Project Summary (1995-2000)

The Analytical Chemistry Core component prepares and analyzes chemical mixture solutions for integration within projects 1-3. Projects 1-3 require atomic absorption analyses for the heavy metals lead, chromium, and arsenic. These projects require gas chromatographic analyses for the organic headspace or purgeable compounds such as carbon tetrachloride, benzene and trichloroethylene. Project 6 requires preparation and analysis of solutions containing heavy metals using atomic absorption spectrophotometry . This project also requires atomic absorption flame and carbon rod analyses of water and tissue samples collected from the Arkansas River for the heavy metals cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc. The Molecular Biology core component provides integration of and support for molecular biological procedures for the individual projects in this program project as described for projects 3, 5, 6, and 8. This core component provides expertise, access to facilities, and equipment to set up and run PCR reactions and analyze the products of those reactions. This includes a variety of PCR-based techniques including RAPD-PCR, directed-PCR, in situ PCR, differential display, and cycle sequencing.