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Superfund Basic Research ProgramSBRP Alum Named Environmental Health Science Communication Fellow SBRP Alumna Kathleen McCarty is one of ten scientists invited to participate in a Science Communication Fellowship program with Environmental Health Sciences, publisher of the Environmental Health News and The Daily Climate. Each year-long fellowship carries with it a stipend of $5,000. The scientists will work at the intersection of science and journalism by identifying important research results each month and translating them into Plain English to make the conclusions more accessible to reporters and the general public. McCarty is an Assistant Professor at Yale University in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences. She received her Doctor of Science degree (ScD) from the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). Her dissertation research was a component of Dr. David C. Christiani's SBRP-funded research project, "Arsenic and Health in Taiwan and Bangladesh." SBRP Student Wins Awards at Society of Toxicology Meeting SBRP-Dartmouth student Courtney Kozul won four awards at this year’s Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, March 15-19, 2009. Kozul’s research, exploring the effects of chronic low doses of arsenic ingested via drinking water, earned her the Women in Toxicology Vera W. Hudson and Elizabeth K. Weisburger Scholarship Fund Student Award, the Northeast Society of Toxicology 3rd place Graduate Student Travel Award, the Molecular Biology Specialty Section 1st Place Graduate Student Research Competition, and a graduate student travel award from the meeting organizers. The awards point to the quality of research and caliber of students trained by the SBRP. According to Josh Hamilton, Kozul’s research advisor and professor in the Dartmouth Medical School Pharmacology and Toxicology Graduate Program, "The success of her project also highlights how the interdisciplinary environment of the Superfund Training Program fosters high-caliber, innovative and highly translational science that addresses real-world problems." Arizona Laboratory for Emerging Contaminants (ALEC) Opens Doors for First Open House The University of Arizona (UA) SBRP, along with UA Colleges of Science, Agriculture and Life Sciences, Engineering, and Pharmacy, and researchers from Arizona State University in Tempe and Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, held an open house for the Arizona Laboratory for Emerging Contaminants (ALEC) January 21, 2009. This progressive laboratory will provide many different researchers with the ability to explore a wide range of organic and inorganic contaminants in water. Jon Chorover, co-director of ALEC, stressed the Program and lab's capabilities, "ALEC is focused on detection and quantification of inorganic and organic contaminants- inorganics, such as arsenic, uranium and lead, and organics, such as endocrine-disrupting compounds, pharmaceuticals, and personal-care products...it [has] state-of-the art analytical equipment, [which] is available for use by anyone in Arizona's water research community� training students and future researchers is one of the lab's core missions." ALEC will also work with researchers who study how persistent pollutants like the solvent trichloroethylene, or TCE, behave in the environment. "Our intent is to work with researchers across the board in terms of contaminants chemistry and the environment." A National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation Program grant of $578,000 provided funding for most of the equipment. ALEC receives additional support and funding from the UA's Water Sustainability Program, the Arizona Water Institute, the UA's Office of the Vice President for Research and the UA Colleges of Science, Agriculture and Life Sciences, Engineering and Pharmacy, and the UA's Superfund Basic Research Program. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Release New Request for Applications (RFA) The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) have released a new Request for Applications (RFA) to solicit applications designed to collect information on community exposures to environmental or occupational agents or exposure-related diseases and use this new information to support environmental public health action. The RFA (RFA-ES-09-001) is now available online:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-ES-09-001.html (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/ RFA-ES-09-001.html) Details about the RFA This RFA solicits research applications designed to bring together community members and environmental and occupational health researchers to investigate the potential health risks of environmental and occupational exposures that are of concern to the community. Research will focus on environmental or occupational agents known or strongly suspected to be a significant environmental public health issue by community members but lacking basic information on exposure levels, sources of exposure, or potential health effects. An education, outreach, prevention or intervention program(s) also must be developed to translate and disseminate research findings to relevant audiences (e.g., scientists, community members, healthcare professionals, and policymakers) to inform them about the potential health burden(s) associated with environmental or occupational agents in their community, with the ultimate goal of supporting actions that will lead to the prevention or reduction of harmful environmental/occupational exposures and improve human health. Evaluation will be a central component of all projects. Applicants may request a project period of up to four years and a budget for direct costs of up to $225,000 per year. The NIEHS intends to commit $2 million in FY2009 to fund five to seven new grants in response to this FOA. The NIOSH intends to commit $500,000 in FY2009 to fund one to two new grants in response to this FOA. Applications are due April 1, 2009.
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