Superfund Research Program
Research Translation
Research Translation Coordinator: Thomas Burbacher
Co-Investigators: Clement E. Furlong, Zhengui Xia
Grant Number: P42ES004696
Funding Period: 2006-2023
Project-Specific Links
Hazardous Waste Sites
Final Progress Reports
PublicationsConnect with the Grant Recipients
Final Progress Reports
The UW SBRP Research Translation and Community Outreach Core (RTOC) has been successful at addressing the identified aims for the program; partnering with government agencies, communicating to broad audiences and technology transfer of innovations and research findings.
Government Agency Partnerships: The Agency Seminar Series was initiated in response to requests from program agency partners for access to current research on hazardous chemicals. This year the Core was able to bring in two national speakers on topics of regional significance: Dr. Deborah Rice, from Maine Center for Disease Control, spoke about the environmental fate and toxicity of PBDEs and Dr. Christopher Lau, of US EPA National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratories (NHEERL), addressed the timely issue of PFAA toxicity. Audiences included staff of ATSDR, EPA Region 10, and Washington State Departments of Health and Ecology. In a separate session with SBRP investigators, Dr. Lau presented an overview of the range of NHEERL research activities and shared his own work. The collegial discussions with investigators opened the door for future translational opportunities. Additional Core activities included: Dr. Evan Gallagher’s ongoing interactions with EPA Region 10 in a collaborative study with the NIEHS SBRP National Bioassay Network members; Dr. Clem Furlong was an invited speaker on PON1 as a biomarker of susceptibility to environmentally-induced diseases at ATSDR/CDC in Atlanta; Dr. Burbacher, the RTOC director, participated in an EPA Regional Administrator-Environmental Justice Stakeholder Meeting; and because of initiatives taken by the University of Arizona SBRP, several Superfund programs were able to participate in a national meeting of EPA remedial project managers under the collective theme of alliances between EPA, universities and community members. This had significant value for RTOC regional community partners who were able to communicate their goals to EPA in a professional setting.
- Partners in Agency Seminar Series: Marc Stifleman- EPA Region 10 and Richard Kaufmann, ATSDR
- EPA EJ Stakeholders Meeting: Elin Miller-Region 10 Administrator; Running Grass -Region 10, EJ Program Manager
- Investigator partners at EPA and ATSDR: Bruce Duncan-EPA Region 10; Olivia Harris-ATSDR
- National Association of Remedial Project Manager (NARPM) Meeting : Shelley Brodie- US EPA Region 7
Communicating to Broad Audiences: Recently, Dr. Stuart Strand joined part of the Risk-e-Learning web seminar series that focused on phytoremediation of organic compounds hosted by NIEHS -SBRP. In addition, the Core worked with the NWTCC (Northwest Toxic Communities Coalition) to achieve 501c3 status for the coalition, to assist the coalition in presenting at the EPA NARPM meeting, and to support the coalition in putting on their fall summit. The RTOC and the Administrative Core updated the UW-SBRP website with linked Publications, a chronologic listing of recent articles of investigators, and In the News, a page with clickable links to access UW investigators contributions to NIEHS/NIH/SBRP ‘Research Briefs’ and links to recent media coverage.
Technology Transfer: Dr. Furlong has provisional patents filed on a non-toxic substrate assay for determining PON1 status and for recombinant PON1. In the past year, Dr. Woods has worked with Metametrix Clinical Laboratory in Georgia to develop a standard clinical assay that could be made available commercially to test urinary porphyrin profiles. Drs. Strand and Doty worked with the UW TechTransfer, initiating applications for patents on remediation processes.