Category Archives: Training

Cory Gerlach Investigates the Mechanism of Toxicity for Flame Retardant Using Zebrafish

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Cory Gerlach hanging out with the zebrafish at the Sinnhuber Aquatic Research Laboratory (SARL)
Cory Gerlach hanging out with the zebrafish at the Sinnhuber Aquatic Research Laboratory (SARL)

Cory Gerlach is an undergraduate student in the Tanguay lab and will be graduating this spring with an Honors Bachelor of Science in Bioresource Research.  Besides winning awards, Cory has transformed his career with valuable research experience gained over the last two years.

In 2013, Cory won the best undergraduate research presentation at the PANWAT meeting in Seattle. The title of his PANWAT poster was “Mono-substituted isopropylated triaryl phosphate, a major component of flame retardant mixture Firemaster 550, is an AHR agonist that exhibits AHR-independent cardiac toxicity”.

In 2014, Cory won the best undergraduate poster presentation at the OSU EMT Research Day, and he received a Pfizer SOT Undergraduate Student Travel Award for the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Society of Toxicology (SOT) in Phoenix, AZ to present his recent findings.

Reflection of Experience by Cory Gerlach

My experience in the Tanguay lab has completely changed my career path.
Before I began my undergraduate research, I thought I would get a masters
in public policy or shift my focus from science to policy or law in some
graduate program. However, in the Tanguay lab I discovered my passion for
bench research, found that I was good at it, and learned that these basic
discoveries are crucial in order to affect policy and therefore improve
public health. Having Dr. Tanguay as a mentor has also helped me to keep
in mind the big picture of my research, and he has taught me that there is
always room for innovation and improvements to how we answer big research
questions. Continue reading →

UC Davis Picnic Day Provided Opportunity for Connection & Engagement

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Picnic Day is an annual open house event held in April at UC Davis. It typically draws more than 50,000 visitors to the campus to learn about the research and engage in family fun activities.

The 'toxin hunt' activity organized by the UC Davis Superfund Research Program
The ‘toxin hunt’ activity organized by the UC Davis Superfund Research Program

We appreciated the invitation from the UC Davis Superfund Research Center to our Trainees to come down and participate with them in outreach. Dr. Craig Marcus, Training Core Leader, traveled with two trainees, Erin Madeen (Project 1) and Andrea Knecht (Project 3).

OSU SRP Trainee Erin Madeen (Project 1) spent time chatting with Michael Denison, (PI, Project 5) of the UC Davis Superfund Center.
OSU SRP Trainee Erin Madeen (Project 1) spent time chatting with Michael Denison, (PI, Project 5) of the UC Davis Superfund Center.

UC Davis invited us to display posters about our Center within their display area.  Having the OSU SRP there was great, because UC Davis could direct their attention to our work to learn specifically about PAHs; how people are exposed and how they affect human and environmental health.

Besides research posters, the booth had over 125 children engaged in a ‘toxin hunt’ activity. The game was an excellent way for them to understand how SRP research can impact their health.  The parents became very interested in the toxins that are being studied with the Superfund Research Program.

OSU SRP Trainee Andrea Knecht (Project 3) chats with visitors about her zebrafish research
OSU SRP Trainee Andrea Knecht (Project 3) chats with visitors about her zebrafish research

 

Picnic Day was a great opportunity for Erin and Andrea to gain more experience in outreach by sharing posters with attendees and researchers. Dr. Marcus and the trainees also had opportunities to interact individually with the leadership and project leaders of several projects in the UC Davis Superfund Center to make additional connections and establish new collaborations. We look forward to hosting UC Davis trainees for our Research Day and other exchange opportunities.

Ultra sensitive Tools for Human Health Research: Highlights from a K.C. Donnelly Externship

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By Erin Madeen, Ph.D. candidate and Project 1 Trainee

Erin Madeen working at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Erin Madeen working at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Using new technology at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Oregon State University researchers are able to perform a controlled study of the human metabolism of environmental contaminate PAHs for the first time.

