Superfund Research Program
Research Translation Core
Project Leader: Lindell E. Ormsbee
Co-Investigator: Kelly G. Pennell
Grant Number: P42ES007380
Funding Period: 2005-2019
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On October 30-31, 2007, a number of UK-SBRP faculty, student, and post-doc researchers presented at the Kentucky Research Consortium for Energy and the Environment (KRCEE) Scientific and Technical Symposium in Lexington, KY. This symposium brought together representatives from state and federal government, industry, and academia to discuss projects underway at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant Superfund site in western Kentucky. Sessions covered data management issues, new technologies, historic and current seismic activities and assessments, surface water and ecological issues, and groundwater modeling.
As KRCEE Director, UK-SBRP Research Translation Core Leader, Dr. Lindell Ormsbee hosted the event and presented about a number of topics, including a land acquisition study. UK-SBRP Chloro-Organic Degradation project leader Dr. Dibakar Bhattacharrya, and Whole-Cell Sensing project leader Dr. Sylvia Daunert presented their research and findings to an audience that included representatives of the US Department of Energy, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Kentucky Division of Waste Management, and Kentucky and Illinois colleges and universities, as well as technology corporations and consultants. Dr. Bhattacharrya was assisted in his presentation by students who are supported by the SBRP program. As Director of the KRCEE, Dr. Ormsbee is working to secure additional funding in support of a field implementation of Dr. Bhattacharrya’s remediation technology at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant.
A luncheon during the first day of the symposium provided a venue for poster presentations by a number of UK-SBRP graduate students and post-doctoral scholars. From Dr. Bernhard Hennig's group, students presented an overview of the UK-SBRP and a poster entitled "Dietary Flavanoids Block PCB-Induced Proinflammatory Responses in Vascular Endothelial Cells." Dr. Daunert's students presented "Development of a Protein-Based Sensing System for the Quantitation of Hydroxylated Polychlorinated Biphenyls." Dr. Bhattacharrya's students presented "Reductive Dechlorination of 3,3',4,4'-Tetrachlorobiphenyl (PCB77) Using Palladium or Palladium/Iron Nanoparticles and Assessment of the Reduction in Toxic Potency in Vascular Endothelial Cells." The Outreach Core presented "Nutrition Education Provides Outreach to Improve Health-Related Behaviors for Superfund Communities."
In addition to the symposium, the UK-SBRP Research Translation and Training Cores are collaborating on a joint communication training/research endeavor for the program’s graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. Based upon an extended review of relevant tailored communication and public speaking literature, this project aims to improve the research translation skills of biomedical and engineering graduate students. Pre- and post-test assessments of subject attitudes regarding their own communicative competencies, along with peer and reviewer evaluations of subject presentations, will identify best practices for tailoring messages about complex research processes and outcomes to meet the varied needs and message reception competencies of specific audiences. Pre-testing in December will provide necessary data for a needs assessment that will inform curriculum development.
Finally, the Research Translation Core assumed management of the UK-SBRP website and launched a redesign that highlights not only internal projects, cores, and accomplishments, but also provides live RSS feeds of international headlines related to those cores and projects. The revitalized website also promotes graduate student and postdoctoral scholar professional development through the posting of detailed information, photographs, and curriculum vitas. Project and core leaders have been given more autonomy in selecting content for their respective pages.