The UNC Chapel Hill Superfund Research Program (UNC-SRP)

ABSTRACT: THE UNC-CHAPEL HILL SUPERFUND RESEARCH PROGRAM The interdisciplinary Superfund Research Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-SRP) addresses serious public health challenges faced by communities in North Carolina (NC) and across the nation related to inorganic arsenic (iAs). The UNC-SRP prioritizes iAs as the focus contaminant as it is highly relevant to NC and the US with millions exposed to unsafe levels. In NC, contamination is derived from both geogenic sources and industrial activities (e.g. superfund sites and coal ash contamination) polluting thousands of unregulated private drinking wells. An estimated 2.4 million individuals in NC, representing one third of the state’s population, drink water from private wells with iAs ranging up to 800 ppb. These NC populations may also experience exposure to other stressors such as poverty or poor nutrition raising environmental justice concerns. Moreover, iAs contamination reverberates across the state and is locally and nationally-relevant. Related to public health risk, exposure to iAs has been established to be associated with metabolic dysfunction/diabetes. There are still significant gaps in the knowledge of factors that drive iAs-induced diabetes risk and methods for prevention. The identification of these factors would facilitate development of novel solutions/interventions to reduce the prevalence of iAs-associated diabetes, as well as other diseases associated with iAs exposure. Our unique scientific theme is “Protecting vulnerable populations from arsenic-induced metabolic dysfunction with a vision for exposure reduction and disease prevention.” We address this with three aims: (1) Identify biological mechanisms and susceptibility factors underlying iAs-associated metabolic dysfunction/diabetes; (2) Develop novel methods and technologies to predict iAs contamination and reduce iAs exposure; (3) Translate the science of the UNC-SRP to key partners in NC and the larger SRP program, and engage vulnerable communities. The UNC-SRP comprises four research projects. Projects 1-2 use humanized mouse models to characterize key developmental windows of susceptibility to iA s-induced diabetes. Projects 3- 4 advance the ability to predict iAs contamination in private wells and develop innovative methods for enhanced removal. The UNC-SRP addresses all four mandates of the national SRP program. Five Cores include the Administrative Core, Community Engagement Core, Data Management and Analysis Core, Research Experience and Training Coordination Core, and Chemistry and Analysis Core. These Cores facilitate administration, chemical analyses, data management/analysis, training, and community engagement with our partners the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense Fund, Union County Health Department, and Winyah River Alliance. In sum, the UNC-SRP mission is to protect vulnerable populations from arsenic-induced disease using mechanistic and translational solution-oriented research to ultimately inform regulation and Superfund site cleanup efforts.