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Biohazard Assessment
Research Branch
The Biohazard Assessment Research Branch (BARB) of the Microbiological & Chemical Exposure Assessment Research Division (MCEARD), National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) operates within the Office of Research and Development (ORD). The Branch conceives, plans organizes, and conducts research that is designed to identify measure and characterize microbial pathogens that are transmitted through water, soil, and air. Measurement of the bioquality of these environmental media includes as its goals: the establishment of the procedures by which levels of pathogen exposure can be monitored, the performance of such methods to determine the associated risks that are entailed by exposure, and the long-term trends of disease-causing pollutants that are emerging in different environments. The primary emphasis within this mission is the development and evaluation of practical and economical technology that will permit rapid, sensitive, and specific biohazard assessment of the environment with emphasis on risk to human health. Determining the occurrence, distribution, transport, and fate of human pathogenic microbes through the implementation and propagation of analytical procedures permits the Branch to establish data bases that can link environmental exposure of populations to microbial diseases. The mission of the Branch includes the following functions:
- Culturable Methods Development: Developing and using cell
cultures to identify pathogens, including human enteric viruses, pathogenic
protozoans, and cytotoxic mechanisms.
- Genomic and Immuno-Based Method Development: Developing sensitive
state-of-the-art biotechnology methods for rapid detection of viruses
and parasites, especially for those organisms for which standard procedures
for detection do not now exist. Applying newly-developed, molecular
biology methods to analyze survival and health significance of microbial
pathogens in both source and finished waters.
- Microscopical Evaluation: Utilizing scanning and transmission
electron microscopy to provide for microbial monitoring, identifying
contaminants, and confirming cell culture and immunoassay results. Implementing
techniques in confocal microscopy to image and identify the ultrastructure
of living pathogenic agents.
- Exposure Assessment: Ascertaining the prevalence of viral and
parasitic agents in a community through the monitoring of the environment
and the exposed individuals. Applying performance-based methods to determine
the correlations between microbial disease and levels of environmental
exposure of a population.
- Environmental Quality Indicators: Developing and standardizing indicator systems that accurately predict the presence or absence of pathogens and the source of pollutants, with emphasis on detection of human fecal contamination. Searching for improved quality assurance procedures.
- Biohazard Monitoring: Analyzing survival and health significance of exposures that alter the microbial quality and safety of specific environments. Establishment of a baseline for the biohazards from particular pathogens that are transmitted through water, soil, and air.
- Water Ingestion: Provide data to establish risk of disease
through the water route by utilization of multi-discipline based information
on pathogen survival in terms of water and wastewater treatment practices
in both ground and surface water systems.
Branch Chief
Dr. Ann Grimm
 BARB cell culture activies |