Asbestos fate, exposure, remediation, and adverse health effects

描述(由申请人提供) 宾夕法尼亚大学超级基金研究和培训计划中心(宾夕法尼亚大学超级基金研究和培训中心)的发展是居住在宾夕法尼亚州安布勒BioRit石棉超级基金地点附近的社区担忧的直接结果。Ambler的社区积极参与了该中心将要处理的项目的设计。因此，该中心将由两个环境科学项目和四个生物医学科学研究项目组成，这些项目将由一个研究核心和四个服务核心提供支持。这些项目和核心将探讨石棉的命运、暴露、补救和有害健康影响的各个方面。环境科学项目1和2分别题为“石棉颗粒的修复”和“石棉颗粒的流动性和去向”。生物医学科学项目3-6题为“超级基金环境正义社区中对石棉的风险和态度的社会决定因素”、“间皮瘤动物模型”、“石棉引起的肺部疾病的化学预防”和“石棉暴露的生物标记物”。核心包括行政核心(核心A)、社区参与核心(核心B)、研究翻译核心(核心C)、生物统计学研究支持核心(核心D)和跨学科培训核心(核心E)。宾夕法尼亚大学SRP中心的目标将通过两位资深的高度成功的调查人员的领导实现，他们是伊恩·A·布莱尔博士(主任)和特雷弗·M·彭宁博士(副主任)。宾夕法尼亚大学SRP得到了四个非常重要的实体的支持。首先，宾夕法尼亚大学环境毒理学卓越中心(CEET)提供了一个学术之家，拥有丰富的资源可供借鉴。其次，CEET翻译生物标记物核心为进行复杂的生物标记物发现和验证研究提供了仪器和资源。第三，CEET综合健康科学设施核心将为人类主题研究设计和注释生物样本的储存提供支持。第四，现有的CEET证书计划和环境健康科学T32培训计划为潜在的学生和博士后研究员提供了资源，他们可以被招募到宾夕法尼亚大学SRP中心。检测、评估和评价有害物质对人类健康影响的先进技术将涉及开发一种新的石棉诱导间皮瘤动物模型。评估有害物质对人类健康构成的风险的方法将涉及使用高分辨率液相色谱-质谱仪的新的代谢组学方法，以确定暴露在石棉中的人口。检测环境中有害物质的方法和技术将涉及两种完全不同的方法。其中一项将涉及使用基于地球科学的方法来监测石棉在垃圾场内的移动，另一项将涉及一项社会学研究，以确定石棉暴露是如何发生的，以及这是否可以解释安布勒石棉引发的间皮瘤集群。为减少有害物质的数量和毒性而采用的一种基本生物学方法将包括通过菌根真菌将石棉转化为无毒的分子形式来修复石棉。因此，尽管这些项目是为了回应漫步者社区的关切而发展的(环保局区域3)，但结果可以很容易地转化为其他15个石棉场地，这些场地存在于环境保护局其他5个区域(2、5和8-10)。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant) The University of Pennsylvania Superfund Research and Training Program Center (Penn SRP Center) evolved as a direct consequence of concerns from the community living proximal to the BioRit Asbestos Superfund site in Ambler, PA. The community at Ambler has actively participated in the design of projects to be tackled by the Center. As a result, the Center will consist of two Environmental Science Projects and four Biomedical Science Research Projects, which will be underpinned by one Research Core and four Service Cores. These Projects and Cores will explore various aspects of asbestos fate, exposure, remediation, and adverse health effects. Environmental Science Projects 1 and 2 are entitled "Remediation of Asbestos Particles" and "Mobility and Fate of Asbestos Particles," respectively. Biomedical Science Projects 3-6 are entitled "Social Determinants of Risk And Attitudes about Asbestos in a Superfund Environmental Justice Community," "Animal Models of Mesothelioma," "Chemoprevention of Asbestos-Induced Lung Diseases," and "Biomarkers of Asbestos Exposure" The Cores comprise an Administrative Core (Core A), the Community Engagement Core (Core B), the Research Translation Core (Core C), the Biostatistical Research Support Core (Core D), and the Interdisciplinary Training Core (Core E). The goals of the Penn SRP Center will be accomplished through the leadership of two senior highly accomplished investigators, Dr. Ian A. Blair (Director) and Dr. Trevor M. Penning (Deputy Director). The Penn SRP is underpinned by four highly significant entities. First, the Penn Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET) provides an academic home, with enormous resources to draw upon. Second, the CEET Translational Biomarker Core provides instrumentation and resources for conducting sophisticated biomarker discovery and validation studies. Third, the CEET Integrative Health Sciences Facility Core will provide support for human subject study design and storage of annotated biospecimens. Fourth, the existing CEET Certificate Program and T32 Training Program in Environmental Health Sciences provide a resource of potential students and postdoctoral fellows who could be recruited into the Penn SRP Center. Advanced techniques for the detection, assessment, and evaluation of the effect on human health of hazardous substances will involve the development of a new animal model of asbestos-induced mesothelioma. Methods to assess the risks to human health presented by hazardous substances will involve novel metabolomics methodology using high resolution liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry will be developed to identify human populations that are exposed to asbestos. Methods and technologies to detect hazardous substances in the environment will involve two quite separate approaches. One will involve the use of earth science-based methodology to monitor the movement of asbestos within dump sites and the other will involve a sociological study to identify how asbestos exposure can occur and whether this can explain the cluster of asbestos-induced mesotheliomas in Ambler. A basic biological method to be employed for reducing the amount and toxicity of a hazardous substance will involve the remediation of asbestos by mycorrhizal fungi-mediated conversion it to a non-toxic molecular form. Therefore, although these projects evolved in response to the Ambler community's concerns (EPA Region 3), the results can be readily translated to the fifteen other asbestos sites that are present in five of the other EPA Regions (2, 5, and 8-10).