ELO Participants Group Photo

Environmental Justice Experiential Learning Opportunity Program – Summer 2023

/in , ,

The MIT SRP created and conducted an Environmental Justice Experiential Learning Opportunity (ELO) program from June 3rd to July 28th, 2023.  Supported in part by an MIT ELO award, this program offered eight MIT undergraduate students the ability to participate and experience on-hands laboratory activities in a range of ongoing SRP research.  In addition, there were seminars from the US EPA and Silent Spring Institute to underscore the need for public health work centered on environmental justice.  Furthermore, workshops such as strategies in reading manuscripts and research papers as well as career options gave the ELO students practical concepts as they continue their academic path.  To make the learning tangible, there a visit to Wilmington, MA where the Olin Chemical Superfund site is located.  This field trip allowed the students to see first-hand how environmental contamination has public health consequences, but more importantly, the discussions and interactions with Wilmington community members showed them on a personal level, the difficulties and the life changing aspects for those living near a Superfund site.

As part of the program, the students kept a journal, reflecting upon each experience, whether it was a workshop, research work, or a field trip.  These reflections were to describe not just what they learned academically, but also to ponder on and to examine societal behavior and moral struggles regarding public health and economics.  The feedback from the students expressed a new understanding and a greater appreciation of how research can advance public health and the benefits of community engagement.  They noted that this multi-faceted learning experience enriched their:

  • Understanding of environmental justice and its associated challenges
  • Research skills
  • Knowledge of public health organizations and their impact on problem-solving
  • Career development ideas
  • Wellness in balancing studies and personal happiness
  • Awareness of what community members experience when they are impacted by hazardous chemicals.

A critical aspect to the training program was to provide training to Postdocs and Graduate Students who served as mentors for the undergraduates. The mentoring experience both enhanced their leadership skills while also raising awareness to the public health challenge that are faced by millions of people living close to Superfund Sites. The importance of environmental justice was also a theme throughout the training experience.

 

Learn More

SRP 2023 retreat

MIT SRP Retreat – 2023

/in ,

On May 24, 2023, MIT SRP held a retreat.  Dr. Bevin Engelward kicked off the retreat by presenting an overview of the SRP work as well as how NDMA related contaminations play a major role in the SRP projects.  She highlighted the elevated cancer cases in Wilmington, MA and the Passamaquoddy drinking water issues from the water treatment process where NDMA was the hazardous chemical of concern for both situations.  For Wilmington, MA, groundwater contamination from the Olin Chemical Superfund site caused several residential well closures due to the presence of NDMA along with other contaminants.  In the Passamaquoddy situation, there was the concern that the use of disinfectants, such as chlorine or chloramine, may cause the formation of NDMA as a by-product from this treatment process.  Finding solutions for these public health problems are drivers for Projects 1 to 4.  The dissemination of this information and the related community engagement action plans are an integral part of all Cores activities.

To provide more details to the types of SRP projects in public health protection, SRP trainees gave “flash talks” followed by a discussion regarding their work in investigating and identifying the health effects associated with low-level NDMA exposure as well as the development of solutions to measure and destroy NDMA.  The flash talks were helpful in keeping discussions and plans for cross-disciplinary research vibrant.

There were two outside guests at the Retreat, namely Dr. Marilyn Black, VP and Senior Technical Advisor for Chemical Insights Research Institute (CIRI), and Dr. Christa Wright, Director for the Center for Toxicological and Human Health within CIRI. They talked about their organization and about specific challenges being addressed. Dr. Wright is also an MIT SRP Community Engagement Core team member, contributing to many community engagement programs as well as spearheading Research Experience Training Coordination Core activities.  Sharing her research findings, Dr. Wright discussed the adverse health impacts associated with vaping.  She highlighted how the inhaled mist (vapor) from handheld electronic devices introduce fine particulates and heavy metals into the lungs. There are nitrosamines in vapes, drawing an important connection between the mission of CIRI and that of the MIT SRP. Education regarding the risks from vaping has not been as prominent as with cigarette use given the perception that vaping is safer than smoking cigarettes.  This is especially worrisome for teens and young adults because their bodies are still growing, making them more susceptible to the harm caused by vaping.

