# Toxic Substances in the Environment

> **NIH NIH P42** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY · 2021 · $2,397,655

## Abstract

OVERALL: SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The Berkeley Superfund Research Center, in consultation with the Program's key stakeholders, has identified
four complex problems associated with hazardous waste sites that have proven intractable to current methods.
These problems are how to better assess: 1) cumulative impacts from multiple environmental stressors (e.g.
chemical exposures, stress and obesity); 2) past exposures, especially early-life exposures and their
contribution to risk; 3) the effects of chemical mixtures and their impact on remediation efforts; and, 4) the
complex transformation of chemicals to reactive intermediates and their ability to act through multiple
mechanistic pathways. Here we propose six interactive projects (4 biomedical and 2 engineering) and 5 cores
that aim to address these four problems though original research, translation to appropriate end-users and
community engagement efforts. We will focus on exposures to high priority chemicals commonly found at
Superfund sites, including arsenic, benzene, trichloroethene, formaldehyde, chromium and polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons to address the specific mandates of the Program. We will, however, take a novel approach in
adopting the so-called `exposome paradigm' in our research. This new paradigm, which we helped develop,
allows for a `seeing the whole picture' approach to risk assessment, hazard identification and the safe and
effective remediation of hazardous sites containing multiple chemicals. In the exposome paradigm all non-
genetic environmental stressors are considered as environmental exposures. Therefore, cumulative risk
assessment, where the impact of all stressors on a population is assessed, could be operationalized by
exposomics. Communities living near sites face cumulative risks from a variety of environmental and social
factors. The theme of our Center is therefore the exposome and we propose a step-wise approach to applying
exposomics to help solve the complex problems found at Superfund sites. Biomedical Projects 1-4 aim to
develop advanced techniques for the detection, assessment, and evaluation of the effects and risk to human
health of hazardous substances; Engineering Project 5 will develop methods to detect new hazardous
substances in the environment and together with Engineering Project 6 will develop methods to reduce the
amount and toxicity of hazardous substances. A Community Engagement Core C (CEC) will address
contaminated drinking water problems in California in collaboration with Projects 1, 5 and 6 and Core E, a Data
Science and Laboratory Core that will assist researchers and the CEC in meeting their goals. A Research
Translation Core C will facilitate interactions between investigators and key stakeholders and a Training Core
D will develop the next generation of multidisciplinary professionals. The overall goal is to enhance
understanding of the relationship between exposure and disease; provide usable tools to improve human
health risk assessments; a...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10135965
- **Project number:** 5P42ES004705-33
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY
- **Principal Investigator:** MARTYN T SMITH
- **Activity code:** P42 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $2,397,655
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1997-04-01 → 2022-08-24

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10135965

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10135965, Toxic Substances in the Environment (5P42ES004705-33). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10135965. Licensed CC0.

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