Superfund Research Program Publications

Newsletter

Reflections from the Well is the e-newsletter of the UNC Superfund Research Program. It is issued quarterly and features significant program accomplishments and highlights the work of several projects and cores in each issue. The newsletter is distributed to elected officials, environmental and community-based organizations, various governmental contacts, other SRPs, etc.

Volume 8

• Union Co residents join UNC SRP in assessing quality of well water
• UNC SRP trainee discovers endless post-graduate possibilities through K.C. Donnelly externship experience
• New statewide well water resources
• NIEHS Extramural Paper of the Month: A multi-omic approach identifies an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) regulatory complex of functional epimutations in placentas from children born preterm 

Volume 7

• IDEA Learners program brings teachers and researchers together
• SRP trainee brings focus to environmental injustice in NC
• From The Well: Students played key role in testing for lead on campus
• NIEHS Extramural Paper of the Month: An interaction of inorganic arsenic exposure with body weight and composition on type 2 diabetes indicators in Diversity Outbred mice

Volume 6

• Partnerships expand well testing project into Union County, NC
• UNC students and staff gather to work with real-world data
• Trainee Talks: Mikayla Armstrong’s journey to a career in membrane science
• UNC SRP study featured in NIEHS Research Brief
• DMAC research featured in NIEHS Risk e-Learning webinar

Volume 5

• New database shines light on environmental justice
• Integrating technology to connect exposures and disease outcomes
• UNC SRP Trainee Spotlight – The Accidental Geochemist
• UNC SRP makes a splash at SOT

Volume 4

• Team develops novel tool to map contaminants and protect health
• Assessing environmental health literacy through a well water lens
• UNC SRP Trainee Spotlight – Don’t judge bottled water by its clarity
• Findings provide insight on well placement for clean water
• Why test your well water?
• New research begins to connect the dots between the gut microbiome and inorganic arsenic-induced diabetes

Volume 3

• Undergraduate interns learn to communicate science while researching environmental exposures
• Where water filters meet computer modeling: Developing molecular simulations to improve in-home filtration systems
• CEC develops digital interactive notebook for science teachers featuring SRP research
• UNC SRP Trainee Spotlight – Eating for two: Changing the mother’s diet as an intervention for prenatal arsenic exposure
• Into the Dataverse: A dataset of Superfund geolocations and their implications for health
• High school students join SRP labs over the summer, a Q&A with Projects 2 & 5

Volume 2

• Community partners weigh in on needs for interactive mapping tool
• Increasing efficiency of gut microbiome measurements
• Public Health Action Committee advises CEC
• UNC SRP Trainee Spotlight – It’s a Learning Process: Practicing well water sampling methods in the field
• Diversifying STEM researchers

Volume 1

• Welcome to UNC-SRP
• New mouse model for arsenic exposure research
• UNC-SRP team tackles COVID-19
• Meet our new Public Health Action Committee

Peer-reviewed Publications

2023

Gray, K.M.; Blanchard, M.R.; LePrevost, C.E. | Li, F. (reviewing editor). (2023) Educator beliefs and organizational constraints: Factors that influence informal education about fish consumption advisories in a southeastern US state. Sustainable Environment, 9(1). DOI: 10.1080/27658511.2023.2259716

Eaves, L.A.; Choi, G.; Hall, E.; Sille, F.C.M.; Fry, R.C; Buckley, J.P.; Keil, A.P. (2023). Prenatal Exposure to Toxic Metals and Neural Tube Defects: A Systematic Review of the Epidemiologic Evidence. Environmental Health Perspectives, 131(8). DOI: 10.1289/EHP11872

Shang, B.; Venkatratnam, A.; Liu, T.; Douillet, C.; Shi, Q.; Miller, M.; Cable, P.; Zou, F.; Ideraabdullah, F.Y.; Fry, R.C.; Stýblo, M. (2023). Sex-specific transgenerational effects of preconception exposure to arsenite: metabolic phenotypes of C57BL/6 offspring. Arch Toxicol, 97(11):2879-2892. DOI: 10.1007/s00204-023-03582-5. Epub 2023 Aug 24. PMID: 37615676.

