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P. Lee Ferguson

P. Lee Ferguson

Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Civil and Environmental Engineering
lee.ferguson@duke.edu
Box 90287, 121 Hudson Hall, Durham, NC 27708-0287
534 Research Dr., Wilkinson Building, Room 205, Durham, NC 27708

Selected Publications

Colloidal Side-Chain Fluorinated Polymer Nanoparticles Are a Significant Source of Polyfluoroalkyl Substance Contamination in Textile Wastewater

Journal Article Environmental Science and Technology Letters · December 9, 2025 Side-chain fluorinated polymers (SCFP) are a class of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that are extensively used in functional textiles as water and stain repellents. The potential for environmental contamination through the release of SCFP into ... Full text Open Access Cite

Evaluation of Fluorochemical Leaching from Lithium-Ion Batteries Under Simulated Solid Waste Landfill Conditions.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · December 2025 Lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) are widely used in electronic devices and renewable energy systems. Fluorochemicals are essential components of LiBs, as a component of electrolytes, electrodes, and coatings. However, there are concerns about the environmental ... Full text Open Access Cite

Integrating Contaminant Source Indicators, Water Quality Measures, and Ecotoxicity to Characterize Contaminant Mixtures and Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance (PFAS) Variability in an Urban Watershed.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · July 2025 Thousands of chemical contaminants threaten watersheds but are time and cost prohibitive to monitor. Identifying their sources, transport, and ecological risk is limited in heterogeneous urban watersheds. We present an integrative watershed approach using ... Full text Open Access Cite

Environmental exposure assessment in the international prospective study of Chronic Kidney Disease of UnceRtain Etiology (CKDu) in Agricultural Communities (CURE) research consortium: Design and protocol development.

Journal Article The Science of the total environment · June 2025 BackgroundChronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu) is a major health concern among outdoor manual workers in rural Central America and South Asia. The CURE study is a prospective longitudinal cohort designed to investigate CKDu's environm ... Full text Cite

Assessment of developmental neurotoxicology-associated alterations in neuronal architecture and function using Caenorhabditis elegans.

Journal Article bioRxiv · January 14, 2025 Few of the many chemicals that regulatory agencies are charged with assessing for risk have been carefully tested for developmental neurotoxicity (DNT). To speed up testing efforts, as well as to reduce the use of vertebrate animals, great effort is being ... Full text Link to item Cite

Assessment of developmental neurotoxicology-associated alterations in neuronal architecture and function using Caenorhabditis elegans.

Journal Article ALTEX · January 2025 Few of the many chemicals that regulatory agencies are charged with assessing for risk have been carefully tested for developmental neurotoxicity (DNT). To speed up assessment, and to reduce the use of vertebrate animals, great effort is being devoted to a ... Full text Cite

Toxicity of microplastic fibers containing azobenzene disperse dyes to human lung epithelial cells cultured at an air-liquid interface.

Journal Article Journal of hazardous materials · December 2024 There is growing concern surrounding the human health effects following inhalation exposure to microplastic fibers (MPFs). MPFs can harbor chemical additives, such as azobenzene disperse dyes (ADDs), that may contribute to their toxicity. The goal of this ... Full text Cite

Wristband Personal Passive Samplers and Suspect Screening Methods Highlight Gender Disparities in Chemical Exposures.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · September 2024 Wristband personal samplers enable human exposure assessments for a diverse range of chemical contaminants and exposure settings with a previously unattainable scale and cost-effectiveness. Paired with nontargeted analyses, wristbands can provide important ... Full text Cite

Lithium-ion battery components are at the nexus of sustainable energy and environmental release of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

Journal Article Nature communications · July 2024 Lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) are used globally as a key component of clean and sustainable energy infrastructure, and emerging LiB technologies have incorporated a class of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) known as bis-perfluoroalkyl sulfonimides ... Full text Open Access Cite

Lack of detectable sex differences in the mitochondrial function of Caenorhabditis elegans.

Journal Article BMC Ecol Evol · April 26, 2024 BACKGROUND: Sex differences in mitochondrial function have been reported in multiple tissue and cell types. Additionally, sex-variable responses to stressors including environmental pollutants and drugs that cause mitochondrial toxicity have been observed. ... Full text Link to item Cite

Investigating sensitization activity of azobenzene disperse dyes via the Direct Peptide Reactivity Assay (DPRA).

