Mount Sinai HHEAR Network Targeted Lab Hub

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Project Summary The Targeted Analysis Resource is a multi-disciplinary, full service exposure biomarker program designed to integrate inorganic and organic environmental measures into existing NIH studies. In this supplement we now extend services to include exposure to pesticides that pose health risk to women and children during critical windows such as pregnancy and early childhood. These pesticides are not readily measured in urine due to short half-lives but we have developed methods to measure them in hair. We hold weekly Executive Steering Committee meetings of the full Lab Hub team to discuss jobs, troubleshoot workflows, and prioritize resources and activities in order to provide state of the art service to HHEAR clients. Our team has considerable expertise in matching the underlying toxicology of targeted exposure biomarkers to the study design, to the biological specimen types collected, and to the health phenotypes measured, in this case hair pesticides. Our lab feasibility assessments help shape the science of a client’s submission towards higher impact studies. We also counsel clients on preventing the use of precious samples on assays that are deemed likely to be below detection limits based on our many years of research experience and understanding of exposure scenarios. We work with the Administrative Core to coordinate services, including sample management, receiving, labeling and tracking of the hair samples. We serve as expert consultants with the Coordinating Center, PI/Clients and other HHEAR Resources. We collaborate with the Data Center in the management of results reporting, ensuring that data are properly formatted and have sufficient metadata, as well as participate in the analysis of exposure/phenotype relationships. We use automated robotic sample handling and preparation methods, high throughput analytical procedures and state of the art inter-laboratory QA/QC procedures which include real time chromatography monitoring and database management through state-of-the-art laboratory information management system (LIMS) software. We also automated data processing to reduce human error. Our methods ensure proper sample tracking and data reporting and avoid mismatches of samples to results. With substantial institutional resources at its disposal, the Targeted Resource has more than doubled the number of mass spectrometry instruments to 16 since our inception, ensuring our capacity to serve the needs of the HHEAR Network. Our team also conducts extensive outreach and is the only HHEAR lab hub to organize an international Exposome Symposia in the US, Europe and Mexico, in collaboration with the Mount Sinai Untargeted Lab Hub. QA/QC protocols and standard operating procedures for all target compounds, including the pesticides that are the focus of this application, have been established to maintain the rigor of our chemical analyses. We developed panels for elements and organic chemicals that in sum assess more than 200 chemicals. We participate in all HHEAR mandated QA/QC and PT programs for metals and organic chemicals to verify our precision and accuracy.