University of Cincinnati SBRP presents its first newsletter: UC Superfund Shorts

The purpose of this newsletter is to provide updates on the happenings at the University of Cincinnati Superfund Basic Research Program (SBRP) to interested parties. This publication provides the scientists, associates and students within our organization, as well as other interested parties, with an easy way to stay informed on the various projects that constitute the UC SBRP program. It also serves as a method to highlight the activities and interests of our staff and students, and provides announcements on upcoming events or new technologies available to the program.

2006 Annual SBRP Meeting Announced

The 2006 Annual meeting will be held at the New York Academy of Medicine in New York, NY on January 12-13, 2006.  More information will be added as it becomes available.

UC SBRP Outreach at Work: The Addyston Environmental Task Force

Three accidental releases of gas. Questionable smells coming from the Lanxess plant. Inorder to help the citizens of Addyston—home of Lanxess—and nearby communities understand the implications of recent chemical releases from the plant, UC SBRP Outreach has joined the Addyston Environmental Task Force. Under the facilitation of Addyston Mayor Dan Pillow and State Representative Steve Driehaus, the mission of the task force is to ensure the health and safety of the residents of Addyston residents and surrounding communities, identifying pertinent causes of harmful emissions from the Lanxess facility and other contributing entities, measuring the levels of these emissions, working to eliminate any releases that might cause harm, and communicating accurate information to affected parties. Lanxess has already implemented changes to improve plant processes and reduce the likelihood of future accidental emissions. However, the local residents are still concerned about the possible health effects due to the exposures of the previous releases and everyday emissions.  UC SBRP Outreach joined the taskforce, and is helping to communicate with the public.  As part of the communication, on July 19th at Fernbank Park, Outreach and two UC scientists spoke to Addyston residents on toxicology and epidemiology. Dr. George Leikauf discussed risk assessment, and explained how toxicologists evaluate the safety of chemical exposures, and the difference between probable and proven carcinogens. Dr. Ralph Buncher explained the role that epidemiologists play in the evaluation of toxicity and risk assessment. He explained some of the difficulties involved with trying to attribute diseases to environmental causes, especially in small human populations. Details of the information session will soon be available on the UC SBRP website. Additional information on local air quality and waste management issues can be found on the Hamilton County Department of Environmental Services website: http://www.hcdoes.org. The 24 hour Air Quality Hotline for Hamilton, Butler, Clermont, and Warren Counties is 513-946-7777 .
 

UC SBRP students traveled to the 2004 Annual SBRP Meeting

The annual meeting of the Superfund Basic Research Program is designed to share insights into Superfund site remediation and health issues with other Superfund Scientists.  Last year we met in Seattle, Washington on November 3rd and 4th.  Several projects were represented by student posters.  Many students are either supported by the UC SBRP grant, or work on Superfund projects.  Our students presented eight posters on topics ranging from remediation with biofilms to new detection methods with mass spectrometry.

The UC SBRP is excited to announce a new book by one of our researchers: Patrick K. Jjemba

Environmental Microbiology
Principles and Applications
Patrick K. Jjemba
Biological Sciences Department, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
ISBN 1-57808-348-6; July 2004; c. 376 pages, paperback
This book was written for an audience that has a basic understanding of microbiology. Often microbiologists tend to overzealously focus on bacteria, inadvertently ignoring other microbes (i.e., algae, fungi, protozoa, and viruses). This discrepancy is redressed herein.  

September 7th, 2004: Environmental Health Science 101 The science you need to be effective.  A workshop sponsored by the UC SBRP, Center for Environmental Genetics, Environmental Policy Center, Molecular Epidemiology in Children's Environmental Health training program, Department of Environmental Health and Environmental Health Center of Cincinnati Children's Hospital.  The goal of this workshop was to present some of the UC Superfund science in accessible terms to an audience of environment and community advocates. Slideshow presentations can be viewed by clicking here.  At the workshop luncheon, Eula Bingham, PhD, Professor, UC Department of Environmental Health, was honored with the second Roy E. Albert Memorial Award for Translational Research in Environmental Health. 

November 2004: SBRP Annual Meeting

Outreach Director Joyce Martin and UC SBRP scientist Dan Oerther presented an overview of the workshop for the session "Moving from research and theory to community outreach and translation", at the SBRP Annual meeting Nov 4, 2004 in Seattle.

Brownfields Database: City of Cincinnati Collaboration

This project is the outgrowth of priorities set by the SBRP Outreach Advisory Board in November and December 2003. During the summer of 2004, the city of Cincinnati collaborated with the Outreach Core on a brownfields project aimed at creating a website for the City, and developing a complete computerized inventory of all the City's brownfield sites. The pilot project developed a database framework and web template that will help the City to communicate details on impacted properties to interested developers and the public.