Saturday, May 4, 2024
5/4/2024
ABSTRACT: Human health is inextricably tied to the Great Lakes, which hold 20% of the Earth’s surface freshwater. Climate change is impacting the Lakes, altering water temperature, pH, storm frequency, ice cover, and precipitation. Human debris, including plastic, also impacts the Lakes and those who rely on it. Plastic enters the Lakes as microplastic (MP; particles <5 mm) or as macrodebris that may degrade to MP. There are significant knowledge gaps about the cycle of plastic in the Lakes, but MPs have been found in all lake habitats, throughout the food chain, and in tap water. The potential human health effects of Lake-associated exposure to MP are vastly understudied. How MP inputs and impacts will be affected by climate change is also unknown. Addressing such complex problems requires engaging diverse community partners and a multidisciplinary systems science approach. The over-arching goal of the Lake Ontario Center for Microplastics and Human Health in a Changing Environment is to prevent negative human health impacts of MP in the context of climate change in the Great Lakes by engaging diverse partners in research, promoting environmental health literacy, and promoting solutions. Because the Lake Ontario region is representative of the Great Lakes basin, our work will be broadly transferable. Our innovative approach assesses plastics as they exist in the environment: as mixtures of post-consumer plastic polymers, degraded by the environment, and covered with biofilm. A major challenge of MP research is standardization of materials and methods, which we address with a novel Materials and Metrology Core that supports and is integral to all 3 research projects. Project 1 will holistically assess projected climate change impacts on plastic input, degradation, ecotoxicity, and microorganisms in plastic-associated biofilms. Project 1 culminates in modeling to predict future input, fate and transport of microplastics in Lake Ontario. Project 2 will build on Project 1’s foundation to assess the potential for dermal and lung exposure to MPs by leveraging nanomembrane technologies to analyze mammalian cytotoxicity and bioactivity of natural and experimental particle mixtures in combination with variation in temperature and availability of metals and persistent organic pollutants. Project 3 extends the investigation to the whole organism by using the amphibian Xenopus to rigorously assess the biodistribution of MPs and impacts on development, fitness, immune homeostasis and antiviral immunity, under varied conditions of temperature. Given the high degree of evolutionary conservation of vertebrate physiology, the outcomes from this study are very relevant to human health. Our Community Engagement Core involves diverse partners in all aspects of the Center, including community science, direct action, development and dissemination of materials, and building partners’ capacity to promote solutions. Our Administrative Core coordinates across two institutions (the University of Rochester and the Rochester Institute of Technology), supports multidirectional communication with external stakeholders, oversees our Plan for Enhancing Diverse Perspectives, and evaluates progress toward Center goals.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
