The Superfund Research Center

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Researchers at Oregon State University have discovered novel compounds produced by certain types of chemical reactions – such as those found in vehicle exhaust or grilling meat – that are hundreds of times more mutagenic than their parent compounds which are known carcinogens.

This past summer, through the KC Donnelly Externship Award Supplement, I conducted a collaborative research project at the University of North Carolina (UNC) in Chapel-Hill with Dr. Mike Aitken and Dr. Jun Nakamura.

Robyn Tanguay, PhD (Project 3 ) focuses on examining the effects of selected chemicals and chemical classes on zebrafish development and associated gene expression pathways.

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The Tanguay research group recently collaborated with Terrence J. Collins, PhD, a champion in the field of green chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University.

Collins and his collaborators showed that specific green chemicals (a group of molecules called TAML activators) used with hydrogen peroxide, can effectively remove steroid hormones from water after just one treatment. Steroid hormones are common endocrine disruptors found in almost 25 percent of streams, rivers, and lakes.  Collins needed to understand the safety of TAML activators to move forward on this problem.