The purpose of the Duke Environmental Analysis Laboratory (DEAL) Hub is to offer a comprehensive suite of analytical services to support epidemiologists and health researchers conducting studies focusing on the impact of environmental exposures on human health. This research is vital to understanding the links between chemical exposures and human health endpoints, knowledge which is essential in mitigating disease risk and improving quality of life. DEAL will be co-directed by Dr. Heather Stapleton, a trained environmental chemist and exposure scientist, and Dr. Lee Ferguson, a trained mass spectrometrist and environmental analytical chemist. Drs. Stapleton and Ferguson each have over 20 years of experience using mass spectrometry to detect and quantify contaminants in environmental samples and are pioneers in the fields of emerging contaminants, exposure science, and non-targeted analytical methods. The long-term objectives of the DEAL Hub are to: 1) provide consultation and advice to environmental health researchers to support human health studies ; 2) provide comprehensive and state-of-the-art analytical services to supporting environmental health research; and 3) develop new analytical methods for the quantitation of emerging contaminants of interest to environmental health community and develop new technologies and tools for characterizing the exposome. To meet these objectives, DEAL consists of three internal cores. The first is the Environmental Sample Analysis Core (ESAR) that will support exposomic researchers by providing services for project consultations, sample preparation, extraction, and quantitative analysis of contaminants in environmental media using three distinct sample laboratories, the Targeted Organic, Targeted Inorganic, and Untargeted Organic labs. Through these three Labs, ESAR and DEAL as a whole can provide comprehensive services for a wide variety of analytes and support a larger breadth of environmental health researchers. Second is the Developmental Core that will create new analytical methods for the quantitation of emerging contaminants and develop new technologies and tools for characterizing the exposome. Finally, the Deal Hub will provide administrative management and coordination with the ESAR and Developmental Cores through the Administrative Core. This Administrative Core will also serve as the liaison between the DEAL Hub and the broader HHEAR Network, with Dr. Heather Stapleton as its Director. The intense collaboration of ESAR, Developmental, and Administrative Cores of the DEAL Hub will facilitate more and higher quality exposomic research that is essential for continued understanding of risk mitigation and environmental health interventions in at-risk populations.
The Duke Environmental Analysis Research Laboratory (DEAL) aims to support cutting-edge research to evaluate human exposure to environmental contaminants and identify new chemical threats to human health. The research and the data they provide will help researchers across the nation understand links between chemical exposures and human health outcomes.
