The MIT Center for Environmental Health Sciences, through support from the NIH-NIEHS Center Grant P30-ES002109, has awarded one basic science and one translational pilot projects with a start date of June 1, 2015 from the March pilot project call released this year.

BASIC SCIENCE APPLICATIONS

Health Implications of the Ozone Climate Penalty

We propose to investigate the global health burden associated with the climate-induced changes on surface O3 levels (the so-called "climate penalty").

• Colette Heald
• Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences

TRANSLATIONAL APPLICATIONS

A Microfluidic Airway Model to Study the Role of Mucus in Asthma Pathogenesis

The goals of this pilot project is to study particle transport through reconstituted and native mucus gels derived from patients with and without asthma.

• Jongyoon Han
• Professor, Biological Engineering and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
• Katharina Ribbeck
• Associate Professor, Biological Engineering

* This pilot project is jointly funded with the Theron Randolph Pilot Project Funds.

Using Radium Isotope Signature in Soils, Sediments and Natural Waters to Detect Fluids Generated from Conventional and Unconventional Drilling

The objectives of our study are to: 1) Study radium surface complexation on representative minerals to constrain transport parameters necessary for its use as a marker of contamination, 2) Analyze soil, sediment, and water samples from legacy and active pit locations for radium and other chemicals associated with flowback waters, and 3) decipher the source and age of Ra contamination when detected.

• Benjamin Kocar
• Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering