URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Spring_2018_Melissa-McCarthy

Extraction and sample cleaning-up step in preparation for trace contaminant analysis.

“As one of the few national SRP centers in the country the new center will work closely with communities and scientists to share our knowledge and help inform people and agencies about this growing problem,” Lohnman says. ”These fluorinated contaminants are present in the blood of almost every adult in the United States.” Because these and other chemicals are persistent in the environment over long periods of time, Lohmann says that they could be used to trace human activity back to the time they were made: “If we could switch off the release of PCBs today, for instance, someone will still be able to trace those chemicals back to us in a thousand years.”

Bothun will focus his efforts on how the chemicals travel from blood into human cells; Cho will lead a training program for graduate and post-doctoral students working on the project; McCann will conduct community outreach with Cape Cod communities; Slitt will study what the chemicals do to animals; and Swift, Rohr and Neville will create communication materials to educate the public on Cape Cod and at similarly contaminated sites throughout the country. In addition to leading the project, Lohmann will study new ways of detecting the contaminants in the environment using a method he started using a decade ago that involves the use of what he calls “passive samplers,” small sheets or tubes of polyethylene that absorb many types of chemicals that are dissolved in water.

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