Journal Article Food Chem Toxicol · December 2023 Azobenzene disperse dyes are the fastest-growing category of commercial dyestuffs and have been found in indoor house dust and in children's polyester apparel. Azobenzene disperse dyes are implicated as potentially allergenic; however, little experimental ... Full text Link to item Cite

Characterizing azobenzene disperse dyes and related compounds in house dust and their correlations with other organic contaminant classes.

Journal Article Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987) · November 2023 Azobenzene disperse dyes are the fastest-growing category of commercial dyestuffs and are implicated in the literature as potentially allergenic. In the indoor environment, these dyes may be shed from various textiles, including clothing and upholstery and ... Full text Cite

Glyphosate and fluoride in high-hardness drinking water are positively associated with chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu) in Sri Lanka.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology letters · October 2023 Chronic Kidney Disease of uncertain Etiology (CKDu) has emerged as a serious public health concern in farming communities globally, especially in Sri Lanka with 5-20% of the adult population affected by the disease in CKDu-endemic regions. It is hypothesiz ... Full text Cite

How Many Chemicals in Commerce Have Been Analyzed in Environmental Media? A 50 Year Bibliometric Analysis.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · June 2023 Over the past 50 years, there has been a tremendous expansion in the measurement of chemical contaminants in environmental media. But how many chemicals have actually been determined, and do they represent a significant fraction of substances in commerce o ... Full text Cite

Assessment of Long-Chain Polyethoxylate Surfactants in Wastewater Effluent, Stormwater Runoff, and Ambient Water of San Francisco Bay, CA

Journal Article ACS Es and T Water · April 14, 2023 Ethoxylated surfactants are ubiquitous organic environmental contaminants that have received continued attention over the past several decades, particularly as manufacturing rates increase worldwide and as toxicity concerns grow regarding alcohol ethoxylat ... Full text Cite

Quantitation of Total PFAS Including Trifluoroacetic Acid with Fluorine Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy.

Journal Article Analytical chemistry · April 2023 Fluorine nuclear magnetic resonance (19F-NMR) spectroscopy has been shown to be a powerful tool capable of quantifying the total per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in a complex sample. The technique relies on the characteristic terminal ... Full text Cite

Novel per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in an active-use C6-based aqueous film forming foam

Journal Article Journal of Hazardous Materials Letters · November 1, 2022 Studies have identified hundreds of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) using high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), and there is increasing reliance on HRMS with suspect screening in areas such as PFAS fate an ... Full text Cite

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in river discharge: Modeling loads upstream and downstream of a PFAS manufacturing plant in the Cape Fear watershed, North Carolina.

Journal Article The Science of the total environment · July 2022 The Cape Fear River is an important source of drinking water in North Carolina, and many drinking water intakes in the watershed are affected by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). We quantified PFAS concentrations and loads in river water upstream ... Full text Cite

Characterization of Per- and Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances Present in Commercial Anti-fog Products and Their In Vitro Adipogenic Activity.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · January 2022 Featured Publication Anti-fog sprays and solutions are used on eyeglasses to minimize the condensation of water vapor, particularly while wearing a mask. Given their water-repellent properties, we sought to characterize per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substance (PFAS) compounds ... Full text Cite

Mild pentachlorophenol-mediated uncoupling of mitochondria depletes ATP but does not cause an oxidized redox state or dopaminergic neurodegeneration in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Journal Article Current research in toxicology · January 2022 AimsMitochondrial dysfunction is implicated in several diseases, including neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease. However, there is uncertainty about which of the many mechanisms by which mitochondrial function can be disrupted may le ... Full text Cite

Characterizing azobenzene disperse dyes in commercial mixtures and children's polyester clothing.

Journal Article Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987) · October 2021 Featured Publication Azobenzene disperse dyes are the fastest-growing class of dyestuffs, yet little is known about dye occurrences, sources, and transformations; azo dyes are also underrepresented in chemical standard catalogs, molecular databases, and mass spectral libraries ... Full text Open Access Cite

Evaluation of private well contaminants in an underserved North Carolina community.

