Core Technology Team

Natural (coastal storms, wildfires, floods) and human-induced (structural failures, building collapse, oil, and/or chemical spills) disasters occur every year in the United States. Minimizing loss of human life and damages to personal property and infrastructure is the focus of most disaster response and preparedness activities by federal, state, and local communities. However, the potential for...

The Bioactive Chemicals Research Laboratory applies a collaborative transdisciplinary approach to conduct research to minimize the risk to human and aquatic organism health from exposure to contaminants in water supplies.

About the Laboratory The Environmental Health Program collaborates with scientists at the Organic Geochemistry Research Laboratory (OGRL) in Lawrence, Kansas, to develop and employ targeted and non-targeted analytical methods for identification and quantitation of known and understudied algal/cyanobacterial toxins. The laboratory contructed in 2019 is a 2,500 square foot modern laboratory facility...

About the ResearchThe Environmental Health Program collaborates with microbiologists at the Microbial Biogeochemistry Laboratory to develop and apply innovative methods to measure key microbial processes. These methods are used to better understand how major biogeochemical cycles (carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and iron) interact with and control the speciation and fate of metals like mercury and...

About the ResearchThe Environmental Health Program works with toxicologists at the High-Content Screening Laboratory develop alternative toxicity testing to efficiently provide specific toxicity data to managers and regulators and prioritize compounds for further testing. Our high-content imaging capability provides a highly adaptable platform for early life stage fish toxicity testing at stages...

About the ResearchThe Environmental Health Program collaborates with scientists within the Geospatial Analyses and Applications Team to develop and apply geospatial analytical methods to answer broad-scale questions about source-sink and cause-effect relationships between contaminants and vulnerable communities. Multivariate statistics are used to identify connections between landscape gradients...

Microbiologists at the Michigan Bacteriological Research Laboratory (MI-BaRL) use a wide array of traditional and modern molecular approaches to evaluate microbial pathogens and antimicrobial resistance pathways in the environment.

About the ResearchThe Environmental Health Program collaborates with microbiologists at the Photomicroscopy and Flow Cytometry Laboratory to develop and apply biomarkers to evaluate the potential impacts of environmental contaminants at the cellular and molecular levels. Because molecular and biochemical responses of cells are preceded by chemical changes in nuclei, cytoplasm, membranes, and...

About the Research The Environmental Health Program collaborates with scientists from the Functional and Molecular Bioassay Laboratory to apply and modify microbial and eukaryotic reporter bioassays to detect the presence of bioactive chemicals in environmental water samples. These analyses compliment analytical chemistry and biological datasets. The laboratory adapts and applies cell isolation...

About the ResearchThe Environmental Health Program collaborates with geophysicists and hydrologists to develop, demonstrate, and support the application of geophysical methods to environmental-health investigations. They have expertise in a diverse suite of geophysical field methods including electrical, electromagnetic, seismic, radar, gravity, and thermal; these methods are run from land-based...

About the ResearchThe Environmental Health Program collaborates with microbiologists at the Michigan Bacteriological Research Laboratory (MI-BaRL). A wide array of traditional and modern molecular approaches are used to evaluate microbial pathogens and antimicrobial resistance pathways in the environment. The scientists use these approaches to advance the understanding of how environmental...

About the CapabilityThe Environmental Health Program collaborates with the pathology section of the Necropsy and Pathology Diagnostic Laboratory at the National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) to advance an understanding of the effects of contaminant and pathogen exposure on wildlife.