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. To this end, the DEAL Developmental Core will address challenges in both developing and standardizing analytical and data processing approaches for assessing health-relevant chemical exposures in relevant media. The Developmental Core will be led by Drs. Lee Ferguson and Gordon Getzinger, who both have significant experience in environmental analytical chemistry of organic and inorganic pollutants, advanced high resolution mass spectrometry techniques, and chemoinformatics. The Developmental Core consists of three specific aims to meet this overarching goal: 1) develop new methods for measuring emerging environmental chemicals of interest, in order to create a client- responsive framework for performing measurements of environmental chemicals in various environmental media; 2) develop novel tools for assessing personal exposure, and advancing holistic chemical exposure assessments; and 3) develop innovative approaches for identification of new environmental contaminants. By achieving these aims, the Developmental Core will embrace the synergistic nature of the DEAL Hub as a whole, collaborating closely with the Environmental Sample Analysis Resource (ESAR) team to enhance its services and deploy newly-developed and validated methods, with the intent to streamline, harmonize, and significantly advance the services provided by DEAL and the broader HHEAR Network.