Journal Article The Science of the total environment · October 2021 On-site sewage treatment systems can be an important source of antibiotic resistant bacteria and organic micropollutants into adjacent groundwater. Due to the frequent proximity of private wells to septic systems, this contamination is a concern to communi ... Full text Cite

Influence of CNT loading and environmental stressors on leaching of polymer-associated chemicals from epoxy and polycarbonate nanocomposites

Journal Article Environmental Chemistry · September 1, 2021 Featured Publication Abstract: Nanoparticles such as carbon nanotubes are increasingly added to polymer matrices to improve tensile strength and electrical and thermal conductivity, and to reduce gas permeability. During use and after disposal, these plastic nanocomposites (PN ... Full text Open Access Cite

Development of a sensitive direct injection LC-MS/MS method for the detection of glyphosate and aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) in hard waters.

Journal Article Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry · June 2021 Featured Publication Glyphosate is currently the most widely used herbicide in the world; however, the zwitterionic and highly polar properties of glyphosate make current pesticide analysis methods unsuitable for its trace analysis in natural waters. Additionally, current glyp ... Full text Open Access Cite

High-Throughput Trace-Level Suspect Screening for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Environmental Waters by Peak-Focusing Online Solid Phase Extraction and High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry

Journal Article ACS ES&T Water · April 8, 2021 Featured Publication Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) occur widely in environmental waters. PFAS risk assessment necessitates the identification of unanticipated PFASs at trace levels and therefore requires determinative methods with nanogram per liter detection lim ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Assessment of emerging polar organic pollutants linked to contaminant pathways within an urban estuary using non-targeted analysis.

Journal Article Environmental science. Processes & impacts · March 2021 Featured Publication A comprehensive, non-targeted analysis of polar organic pollutants using high resolution/accurate mass (HR/AM) mass spectrometry approaches has been applied to water samples from San Francisco (SF) Bay, a major urban estuary on the western coast of the Uni ... Full text Cite

Structure Database and In Silico Spectral Library for Comprehensive Suspect Screening of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) in Environmental Media by High-resolution Mass Spectrometry.

Journal Article Analytical chemistry · February 2021 Featured Publication Per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are an important class of organic pollutants. Many diverse PFASs are used in commerce and most are not amenable to conventional targeted chemical analysis due to lack of reference standards. Therefore, methods for ... Full text Cite

Analysis of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes in Estuarine Sediments by Density Gradient Ultracentrifugation Coupled to Near-Infrared Fluorescence Spectroscopy Reveals Disassociation of Residual Metal Catalyst Nanoparticles.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · January 2021 Featured Publication The continued growth of the nanotechnology industry and the incorporation of nanomaterials into consumer applications will inevitably lead to their release into environmental systems. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) in particular have exhibited man ... Full text Cite

Data and scripts from: A structure database and in silico spectral library for comprehensive suspect screening of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in environmental media by high-resolution mass spectrometry

Dataset · November 20, 2020 Per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are an important class of organic pollutants. Many diverse PFASs are used in commerce and most are not amenable to conventional targeted chemical analysis due to lack of reference standards. Therefore, methods for ... Full text Cite

Kidney developmental effects of metal-herbicide mixtures: Implications for chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology.

Journal Article Environment international · November 2020 Chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu) is an emerging global concern affecting several agricultural communities in the Americas and South Asia. Environmental contaminants such as heavy metals (e.g., Cd, As, Pb, and V) and organic pesticides (e.g ... Full text Cite

Investigating the mycobiome of the Holcomb Creosote Superfund Site.

Journal Article Chemosphere · August 2020 Even though many fungi are known to degrade a range of organic chemicals and may be advantageous for targeting hydrophobic chemicals with low bioavailability due to their ability to secrete extracellular enzymes, fungi are not commonly leveraged in the con ... Full text Cite

In Vitro Metabolism of Isopropylated and tert-Butylated Triarylphosphate Esters Using Human Liver Subcellular Fractions.

