The University of Kentucky Superfund Research Center (UK-SRC) will focus on a prevention and intervention paradigm with an overarching goal to promote healthy lifestyles (i.e., healthful nutrition and increased physical activity) to reduce disease risks associated with exposure to a subclass of persistent halogenated chemicals (e.g. PCBs, TCE, and PFAS). Our biomedical research will be coupled with environmental science/engineering research that uses novel sensing, remediation, and fate and transport science to prevent or reduce exposure risks in the environment. Our biomedical research is integrated around a full life-span perspective and a paradigm that uses animal studies to identify possible hypotheses that can be tested against existing human databases to further identify potential intervention strategies. Our environmental science research is integrated around a project cross-talk that uses fate and transport science to help inform technology development using novel material science designed to reduce exposure to organic pollutants and that can then be deployed in field applications. Both biomedical and environmental science projects are crosslinked around a common set of pollutants and the use of animal models to test the toxicity of these pollutants and different remediation by- products. To provide an optimal support environment and the requisite infrastructure to accomplish the Center?s goal, we propose four specific aims for our Administrative Core (ADMC): 1) activities management and integration, 2) bi-directional communication strategies, 3) partnerships and technology transfer, and 4) evaluation and management processes. Management and integration functions are facilitated by monthly Center meetings, and ADMC leadership and trainee interns are drawn from the individual research projects. Bi- directional communication with other SRP centers and agency scientists and research translation to other stakeholders are now fully integrated within the ADMC and overseen by a dedicated research translation coordinator with support from a communications director. The ADMC effectively facilities investigator-initiated research translation and technology transfer functions by leveraging a new integrated Data Management and Analysis Core along with multidirectional internal (e.g. NIH funded UK Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) WHY program, UK P30 pilot grants, Kentucky Water Institute) and external (e.g. EPA, ADSTR, Kentucky Cabinet for Energy and the Environment (KYEEC), ARCADIS Consultants, individual water utilities) partnerships. Evaluation and management processes are overseen by the ADMC director as assisted by the program administer. The focus of the ADMC on the establishment and maintenance of a continuous improvement development processes, along with internal and external relationships, positions the UK-SRC to contribute not only important scientific findings but also to the collaborative processes and innovative endeavors associated with the national Superfund Research Program.
The Administrative Core of the UK-SRC will continue to promote problem-based, solution-oriented research to reduce exposure and/or negative health impacts associated with exposure to a subclass of persistent halogenated chemicals (e.g. PCBs, TCE, and PFAS). This will be accomplished by using an innovative transdisciplinary research approach that brings together biomedical and environmental scientists, engineers, and trainees using an integrative administrative structure that links together individual projects and cores. The Administrative Core will ensure the continued relevance of the proposed research through bi-directional communication with the SRP and SRP staff, academia, the general public and relevant federal and state communities of practice (e.g. EPA, ATSDR, KYDEP) as well as communities of impact in Appalachia.
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