Taken together, the MIT SRP Retreat was an opportunity for faculty, graduate students, and postdocs to learn and share their research and community engagement work.  Knowing the various aspects of the SRP work enhances collaboration between the Projects and Cores.  Furthermore, having CIRI speakers at the retreat enabled SRP members to gain insights on other emerging environmental and public health issues. The event ended with refreshments and lawn games, enjoyed by all.

STEM3

Working with Stakeholders | Community Engagement: Wilmington, MA STEM Fair

/in ,

Breaking NEWS: The MIT Team from SRP were back this year on March 6, 2024 after a very successful first year event in 2023!  

The Wilmington Public Schools, K-8, invited Dr. Kathleen Vandiver to prepare and bring an activity to share at their annual STEM Fair for the school’s students on the evening of March 8th, 2023.  Dr. Vandiver chose to bring her hands-on tabling activity, “Build LEGO™ Models of Air Pollutants.”  Pollutants in the atmosphere are often invisible, like many other environmental problems, but they may produce significant environmental and public health consequences.

Dr. Vandiver, along with SRP Director, Dr. Bevin Engelward and five SRP Trainees (Barathkumar Baskaran, Aimee Moise, Amanda Armijo, Vandana Singh, and Haosheng Feng) volunteered to be the explainers for this climate change program.  They set up the activity stations for students to construct air molecules, modeling the different elements with colored LEGO™ bricks.  The students first learned to build the common molecules in air by building these chemicals’ molecular structures.   At the next station, the students modeled a chemical reaction with bricks to see how cars burning gasoline as fuel will release molecules of CO2 which have a negative impact on the planet.  And at the third and fourth stations, the students learned how the combustion reaction can also produce pollutants harmful to human health.  These hands-on learning experiences increase the students’ understanding about how molecules play a role in climate change and how the environment can affect human health.  These activities educate young students by offering them a visual and tactile modeling experience about molecules in air.  Additionally, their accompanying parents benefit from having their understandings refreshed on the importance of limiting CO2 production and other air pollutants for better health.

Nikki Bugher

MIT SRP in the News | Nicolette Bugher: The toxic chemicals all around us

/in , ,

Struck at a young age of how lake water quality can negatively impact fish population, that experience shaped Nicolette Bugher’s educational goals. As a Ph.D. candidate conducting research at the Plata Lab, Nicolette’s work is to find and identify harmful chemicals in the environment. Also, as a part of the MIT SRP, Nicolette is investigating potentially carcinogenic chemicals found at unregulated hazardous waste sites, known as Superfund sites. A particular chemical of concern in Nicolette’s research is N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), a contaminant found in the groundwater at Wilmington, MA where the Olin Superfund site is also located. Working on this compound has significance for her and in her research, because this compound is a potential carcinogen at low levels according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Yet, typical analytical laboratory instruments cannot detect this chemical at these low exposure levels to be protective of public health.

“Cancer—it’s unplanned, it’s unexpected. You’re never prepared for it—you don’t know where it comes from,” Nicolette says. “The work that we do is really important, because we’re trying to help toxicologists figure out where cancer is coming from and how to solve it.” As such, the research and discoveries by Nicolette will have broader public health implications beyond Wilmington, MA. It can offer more insights to help other communities that are dealing with similar contamination problems.

Read the article at MIT Technology Review

mutation bars

MIT SRP Labs Collaborate on Study of NDMA Susceptibility

/in

Congratulations to Amanda L. Armijo, Pennapa Thongararm, Bogdan I. Fedeles, Judy Yau, Jennifer E. Kay, Joshua J. Corrigan, Marisa Chancharoen, Supawadee Chawanthayatham, Leona D. Samson, Sebastian E. Carrasco, Bevin P. Engelward, James G. Fox, Robert G. Croy and John M. Essigmann on their recent publication in NAR Cancer in 2023! In this work, the authors show that there is a distinct mutation pattern when mice are exposed to N-nitrosodimethylamine, a DNA methylating agent. This pattern is strikingly similar to the pattern of mutations in tumors from patients treated with a related DNA methylating agent, temozolomide. The pattern appears to be driven largely by O6-methylguanine, a damaged base that readily mispairs with thymine to induce GC to AT mutations.