Journal Article Chemical research in toxicology · June 2020 Isopropylated and tert-butylated triarylphosphate esters (ITPs and TBPPs, respectively) are plasticizers and flame retardants that are ubiquitous in indoor environments; however, no studies to date have characterized their metabolism. Using human li ... Full text Cite

Illuminating the exposome with high-resolution accurate-mass mass spectrometry and nontargeted analysis

Journal Article Current Opinion in Environmental Science and Health · June 1, 2020 Featured Publication Exposomics seeks a comprehensive understanding of the links between human health and environmental chemical exposures. Analytical chemistry tools capable of identifying low-level organic contaminants in complex environmental samples are needed to meet the ... Full text Cite

Bioaccumulation of Novel Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Mice Dosed with an Aqueous Film-Forming Foam.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · May 2020 Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are widespread in the blood of the general human population, and their bioaccumulation is of considerable scientific and regulatory interest. PFAS exposure resulting from aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) ingestio ... Full text Cite

Assessing the effectiveness of point-of-use residential drinking water filters for perfluoroalkyl substances (pfass)

Journal Article Environmental Science and Technology Letters · March 10, 2020 Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have come under increased scrutiny due to concerns about their potential toxicity and prevalence in the environment, particularly drinking water. PFASs are difficult to remove in full-scale water treatment system ... Full text Cite

Chronic microfiber exposure in adult Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes).

Journal Article PloS one · January 2020 Microplastic fibers (MFs) pollute aquatic habitats globally via sewage release, stormwater runoff, or atmospheric deposition. Of the synthetic MFs, polyester (PES) and polypropylene (PP) are the most common. Field studies show that fish ingest large quanti ... Full text Open Access Cite

In situ transformation of ethoxylate and glycol surfactants by shale-colonizing microorganisms during hydraulic fracturing.

Journal Article The ISME journal · November 2019 In the last decade, extensive application of hydraulic fracturing technologies to unconventional low-permeability hydrocarbon-rich formations has significantly increased natural-gas production in the United States and abroad. The injection of surface-sourc ... Full text Cite

Molecular characterization of nonionic surfactant components of the Corexit® 9500 oil spill dispersant by high-resolution mass spectrometry.

Journal Article Rapid communications in mass spectrometry : RCM · November 2019 RationaleApproximately 7 million liters of Corexit® dispersants were applied during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill to facilitate the dispersion of crude oil. At the time of application, the exact chemical composition of Corexit® was relative ... Full text Cite

A new framework for approaching precision bioremediation of PAH contaminated soils.

Journal Article Journal of hazardous materials · October 2019 Bioremediation is a sustainable treatment strategy which remains challenging to implement especially in heterogeneous environments such as soil and sediment. Herein, we present a novel precision bioremediation framework that integrates amplicon based metag ... Full text Cite

Chlorpyrifos degradation via photoreactive TiO2 nanoparticles: Assessing the impact of a multi-component degradation scenario.

Journal Article Journal of hazardous materials · June 2019 High concentrations of pesticides enter surface waters following agricultural application, raising environmental and human health concerns. The use of photoreactive nanoparticles has shown promise for contaminant degradation and surface water remediation. ... Full text Cite

Utilization of Near Infrared Fluorescence Imaging to Track and Quantify the Pulmonary Retention of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes in Mice.

Journal Article NanoImpact · February 2019 As nanomaterials are used in a wide array of applications, investigations regarding health impacts associated with inhalation are a concern. Reports show that exposure to single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) can induce fibrosis, allergic-type reactions, ... Full text Cite

Evaluating the mycostimulation potential of select carbon amendments for the degradation of a model PAH by an ascomycete strain enriched from a superfund site.

