Partnership Project Completed for

Black Butte Mine Community

We are very pleased with the outcome of the first pilot project for the EPA Partners in Technical Assistance Program (PTAP), launched with London School, located near the Black Butte Mine Superfund site in rural Cottage Grove, Oregon.

As a team, we produced two videos (Careers in Environmental Health and The Black Butte Mine) and an educational packet of selected activities designed to be adaptable for teachers and educators. The three units included: 1) Environmental Health, 2) Mercury in the Environment, and 3) Mercury and Human Health.

The project has been well received, featured, and shared widely on EPA social media platforms. In addition, the project was presented via a webinar to EPA Region 10 personnel, as well as EPA Community Involvement Coordinators nationwide.

"The PTAP project provided a structure to build relationships with EPA Region 10 and impact a community living near a Superfund site. We hope the educational resources are models for other schools and future partnerships."

~ Naomi Hirsch, OSU SRP Research Translation Core coordinator

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Highlights from the Field

Assessing Contaminants in Subsistence-Harvested Shellfish

with the Swinomish and Samish Indian Tribes

By Blair Paulik (Project 4 Trainee) and
Diana Rohlman (CEC Program Coordinator)

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(August 10-12, 2014) OSU SRP researchers meet with Bill Bailey (far left) and Rosie James (second from left, front) of the Samish Indian Tribe to collect butter clams and place passive pore-water samplers.

Portland Harbor Superfund Site Paddle to Educate OHSU Students

By Dave Stone (RTC Co-leader)

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Dave Stone takes a picture of the OHSU students with Oregon Health Authority and Oregon DEQ as they get ready to paddle.

Welcome New Trainees

Greta Frey, MPH student in Environmental and Occupation Health and Safety OSU College of Public Health and Human Sciences

Greta Frey - Community Engagement Core

Greta Frey grew up in Boise, Idaho and completed her undergraduate work at OSU in Public Health. She is a member of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz of Siletz, Oregon and the Aleut Corporation of Anchorage, Alaska.
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Tod Harper - Project 1

Tod Harper, PostDoc Fellow with Dr. David Williams, Project 1

Tod Harper is a recent transplant to Corvallis from Galveston, Texas. While in Texas he earned a B.S. in Marine Biology from Texas A&M University at Galveston and a PhD. in Pharmacology & Toxicology from The University of Texas Medical Branch.

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Congratulations to Tod!

Tod Harper recently won "Best Postdoctoral Presentation" at PANWAT (Pacific Northwest Association of Toxicologists).

Tod was also awarded a Student/New Investigator Travel award to attend the Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society meeting in Orlando. He won "Runner Up for New Investigator Poster Presentation".

Jill Schrlau, Project 5

Jill Schrlau - Project 5

Jill Schrlau has been working as a Research Assistant since June 2009 in the lab of Dr. Staci Massey Simonich. She is now going back to school to be able to change careers from analytical chemistry to environmental engineering with a specific interest in remediation.
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New Awards

Dave Wiliams (Center Director and Project 1 Leader) presented on "Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons as Transplacental Carcinogens" at the PANWAT (Pacific Northwest Association of Toxicologists) Meeting in September 2014. He also received the PANWAT Achievement Award.
Kim Anderson (Project 4, Core D Leader) has received a new research award from the Air Force for a new project Titled: "Evaluation of a Novel Passive Dosimeter: Detection of Aircraft Exhaust Compounds." This is a $100,000 award for a 6 month Phase 1 project with potential for future funding.
Molly Kile (Community Engagement Core Co-leader) was awarded a 5-year R01 grant from NIEHS titled "Developmental exposure to arsenic and immune function in children". This will follow up children aged 3- 5 years that were previously recruited into a birth cohort in Bangladesh to examine the relationship between early life exposure to arsenic and their susceptibility to infectious diseases.

Katrina Waters (Core C Leader and Deputy Director of Biological Sciences at PNNL) was appointed to a new National Academies Study on Predictive-Toxicology Approaches. The study committee will evaluate modern toxicology approaches for use by the Department of Defense to predict toxicity, in efforts to prevent debilitating acute exposures to deployed personnel.

Stacey Harper (Training Core Co-Leader) has been awarded the 2014 Savery Outstanding Young Faculty Award. The Savery award is presented each year to a faculty member of the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences, to recognize outstanding contributions through teaching, research, international, and/or extended education activities.

Staci Simonich (Project 5 Leader) has been awarded a new 3-year grant as PI from NSF entitled: "Photochemical Aging of Asian Particulate Matter: Formation of Oxygenated Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons". The award is for just under $300,000 over the funding period and the start date was Aug. 15, 2014.

Recent Publications

Bugel SM, Tangauy RL, Planchart A. Zebrafish: A Marvel of High-Throughput Biology for 21st Century Toxicology. Curr Envir Health Rpt, 07 Sept. 2014. DOI 10.1007/s40572-014-0029-5

Crowell SR, Hanson-Drury S, Williams DE, Corley RA. In vitro metabolism of benzo[a]pyrene and dibenzo[def,p]chrysene in rodent and human hepatic microsomes. Toxicology Letters, Volume 228, Issue 1, 3 July 2014, Pages 48-55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.toxlet.2014.04.004

Kile ML, Coker ES, Smit E, Sudakin D, Molitor J, Harding AK. A cross-sectional study of the association between ventilation of gas stoves and chronic respiratory illness in U.S. children enrolled in NHANESIII. Environ Health. 2014 Sep 2;13(1):71.
[Press Release: Childhood asthma linked to lack of ventilation for gas stoves, OSU study shows]

Larkin A. Williams DE, Kile M, Baird WB.Developing a Smartphone Software Package for Predicting Atmospheric Pollutant Concentrations at Mobile Locations. The Computer Journal (2014) doi:10.1093/comjnl/bxu067
[Intro to publication by Andy Larkin, Do health apps really matter?]

Upcoming Events

Environmental Health Science Trainee Colloquium
12 noon, Third Thursday of Each Month
More information

Oct. 16, 2014

Coming November 20th: Carey Donald and Scott Lafontaine

NATIONAL MEETINGS

SETAC North America 35th Annual Meeting
Vancouver, B.C. | November 9 - 13, 2014

SRP Annual Meeting
San Jose, CA | Nov. 12 - 15, 2014

2014 APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition
New Orleans, LA | November 15-19, 2014

Citizen Science Conference | AAAS Annual Meeting
San Jose, CA | Feb. 11-12, 2015 | Feb. 12-16, 2015

The OSU Superfund Research Center was established in 2009 and brings together a multidisciplinary team with years of experience in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and environmental health issues.

The Superfund Research Program is federally funded and administered by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS grant #P42 ES016465), an institute of the National Institutes of Health.

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