# Core-004

> **NIH NIH P42** · MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · 2021 · $162,798

## Abstract

Native Americans in Maine, and people living in the Mystic River Watershed in Massachusetts have expressed
serious concerns about contaminants in their environments. In both locations, people are negatively impacted
by legacy contaminants, and in both cases, there are Environmental Justice communities of concern. The
Loring Air Force Base Superfund site impacts the Native Americans, and the Industri-Plex, Wells G&H, and
Olin Superfund sites impact people living in the Mystic River Watershed (a land area north and east of Boston,
covering 76 square miles that drains into rivers feeding into the Boston Harbor). The MIT-SRP brings
engineering and scientific innovation to bear on critical problems relevant to our stakeholders in Maine and
Massachusetts. Our problem-oriented program centers around two pervasive contaminants, N-nitrosamines
(potently carcinogenic to animals) and PAHs (carcinogenic to people). Both of these contaminants are broadly
important as they are present in multiple Superfund sites and they continue to be produced by ongoing
industrial activities today. The MIT-SRP with its diverse expertise (from engineers, to chemists, to biologists
and to biological engineers) has the tools, the commitment, and the willingness to collaborate, making it
possible to take on these serious environmental health challenges. Specifically, the MIT-SRP will: a) identify
novel PAH breakdown products; b) develop novel sensor technologies including a low cost smartphoneenabled
carbon nanotube sensor; c) use high fidelity duplex consensus sequencing to reveal patterns of
mutations that can be traced to specific contaminants; d) reveal how age and stage of development impact
susceptibility to N-nitrosodimethylamine and PAH-induced mutations and cancer; e) reveal how geneenvironment
interactions impact susceptibility to genomic instability and cancer; and f) use phosphoproteomics
and transcriptomics to uncover systems-level molecular responses that shed light on underlying mechanisms
of disease and give rise to novel biomarkers of disease risk. These tools will inform policy, enable risk
estimates, and guide remediation. Our bi-directional program is based on established relationships with local
agencies that represent our stakeholders. To maximize the impact of our Program, we will continue to grow
our relationships with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the ATSDR, the EPA, the NIEHS and
Tribal Leaders. Embedded in all of the MIT-SRP activities are training opportunities for undergraduates,
graduate students and postdocs, thus supporting the next generation of environmental health scientists. The
impact of the MIT-SRP is predicted to be significant, thanks to multidisciplinary collaboration among engineers,
biomedical researchers, community outreach professionals, and experts in training and translation. Further,
the technologies and approaches that will be developed can be broadly disseminated among Superfund sites
and elsewhere. Taken togethe...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10145687
- **Project number:** 5P42ES027707-05
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
- **Principal Investigator:** JOHN M ESSIGMANN
- **Activity code:** P42 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $162,798
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10145687

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10145687, Core-004 (5P42ES027707-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10145687. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*