Journal Article Biodegradation · October 2018 Although ecological flexibility has been well documented in fungi, it remains unclear how this flexibility can be exploited for pollutant degradation, especially in the Ascomycota phylum. In this work, we assess three mycostimulation amendments for their a ... Full text Cite

Chemical Mixtures Isolated from House Dust Disrupt Thyroid Receptor β Signaling.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · October 2018 House dust is a source of exposure to chemicals that can impact hormone regulation. This study was designed to evaluate the potential of house dust mixtures ( n = 137) to disrupt thyroid hormone nuclear receptor signaling in a cell-based reporter assay and ... Full text Cite

Size-Based Differential Transport, Uptake, and Mass Distribution of Ceria (CeO2) Nanoparticles in Wetland Mesocosms.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · September 2018 Trace metals associated with nanoparticles are known to possess reactivities that are different from their larger-size counterparts. However, the relative importance of small relative to large particles for the overall distribution and biouptake of these m ... Full text Cite

Electrochemical Transformations of Perfluoroalkyl Acid (PFAA) Precursors and PFAAs in Groundwater Impacted with Aqueous Film Forming Foams.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · September 2018 While oxidative technologies have been proposed for treatment of waters impacted by aqueous film forming foams (AFFFs), information is lacking regarding the transformation pathways for the chemical precursors to the perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) typically p ... Full text Cite

The Affinity of Brominated Phenolic Compounds for Human and Zebrafish Thyroid Receptor β: Influence of Chemical Structure.

Journal Article Toxicological sciences : an official journal of the Society of Toxicology · May 2018 Brominated phenolic compounds (BPCs) are found in the environment, and in human and wildlife tissues, and some are considered to have endocrine disrupting activities. The goal of this study was to determine how structural differences of 3 BPC classes impac ... Full text Cite

Comparative Persistence of Engineered Nanoparticles in a Complex Aquatic Ecosystem.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · April 2018 During nanoparticle environmental exposure, presence in the water column is expected to dominate long distance transport as well as initial aquatic organism exposure. Much work has been done to understand potential ecological and toxicological effects of t ... Full text Cite

Nonionic Ethoxylated Surfactants Induce Adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 Cells.

Journal Article Toxicological sciences : an official journal of the Society of Toxicology · March 2018 Recent studies have demonstrated that a number of environmental contaminants can act as metabolic disruptors and modulate metabolic function both in vitro and in vivo. 3T3-L1 mouse preadipocytes are commonly utilized to assess perturbations to adipogenesis ... Full text Cite

Antioxidant responses and oxidative stress in sheepshead minnow larvae exposed to Corexit 9500® or its component surfactant, DOSS.

Journal Article Aquatic toxicology (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · January 2018 Large-scale use of dispersants to remediate oil spills has raised concerns about their toxicity to marine organisms. Of particular concern is oxidative stress and resulting membrane damage due to exposure to surfactants in dispersant mixtures. We investiga ... Full text Cite

Nontarget Screening with High Resolution Mass Spectrometry in the Environment: Ready to Go?

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · October 2017 The vast, diverse universe of organic pollutants is a formidable challenge for environmental sciences, engineering, and regulation. Nontarget screening (NTS) based on high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) has enormous potential to help characterize this ... Full text Cite

Discovery of 40 Classes of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Historical Aqueous Film-Forming Foams (AFFFs) and AFFF-Impacted Groundwater.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · February 2017 Aqueous film-forming foams (AFFFs), containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), are released into the environment during response to fire-related emergencies. Repeated historical applications of AFFF at military sites were a result of fire-figh ... Full text Cite

Influence of the Gastrointestinal Environment on the Bioavailability of Ethinyl Estradiol Sorbed to Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · January 2017 Recent evidence suggests that, because of their sorptive nature, if single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) make their way into aquatic environments, they may reduce the toxicity of other waterborne contaminants. However, few studies have examined whether ... Full text Cite

Results from Screening Polyurethane Foam Based Consumer Products for Flame Retardant Chemicals: Assessing Impacts on the Change in the Furniture Flammability Standards.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · October 2016 Flame retardant (FR) chemicals have often been added to polyurethane foam to meet required state and federal flammability standards. However, some FRs (e.g., PBDEs and TDCIPP) are associated with health hazards and are now restricted from use in some regio ... Full text Open Access Cite

Differential recruitment of co-regulatory proteins to the human estrogen receptor 1 in response to xenoestrogens.