Learn more

Jessica Beard trainee

Trainee Spotlight | Jessica Beard

/in ,

Congratulations to SRP trainee, Jessica Beard, and faculty member, Timothy Swager, for their publication in the Journal of Organic Chemistry! This is a pivotal paper for the MIT Superfund Research Program, both because it is tour de force in terms of the chemistry that is described, and also because it helps to inform cleanup. Importantly, it was written in response to members of the Wilmington Community who wanted to understand better whether or not N-nitrosamines are continuing to be formed at the Olin Chemical Superfund Site (located in Wilmington, MA). Being responsive to the community is key to the mission of the MIT SRP.

Jessica was also interviewed for a podcast by the Boston Museum of Science. Jessica shares her thoughts about her favorite molecule, her career aspirations, and her appreciation of the MIT Superfund Research Program. Listen to the podcast on the museum’s website website.

High Throughput Toxicity Assay

/in

Cell survival assays are routine in many life science laboratories, yet direct measurements of cell growth are rarely performed due to the fact that the gold standard colony forming assay is slow and laborious. A novel adaptation to the traditional colony forming assay was developed by Postdoc Lizzie Ngo of the Engelward and Samson laboratories. Whereas the typical colony forming assay requires many large cell culture dishes, Dr. Ngo’s rapid assay fits into a 96-well plate format, enabling higher throughput direct testing of the ability of cells to divide. This technology was highlighted in the AAAS EurekAlert, MIT News, and as an NIEHS Environmental Factor Paper of the Month. In addition, Dr. Ngo’s excellent work was highlighted in a Trainee Spotlight in the April edition of SRP e-Posted Notes.

Outreach Publication in Scientia

/in

Program Director Prof. Bevin Engelward and RTC leader Dr. Jenny Kay collaborated with editors of the science outreach journal Scientia to produce an article about the MIT SRP and its biological research projects. The article describes the NIEHS Superfund Research Program and MIT SRP’s chemicals of interest, N-nitrosamines, probable human carcinogens that contaminate the groundwater of Wilmington, MA. Drs. Engelward and Kay provided an overview of NDMA-induced DNA damage and repair and the team’s approach to evaluating how varied DNA repair activity may impact susceptibility to adverse health outcomes following exposure. They also described several technologies developed in the Engelward laboratory for detecting DNA damage, toxicity, and mutations. This publication enabled dissemination of advancements at the MIT SRP to a broad audience.

Study Links Childhood Cancer to NDMA Exposure

/in

The Olin Chemical Superfund Site in Wilmington, MA, contains high levels of NDMA, a probable human carcinogen that traveled nearly a mile underground, contaminating town wells that had been used by thousands of people. After the discovery of a childhood cancer cluster, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health did an epidemiological study, and the results show an association between exposure to NDMA in utero and cancer in children. The MIT Superfund Research Program is actively engaged in being responsive to the affected community by performing relevant research and developing technologies to help address the public health impacts of NDMA. Recent research performed by the MIT team points to the possibility that the AAG DNA repair enzyme is a susceptibility factor for NDMA-induced cancer.

Leventhal Prize Winners

Leventhal City Prize for Equitable Resilience

/in

A team led by CEC Director Dr. Kathy Vandiver won the Norman B. Leventhal City Prize, a $100,000 award offered by MIT’s Leventhal Center. The objective of the ‘Malden River Works for Waterfront Equity and Resilience’ project is to create a public open space to improve opportunities for community recreation and health. It is envisioned the river will become a place where people can gather or walk, and also enjoy being out in nature where the surroundings are healthy for both the mind and body. The project work involves redesigning a city-owned parcel which is the home of the Dept. of Public Works (DPW). The most ambitious goal, however, is a social capacity-building one, with the aim of broadening civic participation for communities of color. For this purpose, a Steering Committee for the project has been created with representative leaders from Malden’s diverse immigrant groups, including people of color who are currently underrepresented in the city government. This project was featured in an MIT News article and video and in the NIEHS PEPH Newsletter.