George, A.; Gray, K.; Wait, K.; Gallagher, D.; Edwards, M.; Currie, J.; Hogan, J.; Kwasikpui, A.W.; Pieper, K.J. (2023) Drinking Water Disparities in North Carolina Communities Served by Private Wells. Environmental Justice, DOI: 10.1089/env.2022.0100

Eaves, L.A.; Fry, R.C. (2023). Invited Perspective: Toxic Metals and Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy. Environmental Health Perspectives, 131(4). DOI: doi.org/10.1289/EHP11963

Yelton, S.; George, A.; Tomlinson, M.S.; Bommarito, P.A.; Fry, R.C.; Gray, K.M. (2023). Communicating results of drinking water tests from private wells: Designing report-back materials to facilitate understanding. Journal of Environmental Health, 85(8), 8-14.

Medina, S.; Zhang, H.; Santos-Medina, L.V.; Yee, Z.A.; Martin, K.J.; Wan, G.; Bolt, A.M.; Zhou, X.; Stýblo, M.; Liu, K.J. (2023) Arsenite Methyltransferase Is an Important Mediator of Hematotoxicity Induced by Arsenic in Drinking Water. Water 2023, 15, 448. DOI: 10.3390/w15030448

Eaves, L.A.; Lanier P.; Enggasser A.E.; Chung G.; Turla T.; Rager J.E., Fry R.C. (2023) Generation of the Chemical and Social Stressors Integration Technique (CASS-IT) to identify areas of holistic public health concern: An application to North Carolina. Science of The Total Environment 2023, 862, 409. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160409

Douillet C.; Miller M.; Cable P.H.; Shi Q.; El‐Masri H.; Matoušek T.; Koller B.H.; Thomas D.J.; Stýblo M. (2023) Fate of arsenicals in mice carrying the human AS3MT gene exposed to environmentally relevant levels of arsenite in drinking water. Scientific Reports 2023, 13, 3360. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-30723-8

2022

Koval, L.E.; Carberry, C.K.; Kim, Y.H.; McDermott, E.; Hartwell, H.; Jaspers, I.; Gilmour, M.I.; Rager, J.E. Wildfire Variable Toxicity: Identifying Biomass Smoke Exposure Groupings through Transcriptomic Similarity Scoring. Environ Sci Technol 2022, 56, 23, 17131–17142. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c06043

Gavino-Lopez, N.; Eaves, L.A.; Enggasser A.E.; Fry, R.C. Developing Toxic Metal Environmental Justice Indices (TM-EJIs) for Arsenic, Cadmium, Lead, and Manganese Contamination in Private Drinking Wells in North Carolina. Water 2022, 14, 2088. DOI: 10.3390/w14132088

Peel, H.R.; Balogun, F.O.; Bowers, C.A.; Miller, C.T.; Obeidy, C.S.; Polizzotto, M.L.; Tashnia, S.U.; Vinson, D.S.; Duckworth, O.W. Towards Understanding Factors Affecting Arsenic, Chromium, and Vanadium Mobility in the Subsurface. Water 2022, 14, 3687. DOI: 10.3390/w14223687

Carberry, C.K.; Rager, J.E. (2022) The impact of environmental contaminants on extracellular vesicles and their key molecular regulators: A literature and database-driven review. Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis 2022. 64, 2522. DOI: 10.1002/em.22522

Xenakis J.G.; Douillet C.; Bell T.A.; Hock P.; Farrington J.; Liu T.; Murphy C.E.Y.; Saraswatula A.; Shaw G.D.; Nativio G.; Shi Q.; Venkatratnam A.; Zou F.; Fry R.C.; Stýblo M.; Pardo-Manuel de Villena F. (2022) An interaction of inorganic arsenic exposure with body weight and composition on type 2 diabetes indicators in Diversity Outbred mice. Mamm Genome 2022, 33, 575-589. DOI: 10.1007/s00335-022-09957-w

Armstrong, M.D.; Vickers, R.; Coronell, O. (2022) Trends and errors in reverse osmosis membrane performance calculations stemming from test pressure and simplifying assumptions about concentration polarization and solute rejection. Journal of Membrane Science, 660, 120856. DOI: 10.1016/j.memsci.2022.120856  

Armstrong, M.D.; Vickers, R.; Coronell, O. (2022) Dataset of reverse osmosis membrane transport properties calculated with and without assumptions about concentration polarization and solute rejection and the errors associated with each assumption. Data in Brief, 44, 108538. DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2022.108538 

