPA Report on the Environment 2007
- EPA's 2007 Report on the Environment: Science Report (SAB Review Draft) - EPA is announcing a 45-day public comment period for the draft document titled, EPA's 2007 Report on the Environment: Science Report (ROE SR) (EPA/600/R-07/045). This public comment period is to precede the formal public, scientific peer review of the document by EPA's Science Advisory Board (SAB) on July 10-12, 2007. The public comment period begins May 10, 2007 and ends June 25, 2007. Technical comments should be in writing and must be received by EPA by June 25, 2007 as indicated in the May 10, 2007 Federal Register notice.
May 8, 2007
- Important Exposure Factors - The Food Quality Protection Act and Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments include special provisions that require EPA to assess all of the ways that children may come into contact with pesticides in their everyday environments. This requires a thorough understanding of the factors that affect children’s exposures to chemicals in the environment. The EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD) has conducted or supported several targeted observational studies to address critical data gaps in the Agency’s understanding of the factors affecting children’s exposures. Results from these studies are described in a new report, Important Exposure Factors for Children: an Analysis of Laboratory and Observational Field Data Characterizing Cumulative Exposure to Pesticides. This body of research provides important advancements in our understanding of factors that affect children’s exposures to chemicals in their environment.
May 4, 2007
- Environmental Science Institute - July 10-12, 2007 - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, US EPA Campus, Research Triangle Park, NC. The US Environmental Protection Agency is hosting an Environmental Science Institute for teachers and other environmental educators. This Institute incorporates EPA’s Air Quality Workshop that qualifies for Criteria I of the Environmental Education Certification Program.
April 17, 2007
- Dr. Wayne Garrison, Ecosystems Research Athens, GA, published the article "Probing the Enantioselectivity of Chiral Pesticides" in Environmental Science and Technology (EST). "Probing the Enantioselectivity of Chiral Pesticides" is featured on the ACS Publications website http://pubs.acs.org/journals/esthag/promo/most/most_cited/2006.html
as a 2006 Most-Cited Article based on citation data obtained from Thomson ISI. 2006 Most-Cited Articles are articles published in 2006 receiving the most citations in the same year. ACS Publications recognizes these articles as research of immediate interest.
- Citation: Arthur W. Garrison, Probing the Enantioselectivity of Chiral Pesticides, Environmental Science and Technology; 2006; 40(1) pp 16 - 23.
- URL:
Probing the Enantioselectivity of Chiral Pesticides (PDF) (8pp, 504KB)
Subscriptions are required for access to journal articles.
April 16, 2007
- Vacuum Distillation Technical Notes - two new notes added.
- The Application of SW-846 Method 8261 to new SAM Analytes. Part One; Determination of Relative Volatility Values
- The Application of SW-846 Method 8261 to new SAM Analytes. Part Two Method Performance for Water
- Inventory and Ecological Assessment of Depressional Wetlands in the Texas Coastal Region: Interim Results (PDF) (1pp, poster, 2M)
- Impacts of Regulation on U.S. Gasoline Composition (PDF) (1pp, poster, 517KB)- 2007 National Tanks Conference Poster
April 5, 2007
- 16th Annual International Emissions Inventory Conference - "Emission Inventories: Integration, Analysis, Communication" - Raleigh, North Carolina, May 14 - 17, 2007
March 28, 2007
- The EMPACT Beaches Project - page update. A link to the project data was added.
- Atmospheric Scienced Modeling updates - includes updates on scientific accomplishments and research activities
- Estimated and Projected Impervious Cover in the Southeastern United States - this page contains links to shape and associated GIS files with estimated (year 2000) and projected (2010 to 2030 depending on data available by state) impervious cover as percent of total area for the 8 U.S. Southeastern states by 12 or 14 Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC).
- QUAL2K - minor update from version 2.04 to 2.07. QUAL2K (or Q2K) is a river and stream water quality model that is intended to represent a modernized version of the QUAL2E (or Q2E) model (Brown and Barnwell 1987).
February 27, 2007
February 23, 2007
- The Evaluation of Methods for Creating Defensible, Repeatable, Objective and Accurate Tolerance Values for Aquatic Taxa (PDF) (68 pp., 4 MB) - This report describes the current level of variability in macroinvertebrate tolerance values and compares several objective approaches to calculating tolerance values using detailed examples. Recommendations and considerations for the use of each approach are also provided and are applicable to calculating tolerance values for any assemblage.
- EPA-RTP Speakers Bureau - The EPA's Speakers Bureau in Research Triangle Park, NC (EPA-RTP) was created to share the vast knowledge of our employees with the Triangle communities. The Speakers Bureau is a database that organizations and institutions can search to find and to request speakers. This database contains profiles of EPA-RTP employees who are willing to speak on a wide variety of environmental science and related topics.
February 9, 2007
- Report on the Regional Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program Study of Wadeable Streams in the Driftless Area Ecoregion in Western Wisconsin (PDF) (81pp, 2MB) - EPA 600/R-06/165 November 2006. This report describes the results of a REMAP agreement awarded to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) to compare random and modified-random sampling designs.
- Atmostpheric Modeling updates -
Topics include:
- New York City Urban Dispersion Model Evalualtion Project
- Top-down Evaluation of NOx Emissions: Inverse Modeling
- Wind Tunnel Simulations of Near-roadway Dispersion: Urban Boundary Layer Specification
- Characterizing the Dispersion of Traffic Emissions Around Noise Barrier in the Near-Road urban Environment: A Comparison Between Mobil Measurements and Fine-Scale Simulations
- Assessing Air Toxics Concentrations in Urban Areas using Mobile Platform Measurements
- Improvement to the Aqueous Chemistry (AQCHEM) in Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ)
- New Version of EXPRESS (v1.03) - EXPRESS (EXAMS - PRZM Exposure Simulation Shell) is designed to facilitate a rapid and consistent assessment of aquatic pesticide exposure on a variety of crops. This version adds an ability to produce PRZM time-series files for detailed analysis and uses system metabolism test, rather than biodegradation, for Tier II inputs.
January 9, 2007
January 8, 2007
- Community Mutliscale Air Quality (CMAQ) Version 4.6 Released - The primary goals for the Models-3/Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) modeling system are to improve 1) the environmental management community's ability to evaluate the impact of air quality management practices for multiple pollutants at multiple scales and 2) the scientist's ability to better probe, understand, and simulate chemical and physical interactions in the atmosphere.
Release Notes for CMAQ Version 4.6 are available on EPA's
Atmospheric Sciences Modeling site.
- Helping Green Turtles Through Water Quality Assessment of Their Critical Habitat - In the summer of 2005, Dr. Marirosa Molina, from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Ecosystems Research Division in Athens, Georgia, joined forces with researchers from the University of Georgia's (UGA) School of Veterinary Medicine to investigate the spread of the disease in the green turtles of Puerto del Manglar Bay in the island of Culebra, Puerto Rico. The project is locally sponsored by the Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources (PRDNR) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. While the UGA researchers study the pathology of the disease itself, Dr. Molina is evaluating the quality of the bay water, because water pollution might be promoting the spread of the disease in the turtles.