Journal Article Comparative biochemistry and physiology. Part D, Genomics & proteomics · September 2016 The diverse biological effects of xenoestrogens may be explained by their ability to differentially recruit co-regulatory proteins to the estrogen receptor (ER). We employed high-throughput receptor affinity binding and co-regulatory protein recruitment sc ... Full text Cite

Indications of Transformation Products from Hydraulic Fracturing Additives in Shale-Gas Wastewater.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · August 2016 Unconventional natural gas development (UNGD) generates large volumes of wastewater, the detailed composition of which must be known for adequate risk assessment and treatment. In particular, transformation products of geogenic compounds and disclosed addi ... Full text Cite

The G Protein-Coupled Estrogen Receptor Agonist G-1 Inhibits Nuclear Estrogen Receptor Activity and Stimulates Novel Phosphoproteomic Signatures.

Journal Article Toxicological sciences : an official journal of the Society of Toxicology · June 2016 Estrogen exerts cellular effects through both nuclear (ESR1 and ESR2) and membrane-bound estrogen receptors (G-protein coupled estrogen receptor, GPER); however, it is unclear if they act independently or engage in crosstalk to influence hormonal responses ... Full text Cite

Considerations of Environmentally Relevant Test Conditions for Improved Evaluation of Ecological Hazards of Engineered Nanomaterials.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · June 2016 Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are increasingly entering the environment with uncertain consequences including potential ecological effects. Various research communities view differently whether ecotoxicological testing of ENMs should be conducted using e ... Full text Cite

Microvolume trace environmental analysis using peak-focusing online solid-phase extraction-nano-liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry.

Journal Article Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry · March 2016 Online solid-phase extraction was combined with nano-liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) for the analysis of micropollutants in environmental samples from small volumes. The method was validated in surface water, Micro ... Full text Cite

Effects of Toxic Leachate from Commercial Plastics on Larval Survival and Settlement of the Barnacle Amphibalanus amphitrite.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · January 2016 Plastic pollution represents a major and growing global problem. It is well-known that plastics are a source of chemical contaminants to the aquatic environment and provide novel habitats for marine organisms. The present study quantified the impacts of pl ... Full text Cite

A New Perspective on Sustainable Soil Remediation-Case Study Suggests Novel Fungal Genera Could Facilitate in situ Biodegradation of Hazardous Contaminants.

Journal Article Remediation (New York, N.Y.) · January 2016 Deciding upon a cost effective and sustainable method to address soil pollution is a challenge for many remedial project managers. High pressure to quickly achieve cleanup goals pushes for energy-intensive remedies that rapidly address the contaminants of ... Full text Cite

Natural Gas Residual Fluids: Sources, Endpoints, and Organic Chemical Composition after Centralized Waste Treatment in Pennsylvania.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · July 2015 Volumes of natural gas extraction-derived wastewaters have increased sharply over the past decade, but the ultimate fate of those waste streams is poorly characterized. Here, we sought to (a) quantify natural gas residual fluid sources and endpoints to bou ... Full text Cite

Examination of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Uptake and Toxicity from Dietary Exposure: Tracking Movement and Impacts in the Gastrointestinal System.

Journal Article Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) · June 2015 Previous studies indicate that exposure of fish to pristine single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) by oral gavage, causes no overt toxicity, and no appreciable absorption has been observed. However, in the environment, SWCNTs are likely to be present in d ... Full text Cite

Change in Chirality of Semiconducting Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Can Overcome Anionic Surfactant Stabilization: A Systematic Study of Aggregation Kinetics.

Journal Article Environmental chemistry (Collingwood, Vic.) · May 2015 Single-walled carbon nanotubes' (SWNT) effectiveness in applications is enhanced by debundling or stabilization. Anionic surfactants are known to effectively stabilize SWNTs. However, the role of specific chirality on surfactant-stabilized SWNT aggregation ... Full text Cite

Characterizing the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPARγ) ligand binding potential of several major flame retardants, their metabolites, and chemical mixtures in house dust.

Journal Article Environmental health perspectives · February 2015 BackgroundAccumulating evidence has shown that some environmental contaminants can alter adipogenesis and act as obesogens. Many of these contaminants act via the activation of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) nuclear recep ... Full text Cite

Environmental biodegradability of [¹⁴C] single-walled carbon nanotubes by Trametes versicolor and natural microbial cultures found in New Bedford Harbor sediment and aerated wastewater treatment plant sludge.

