Boston University Superfund Basic Research Program

GBPSR was invited to serve on the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) of the Boston University Superfund Basic Research Program (BUSBRP). Due in part to its close connection to the community, Boston University was awarded one of the 5-year competitive grants to support research into the possible reproductive and developmental effects of chlorinated and non-chlorinated organic chemicals and substances (dioxins, PCBs, some solvents). This research is very relevant to the work GBPSR has been doing with Generations at Risk and In Harm's Way.

Included in the BUSBRP are nine projects: A large scale cohort study of perchloroethylene (PCE) exposure in drinking water on Cape Cod, and a related project to develop new methods to locate geographic "hotspots" of increased risk; basic research studies of mechanisms whereby certain chlorinated compounds affect cellular processes associated with reproduction and development, especially as regards interactions with hormone signaling; a field study of reproductive effects in turtles in freshwater ponds impacted by a Superfund site on Cape Cod; and a project to develop new methods of remediation of groundwater.

The goal of the CAC is to provide a basis for a new collaborative structure bridging the university with the community in order to:

1. Increase public awareness about environmental health research;
2. link members of the professional community with academic environmental health research;
3. promote interest in careers in the environmental health science among young people from under-served communities and communities of color;
4. provide a channel for communication from the community back to the researches regarding matters of community concern that might affect research directions.

A CAC goal is to ensure that educational programs are relevant and accessible to the community, and that materials are written in language and format that is appropriate for the intended audience. Other CAC partner organizations include Boston Area Health Education Center, Clean Water Fund, Roxbury Community College, and Toxics Action Center. Suggestions have been made at advisory committee meetings regarding aspects of research that would be useful and relevant to the needs of the community. These discussions are relayed to university Principal Investigators, and will be considered when new projects are proposed.

Ask the Researcher

Ask the Researcher is a valuable, interactive environmental health resource tool developed by the Boston University Superfund Basic Research Program and Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility to help bring "research to real life" by allowing readers to pose questions and have them answered by researchers involved in the BUSBRP.

There are currently four researchers to whom you may pose a question:

• Dr. Tom Webster, the featured researcher this quarter, is an epidemiologist at BU School of Public Health and the Principal Investigator on Project 2: Analyzing Patterns in Epidemiologic and Toxicologic Data.

  Geographic Information Systems now allow the use of analytic techniques in spatial epidemiology previously not feasible. As a result the mapping of routinely collected health data is now common and often provokes concern when patterns of disease rates appear to have "hot spots," although it is well understood by epidemiologists that the results may be biased by failure to collect and control for many known risk factors that are unevenly distributed over the area of the map. Dr. Webster's team is working to develop improved methods for mapping epidemiologic data on reproductive and developmental outcomes while adjusting for known risk factors.

• Jennifer Schlezinger, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Health in BU's School of Public Health. She currently investigates how aromatic hydrocarbons (by-products of combustion) and phthalate esters (plasticizers used in manufacturing polyvinyl chloride) cause death in antibody-producing cells within the bone marrow microenvironment.

• Dr. Ann Aschengrau is an epidemiologist at the Boston University School of Public Health. Her current research looks at whether prenatal and childhood exposures to drinking water contaminated with tetrachloroethylene (PCE) have caused disease in adults living on Cape Cod.

• Mark Hahn is a biologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. His current research concerns mechanisms of adaptation and evolved resistance to PCBs in fish inhabiting a Superfund site in southeastern Massachusetts.

Please visit the Ask the Researcher web page to see a more complete profile on each of the three researchers, as well as the answers given to questions others have already posed.

If you have a question for any of the scientists, please email it to BUSBRP's Outreach Staff

More about the BU Superfund Basic Research Project

• From Research to Real Life
• Finding Meaning

The Superfund Basic Research Program was established under the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) of 1986 and administered through the National Institute of Environmental Health Science (NIEHS). It receives funding from the U.S. EPA.

Visit the BU Superfund Basic Research Program website.

If you would like more information on how to participate in the program, please contact Barbara Goldoftas at Boston University: 617-638-4620, e-mail: bgoldoft@bu.edu