Wilmington Massachusetts is a leafy suburb just north of Boston. With classic New England homes and maple trees it provides an idyllic setting for family life. Nevertheless, in the 1990s, mothers started noticing that many of their children had cancer. When a proper study was done, it was discovered…

“Doc Edgerton” was a remarkable innovator and leader, and he was dedicated to the successes of junior faculty. MIT has a special annual award in his memory for junior faculty who have an outstanding record in research, teaching and service. On April 21, it was announced that Desiree Plata…

FOR DESIRÉE PLATA PHD ’09, THE DECISION to become an environmental chemist was inspired not only by an interest in science but also by her personal experience with the health effects of environmental contamination. Growing up in Maine, Plata noticed a spike in disease among people in a neighboring town—including…

On April 22, 2021, Dr. Leona D. Samson was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Samson is exceptionally deserving of this recognition. Her innovative research has truly been groundbreaking, with a consistent string of pioneering work that has not only moved her research…

It was recently announced that Professor John Essigmann is this year’s winner of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Chemical Toxicology (TOXI) Founder’s Award. Prof. Essigmann is the William R. (1956) and Betsy P. Leitch Professor in Residence of Chemistry in the MIT Department of Chemistry and Professor of Toxicology and Biological…

Recent work from the Engelward Lab has been published in Cell Reports and featured in the MIT News on March 16, 2021. This research highlights increased concerns of the contaminant, N-nitrosodimethylamine or more commonly known by its abbreviation NDMA. NDMA is a probable carcinogen identified in exceedingly high levels at the Olin…

This blog is to celebrate the accomplishments of Timothy M. Swager on the occasion of his being named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. Tim is the John D. MacArthur Professor of Chemistry and the Director of the MIT Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation. Tim is also…

A group of Superfund Research Program Center leaders from MIT, Northeastern University, University of Kentucky, and Louisiana State University went to Washington DC to engage with Professional Staff from the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. This was a great opportunity to share the good news about the many strengths…

Under the leadership of Director Dr. William Suk, the NIEHS Superfund Research Program is playing a pioneering role in enabling the development of novel tools for leveraging big data in new and exciting ways. Big data comes in many forms, ranging from life-science based data sets for measuring which…

If you’ve been following MIT-SRP, then you’ve probably heard about the chemical N-dimethylnitrosamine (NDMA), but as a lesser-known contaminant, you may not know what it is or why it’s important. NDMA causes liver, lung, and kidney cancer in rodent models, and it is classified as Group 2A probable carcinogen…