Exposure Assessment Core
The Exposure Assessment Core supports the design, implementation and analysis of exposure assessments, and provides assistance to ensure that exposure assessments and analytical data generated are sound, quality assured and reflect state-of-the-art knowledge and expertise.
The Core provides assistance with sample collection, storage, preservation, processing, and analysis for environmental and biological samples, and referral services to supporting laboratories for analytes not measured by the Core itself. The Core also provides consultations regarding exposure data, including study design, data cleaning, data interpretation, error calculations, and the use of environmental models and databases, such as those pertaining to air quality (including ambient and indoor), water quality (including surface, ground and drinking water), and soil quality (including waste sites, vapor intrusion).
Organic Chemistry Laboratory
Researchers in the Organic Chemistry Laboratory routinely analyze a wide variety of organic compounds in many environmental and biological media, and collaborate with several other laboratories for additional analyses and quality assurance activities. The Laboratory routinely conducts sophisticated analyses that involve complex extraction and analysis techniques, and also engages in method and sampler development. Target analytes include, for example, aldehydes, diesel exhaust and wood smoke tracers, currently used and legacy (e.g., chlorinated) pesticides and their metabolites, brominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organophosphate pesticide derivatives, polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), tobacco smoke and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) tracers, trihalomethanes (THMs), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), among others. In-house capabilities using GC/MS and other techniques are maintained for these and other analytes.
The Laboratory engages in a wide range of activities, which include:
- Analyses of environmental samples, e.g., air, soil, water, biota, and food
- Analyses of human biological samples, e.g., milk, blood, urine, and tissues
- Development and evaluation of sampling and analytical methods
Dr. Stuart Batterman directs the Organic Chemistry Laboratory, with assistance from supervisory chemist and Research Lab Specialist Senior Amila Devasurendra, Ph.D. and technical supervisor and Research Lab Technician Lead Angela Antosiewicz, B.S., M.S.
Partnering and Referral Laboratories
- Environmental and Molecular Microbiology Laboratory
- Dr. Chuanwu Xi heads the Environmental and Molecular Microbiology Laboratory.
- Nutrition Assessment Laboratory
- Dr. Karen Peterson heads the Nutrition Assessment Laboratory.
- NSF International
- NSF International is an Ann Arbor-based non-profit organization that has extensive analytical capabilities for a wide range of contaminants and biomarkers. Of particular interest to Center Researchers are NSF’s ability to measure bisphenol A (BPA) and trace metals in environmental and biological samples. NSF has a number of dedicated high resolution inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) systems for measurements of trace metals in biological samples.
