Nano Active: Carnegie Mellon chemicals may break down water contaminants safely

Monday, August 12, 2013

Carnegie Mellon chemicals may break down water contaminants safely

"PITTSBURGH—A family of molecules developed at Carnegie Mellon University to break down pollutants in water is one step closer to commercial use. Study results published online in the journal Green Chemistry show that the molecules, which are aimed at removing hazardous endocrine disruptors from water sources, aren't endocrine disruptors themselves as they proved to be non-toxic to developing zebrafish embryos.

"Created by Carnegie Mellon green chemist Terry Collins, the molecules, called TAML activators, provide an environmentally friendly method for breaking down toxic compounds that contaminate water, including endocrine disruptors. Endocrine disrupters, which are found in almost 25 percent of our streams, rivers and lakes, can disrupt the normal functions of the endocrine system by mimicking or blocking the activities of hormones in wildlife leading to impaired development.

"While the connections between the adverse effects of endocrine disrupting water contaminants on aquatic organisms and human health have yet to be established, animal studies suggest that endocrine disruptors may be involved in a host of modern-day health epidemics including cancers, learning disabilities, obesity, and immune and reproductive system disorders."

Read the rest of the article in Science Codex

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

LEWIS PERDUE

I have an academic and vocational background in biology, organic chemistry, environmental science, high-energy physics and nuclear engineering.

I graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. degree in 1972.

My serious lifelong involvement with science began as a uber-geek that involved university graduate-level work as a teen. That eventually landed me as a finalist in the Westinghouse (now Intel) Science Talent Search. I also won several prizes at the 1966 International Science Fair for a propulsion engine I designed to use the solar flux for fuel.

NASA, the U.S. Air Force and the National Academy of Sciences awarded that work numerous citations. As a result, I was able to attend summer school in the Aerospace Engineering at Mississippi State University.

The next summer, I worked an internship at Westinghouse where I helped improve spectrographic test equipment and prototyped solar flux instruments for a Mars fly-by. (At least one of these I hand-crafted flew in the Mariner satellites).

During that internship, I also calibrated neutron density devices for military and civilian nuclear reactors. To the best of my knowledge, no reactors have ever melted down or malfunctioned because of this work. Of course, the military program was classified, so only the NSA knows if I blew something up.

Despite my original research in physics, I maintained my education and knowledge of biology from an early age. I was fortunate to have been mentored and tutored during my high school years by Dr. Arthur C. Guyton, professor, medical researcher and the author of the world's best-selling human physiology textbook

I majored in biology with an emphasis on Ecology, Evolution And Systematics at Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences where I graduated with distinction in 1972.

While at Cornell, I worked full-time as a newspaper reporter, this time for the Ithaca Journal.

My A+ grades in organic chemistry and discovery of more than two dozen errors in the class textbook (primarily in quantum bonding orbitals) prompted Cornell's chemistry department to recruit me as a major in their department.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a way to support myself except as a newspaper reporter. While I was willing to do that, the prospects for financial survival for Ph.D. work were a grim. I could study, or I could eat. Not both. And that deflected my vocational choices toward full-time writing and part-time scientist.

Over the intervening years, I've continued to stay current through careful reading of scientific journals and my study of updated textbooks particularly on quantum physics, and molecular genetics.

I've been the founder or early-stage staffer in three technology start-ups, worked as a Washington (D.C.) Correspondent, a Congressional and gubernatorial aide and taught on the faculties at Cornell and UCLA.

In 2012, I discovered that thousands of acres of California's finest vineyards are drip-irrigated with highly treated, recycled sewage water.

That discovery led me to dig deeper into compounds that are biologically active in nano and pico concentrations -- potentially Endocrine Disrupting Compounds and other chemicals of emerging concern.

This totally re-invigorated my molecular biology and organic chemistry enthusiasms, and led me to found this blog and initiate the online partnership with biologist Becca Yeamans.

Unless you have had enough already, you can click here for more.

BECCA YEAMANS

Becca L. Yeamans, is a biomedical scientist with extensive research and laboratory experience in clinical research trials in immunology and neurology. Educated in environmental sciences, she is the author of several papers in peer-reviewed journals,

She was born and raised in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, and also freelances as a writer specializing in the Environmental Sciences as well as the world of wine, enology, and viticulture.

She received her Bachelor of Science in Biology in 2004 from Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont and her Master of Science in Environmental Sciences (with a focus in Ecology) in 2011 from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Her undergraduate research focused on species diversity of ants and other ground-dwelling macroinvertebrates in fragmented habitats caused by human interference, with implications for using ants as potential indicators of environmental health.

This work has since led to several published articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Her graduate work at the University of Virginia resulted in her excelling in course and laboratory work throughout the disciplines of geology, atmospheric science, hydrology, and ecology.

Her strong writing and research skills led to successful grant applications to fund her Masters’ thesis, entitled “Ecological and Evolutionary Shifts in Pollen Chemistry and Their Implications for Pollinators”, which shed light on some of the important questions in the field of pollination evolutionary ecology and is a key contributor to the study of pollen nutritional quality for bees.

Her research experience extends from the Environmental Sciences to biomedical research and also clinical research. While working in a Harvard Medical School-affiliated Immunology laboratory in Boston, MA, her hard work and dedication to the world of research led to her establishment of a human-to-mouse skin transplantation model to study burn-injury; a first for the laboratory.

Her vast research experience has also included managing and administering clinical research trials in Neurology, specifically focused on symptom management and therapies in Multiple Sclerosis.

Aside from published peer-reviewed journal articles based on her past work, Becca’s passion for writing took off with the establishment of her blog, The Academic Wino.

The Academic Wino is a highly technical blog, and is dedicated to dissecting and reviewing current research in enology and viticulture, while providing insights and thoughts on the current state of research related to wine.

The articles reviewed span nearly every aspect of academia, and provide a public forum to discuss the state of research related to wine. She is also a freelance writer for several wine-related online publications, in addition to managing her own personal blog.

Becca Yeamans lives in Charlottesville, Virginia with her loving fiancé, their two dogs, Coaty the Greyhound and Crystal the Golden Retriever, as well as their cat, Cassie.

When she’s not up to her elbows in peer-reviewed scientific journals, she can be found spending time with her human and animal family at a winery, microbrewery, or up in the mountains.