Manning, I.M.; Chew, N.G.P.; Macdonald, H.P.; Miller, K.E.; Strynar, M.J.; Coronell, O.; Leibfarth, F.A. (2022) Hydrolytically stable ionic fluorogels for high-performance remediation of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) from natural water. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 61, e202208150. DOI: 10.1002/ange.202208150 

Fraser, A.C; Chew, N.G.P.; Hegde, M.; Liu, F.; Liu, C.W.; Coronell, O.; Dingemans, T.J. (2022) Linear versus nonlinear aromatic polyamides: The role of backbone geometry in thin film salt exclusion membranes. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 14, 36143–36156. DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c09810 

Avery C. L., Howard A. G., Ballou A. F., Buchanan V. L., Collins J. M., Downie C. G., Engel S. M., Graff M., Highland H. M., Lee M. P., Lilly A. G., Lu K., Rager J. E., Staley B. S., North K. E., Gordon-Larsen P. (2022). Strengthening Causal Inference in Exposomics Research: Application of Genetic Data and Methods. Environ Health Perspect. DOI: 10.1289/EHP9098.

Todero, J.E., Koch-Laskowski, K., Shi, Q., Kanke M., Hung, Y., Beck, R., Styblo, M., Sethupathy, P. (2022). Candidate master microRNA regulator of arsenic-induced pancreatic beta cell impairment revealed by multi-omics analysis. Arch Toxicol 96, 1685–1699.

Eaves, L. A., Keil, A. P., Rager, J. E., George, A., & Fry, R. C. (2022). Analysis of the novel NCWELL database highlights two decades of co-occurrence of toxic metals in North Carolina private well water: Public health and environmental justice implications. Science of The Total Environment, 151479.

Grzebyk, K., Armstrong, M. D., & Coronell, O. (2022). Accessing greater thickness and new morphology features in polyamide active layers of thin-film composite membranes by reducing restrictions in amine monomer supply. Journal of Membrane Science, 120112.

Vickers, R., Weigand, T. M., Miller, C. T., & Coronell, O. (2022). Molecular methods for assessing the morphology, topology, and performance of polyamide membranes. Journal of Membrane Science, 644, 120110.

2021

Bowers, C. A., & Miller, C. T. (2021). Generalized Newtonian fluid flow in porous media. Physical Review Fluids, 6(12), 123302.

Kingsbury, R., Hegde, M., Wang, J., Kusoglu, A., You, W., & Coronell, O. (2021). Tunable Anion Exchange Membrane Conductivity and Permselectivity via Non-Covalent, Hydrogen Bond Cross-Linking. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 13(44), 52647-52658.

Ghiuzeli, C.M., Stýblo, M., Saunders, J., Calabro, A., Budman, D., Allen, S., Devoe, C., Dhingra, R. (2021). The pharmacokinetics of therapeutic arsenic trioxide in acute promyelocytic leukemia patients. Leukemia & Lymphoma. DOI: 10.1080/10428194.2021.1978084

Clark, J., Avula, V., Ring, C., Eaves, L.A., Howard, T., Santos Jr, H.P., Smeester, L., Bangma, J.T., O’Shea, T.M., Fry, R.C., Rager, J.E. (2021). Comparing the predictivity of human placental gene, microRNA, and CpG methylation signatures in relation to perinatal outcomes. Toxicological Sciences. DOI: 10.1093/toxsci/kfab089

Gray, K. M., Triana, V., Lindsey, M., Richmond, B., Hoover, A.G., Wiesen, C. (2021). Knowledge and beliefs associated with environmental health literacy: a case study focused on toxic metals contamination of well water. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18179298

Whitaker, A.H., Austin, R.E., Holden, K.L., Jones, J.L., Michel, F.M., Peak, D., Thompson, A., Duckworth, O.W. (2021). The structure of natural biogenic iron (oxyhydr)oxides formed in circumneutral pH environments. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. DOI: 10.1016/j.gca.2021.05.059

Chi, L., Tu, P., Ru, H., Lu, K. (2021). Studies of xenobiotic-induced gut microbiota dysbiosis: from correlation to mechanisms. Gut Microbes. DOI: 10.1080/19490976.2021.1921912

Rebuli, M.E., Brocke, S.A., Jaspers, I. (2021). Impact of inhaled pollutants on response to viral infection in controlled exposures. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2021.07.002

Atkinson, A.J., Armstrong, M.D., Eskew, J.T., Coronell, O. (2021). 2-Aminoimidazole reduces fouling and improves membrane performance. Journal of Membrane Science. DOI: 10.1016/j.memsci.2021.119262

Xue, J., Chi, L., Tu, P., Lai, Y., Liu, C.W., Ru, H., Lu, K. (2021). Detection of gut microbiota and pathogen produced N-acyl homoserine in host circulation and tissues. npj Biofilms and Microbiomes. DOI: 10.1038/s41522-021-00224-5

Brown, E., Nativio, G., Zhang, J., O’Shea, T., Roell, K., Hartwell, H., Fry, R.C. (2021). A comprehensive dataset of Superfund sites and their chemicals across the United States. UNC Dataverse. DOI: 10.15139/S3/4QEIGO

Escobar, Y.N.H., Morrison, C.B., Chen, Y., Hickman, E., Love, C.A., Rebuli, M.E., Surratt, J.D., Ehre, C., Jaspers, I. (2021). Differential responses to e-cig generated aerosols from humectants and different forms of nicotine in epithelial cells from non-smokers and smokers. American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology. DOI: 10.1152/ajplung.00525.2020

Chang, Y., Rager, J.E., Tilton, S.C. (2021). Linking coregulated gene modules with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-related cancer risk in the 3D human bronchial epithelium. Chemical Research in Toxicology. DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrestox.0c00333

Manuck, T.A., Lai, M. Y., Hongyu, R.U., Glover, A.V., Rager, J. E., Fry, R.C., Lu, K. (2021). Metabolites from mid-trimester plasma of pregnant patients at high-risk for preterm birth. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology MFM. DOI: 10.1016/j.ajogmf.2021.100393

Stýblo, M., Venkatratnam, A., Fry, R.C., Thomas, D.J. (2021). Origins, fate, and actions of methylated trivalent metabolites of inorganic arsenic: progress and prospects. Archives of Toxicology. DOI: 10.1007/s00204-021-03028-w

Ring, C., Sipes, N. S., Hsieh, J. H., Carberry, C., Koval, L. E., Klaren, W. D., Harriam M.A., Auerbach, S.S., Rager, J.E. (2021). Predictive modeling of biological responses in the rat liver using in vitro Tox21 bioactivity: Benefits from high-throughput toxicokinetics. Computational Toxicology. DOI: 10.1016/j.comtox.2021.100166

Wang, J., Armstrong, M.D., Grzebyk, K., Vickers, R., Coronell, O. (2021). Effect of feed water pH on the partitioning of alkali metal salts from aqueous phase into the polyamide active layers of reverse osmosis membranes. Environmental Science & Technology. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.oco614o

Ryan, N.M., Hess, J.A., Pardo-Manuel de Villena, F., Leiby, B.E., Shimada, A., Yu, Lei., Yarmahmoodi, A., Petrovsky N., Zhan B., Bottazi, M.E., Makepeace, B.L., Lustigman, S., Abraham, D. (2021). Onchocerca volvulus bivalent subunit vaccine induces protective immunity in genetically diverse collaborative cross recombinant inbred intercross mice. npj Vaccines. DOI: 10.1038/s41541-020-00276-2

Anderson, C., Fry, R.C., Hartwell, H., Kleeberger, C., Sandler, D.P., Nichols, H.B. (2021). Measurement of mitochondrial DNA copy number in dried blood spots: A pilot study. Mitochondrion. DOI: 10.1016/j.mito.2020.11.006

Stone, J., Sutrave, P., Gasciogne, E., Givens, M.B., Fry, R.C., Manuck, T.A. (2021). Exposure to toxic metals and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and the risk of preeclampsia and preterm birth in the United States: A Review. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology MFM. DOI: 10.1016/j.ajogmf.2021.100308

Rebuli, M.E., Glista-Baker, E., Hoffman, J.R., Duffney, P.F., Robinette, C., Speen, A.M., Pawlak, E.A., Dhingra, R., Noah, T.L., Jaspers, I. (2021). Electronic-cigarette use alters nasal mucosal immune response to live-attenuated influenza virus. A clinical trial. American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology. DOI: 10.1165/rcmb.2020-0164OC