The primary theme of this proposed SBRP is the investigation of the risks (and their management) which may result from exposures in the manufacture and use of petrochemicals, and from the waste disposal sites serving this economically and environmentally important industry. The program is broadly interdisciplinary, utilizing chemical, biologic and engineering sciences, and a wide spectrum of biomedical disciplines which employ in vitro, in vivo and human population studies. The proposed program contains nine projects and three cores. These include six biomedical projects. Two involve epidemiologic research, on chemical exposure-related cancer and nonmalignant respiratory disease risk in very large occupationally-exposed populations. The resulting exposure-response relationships together with exposure measurements around hazardous waste sites will allow low dose extrapolation and relevant risk characterization. Other biomedical projects use animal models and in vitro toxicity assays, with emphasis on chemical carcinogenesis, toxic lung injury, immunotoxicity and neurotoxicity. Three nonbiomedical projects utilize chemical or biological systems for remediating toxic wastes, and innovative methodology for sampling and measuring airborne contaminants that is applicable to the complex exposure assessment, which supports all the projects and a training component in environmental sciences. Investigators are drawn from the Tulane Uptown and Medical Center campuses, representing the Departments of Medicine, Cell and Molecular Biology, Environmental Health Sciences, Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Pathology, and Biomedical, Chemical and Mechanical Engineering. The training component of the program has evolved from the continued collaboration between Tulane and Xavier Universities. The proposal emphasizes established successful interrelationships among all of these entities, which will be continued and enhanced in this research program.