The Williams Laboratory has studied PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) for over a decade, traditionally relying on animal and in vitro models of metabolism and toxicity. PAHs are produced by the burning of carbon-containing materials, for example forest fires, charcoal grilling, and engine combustion. After production, PAHs cling to foods such as vegetables, cereal grains, or smoked meats. Some of these compounds cause cancer at high doses in animal models.

As a graduate student in the Williams Lab, one of my projects is to relate PAH data to human health.  With our partners at LLNL, a sensitive tool known as an AMS (accelerator mass spectrometer) is used to detect very small doses of PAHs in urine or blood plasma.  We gave a model PAH called DBC [Dibenzo (def,p) chrysene] to human volunteers in doses less than what can be found in a charbroiled burger. This research has not been possible until now because of potential toxicity risks.  Traditional non-AMS methods need a larger dose of DBC which could pose too high of a risk to study participants.

With the support of LLNL staff and the OSU Superfund Research Program, I received a K.C. Donnelly Externship Supplement through the NIEHS Superfund Research Program.  This award supported my travel to LLNL for this project. My experience at LLNL greatly solidified my understanding of and appreciation for AMS. Maintaining and continuously developing unique instrumentation, such as AMS, requires a highly specialized, dedicated, and flexible team.  The environment of a national laboratory is different from that of university research.  Most notably this difference is in the concentration of specialists in a particular field and the team approach to problem solving. It was humbling to observe the amount of time, resources, and effort that the LLNL AMS staff dedicated to training and to progress on our DBC project. This externship allowed me to experience being part of the AMS team and to process my own samples, providing valuable insight that will help guide further work on our projects.

Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) is an instrument traditionally used for carbon dating. It has been modified to detect stable isotopes in biological samples. The AMS at LLNL is unique because it is able to use liquid samples.  The liquid biological samples are separated according to the changes the body makes to DBC, known as DBC metabolites.  The carbon isotope added to the DBC chemical structure was used to identify several different metabolites in human urine and plasma.  This project is ongoing as we continue to develop a profile of the human metabolism of DBC over time.

Related journal publications:

From OSU Superfund Research Program

From LLNL

 

OSU Partners with PNNL for Biostatistics and Modeling Expertise

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Our Center is multi-investigator, multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional. In partnership with Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL), and other stakeholders and collaborators, we are developing new technologies to identify and quantitate known and novel polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) found at many of the nation’s Superfund sites and assess the risk they pose for human health.

Women@Energy: Dr. Katrina Waters Photo credit: energy.gov
Women@Energy: Dr. Katrina Waters
Photo credit: energy.gov

The research projects in our Center collect large amounts of molecular and chemical data. This data includes measuring PAH mixtures in environmental samples, determining toxicity of PAH mixtures, and the mechanism(s) of action for these toxic endpoints.

Our Biostatistics and Modeling Core, lead by Dr. Katrina Waters, greatly enhances our Center by providing expert statistical and bioinformatics data analysis support and software solutions for data management and interpretation.

Katrina Waters recently became the Deputy Director for the Biological Sciences Division at the Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL). Her expertise is in computational biology, and she works collaboratively with all of the research projects and co-authors with them.

This multidisciplinary training of toxicology students and fellows at OSU and PNNL is a unique strength of our program. Our SRP Trainees have benefited greatly from the PNNL partnership.  Students have gone to the lab in Richland, WA to be trained in Bioinformatics, Statistics and Study Design. More training workshops are being scheduled for this summer and fall.

Waters presented at SOT’s FutureTox II: In Vitro Data and In Silico Models for Predictive Toxicology on January 16, 2014. Her talk was entitled Computational Tools for Integration of High Throughout Screening (HTS) Data. She utilized examples from the collaboration with Robyn Tanguay and his zebrafish assay for toxicity testing (Project 3).

Susan Tilton
Susan Tilton works with Dr. Katrina Waters and the OSU SRP Biostatistics and Modeling Core Group

Dr. Susan Tilton, also from PNNL,  presented at FutureTox as well. The title of her presentation was ‘Pathway-based prediction of tumor outcome for environmental PAH mixtures’.  In this study, they developed a mechanism-based approach for prediction of tumor outcome after dermal exposure to PAHs and environmental PAH mixtures.  Their model was successfully utilized to distinguish early regulatory events during initiation linked to tumor outcome and shows the utility of short-term initiation studies in predicting the carcinogenic potential of PAHs and PAH mixtures.

“Dr. Waters and her group have proven to be of great value in not just the interpretation of extremely large and complicated data sets, but also in the “front-end” study design, which results in enrichment of the subsequent data obtained.”
– Dr. David Williams, OSU SRP Center Director

New Mercury Education Project in Partnership with EPA and Rural School

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This year the EPA Partners in Technical Assistance Program (PTAP) Pilot has launched the first project with a school located near the Black Butte Mine Superfund Site in rural Cottage Grove, Oregon.

“The overall objective of PTAP is to expand opportunities for cooperation between EPA and colleges, universities or nonprofits with the shared goal of assessing and addressing the unmet technical assistance needs of impacted communities. Through PTAP, colleges, universities, and nonprofit organizations cooperate with EPA and voluntarily commit to assist communities with their unaddressed technical assistance needs. At this time, PTAP is in the pilot phase, working with NIEHS Superfund Research Program grantees as PTAP pilot partners. Following this pilot phase, the intention is to expand this project so that any interested colleges, universities or nonprofits may also join the PTAP.”

OSU Superfund Research Program has begun a partnership with EPA through this Pilot to help them expand upon their community outreach capabilities surrounding the Black Butte site.

On December 18, 2013, we met with Laurie Briggs, the Principal of the London School, because she had a strong desire to give her students and their families’ science and environmental health knowledge. About 100 rural K – 8th grade students go to London school.

Our visit included getting to know one another, listening to the needs of the school, and a school tour. We were impressed with the beauty and organization. The school built and maintains a 1/4-acre organic garden, and has a trail to a river flowing behind the property.  72% of the students qualify for free/reduced lunch, and delicious healthy meals are cooked on site.

For this project, we plan to:

1) Maintain communication through monthly meetings, and share notes and project milestones on our web site. [Our next meeting is January 30th, 2014 at OSU.]

2) Address community and educational needs.

  • Create a hands-on, project-based integrated curriculum related to the science of the Superfund site and mercury contamination that can serve as a model for other rural, small schools.
  • Discuss ways to educate the students and community and expand and build a sustainable partnership.

3) Provide training opportunities for SRP Trainees wanting outreach experience.

4) Help students understand career opportunities in environmental and life sciences.

 

 

Project Team from left Diana Rohlman (OSU SRP CEC), Alanna Conley (EPA, Region 10), Dan Sudakin (OSU SRP RTC), Laura Briggs (London School Principle), Naomi Hirsch (SRP RTC OSU). Not pictured: Corey Fisher (OSU SRP CEC), Melissa Dreyfus (EPA Headquarters Superfund Community Involvement Program), Kira Lynch, (EPA Region 10, Science and Tech Liaison), and Richard Muza (Region 10 - Black Butte Mine, Project Manager)
The Project Team from left Diana Rohlman (OSU SRP CEC), Alanna Conley (EPA, Region 10), Dan Sudakin (OSU SRP RTC), Laura Briggs (London School Principal), Naomi Hirsch (OSU SRP RTC). Not pictured: Corey Fisher and Molly Kile (OSU SRP CEC), Melissa Dreyfus (EPA Headquarters Superfund Community Involvement Program), Kira Lynch, (EPA Region 10, Science and Tech Liaison), and Richard Muza (Region 10 – Black Butte Mine, Project Manager)