Journal Article Environmental toxicology and chemistry · February 2015 Little is known about environmental biodegradability or biotransformations of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT). Because of their strong association with aquatic organic matter, detailed knowledge of the ultimate fate and persistence of SWNT requires i ... Full text Cite

Characterizing the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPARγ) ligand binding potential of several major flame retardants, their metabolites, and chemical mixtures in house dust

Journal Article Environmental Health Perspectives · January 1, 2015 Background: Accumulating evidence has shown that some environmental contaminants can alter adipogenesis and act as obesogens. Many of these contaminants act via the activation of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) nuclear receptor. oB ... Full text Cite

Effect-directed analysis of Elizabeth River porewater: developmental toxicity in zebrafish (Danio rerio).

Journal Article Environmental toxicology and chemistry · December 2014 In the present study, effect-directed analysis was used to identify teratogenic compounds in porewater collected from a Superfund site along the Elizabeth River estuary (VA, USA). Zebrafish (Danio rerio) exposed to the porewater displayed acute development ... Full text Cite

Single-walled carbon nanotubes increase pandemic influenza A H1N1 virus infectivity of lung epithelial cells.

Journal Article Particle and fibre toxicology · December 2014 BackgroundAirborne exposure to nanomaterials from unintended occupational or environmental exposures or as a consequence of product use may lead to adverse health effects. Numerous studies have focused on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) an ... Full text Cite

Fate of single walled carbon nanotubes in wetland ecosystems

Journal Article Environmental Science Nano · December 1, 2014 We report here the first studies addressing fate and transport of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in aquatic mesocosms. The experimental design was structured to study the impact of nanomaterials within a tightly controlled and highly instrumented w ... Full text Cite

Effects of single-walled carbon nanotubes on the bioavailability of PCBs in field-contaminated sediments.

Journal Article Nanotoxicology · August 2014 Adsorption of hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs) to black carbon is a well-studied phenomenon. One emerging class of engineered black carbon materials are single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). Little research has investigated the potential of SWNT t ... Full text Cite

On the likelihood of single-walled carbon nanotubes causing adverse marine ecological effects

Journal Article Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management · July 1, 2014 Full text Cite

Occurrence of contaminants of emerging concern in mussels (Mytilus spp.) along the California coast and the influence of land use, storm water discharge, and treated wastewater effluent.

Journal Article Marine pollution bulletin · April 2014 Contaminants of emerging concern were measured in mussels collected along the California coast in 2009-2010. The seven classes were alkylphenols, pharmaceuticals and personal care products, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), other flame retardants, cur ... Full text Cite

Tracking and quantification of single-walled carbon nanotubes in fish using near infrared fluorescence.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · January 2014 Detection of SWCNTs in complex matrices presents a unique challenge as common techniques lack spatial resolution and specificity. Near infrared fluorescence (NIRF) has emerged as a valuable tool for detecting and quantifying SWCNTs in environmental samples ... Full text Cite

The PBDE metabolite 6-OH-BDE 47 affects melanin pigmentation and THRβ MRNA expression in the eye of zebrafish embryos.

Journal Article Endocrine disruptors (Austin, Tex.) · January 2014 Polybrominated diphenyl ethers and their hydroxyl-metabolites (OH-BDEs) are commonly detected contaminants in human serum in the US population. They are also considered to be endocrine disruptors, and are specifically known to affect thyroid hormone regula ... Full text Cite

Prenatal dexamethasone augments the neurobehavioral teratology of chlorpyrifos: significance for maternal stress and preterm labor.

Journal Article Neurotoxicol Teratol · 2014 Glucocorticoids are the consensus treatment given in preterm labor and are also elevated by maternal stress; organophosphate exposures are virtually ubiquitous, so human developmental coexposures to these two agents are common. This study explores how pren ... Full text Link to item Cite

Fractal structures of single-walled carbon nanotubes in biologically relevant conditions: role of chirality vs. media conditions.

Journal Article Chemosphere · November 2013 Aggregate structure of covalently functionalized chiral specific semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) was systematically studied employing static light scattering (SLS). Fractal dimensions (Df) of two specific chirality SWNTs-SG65 and SG76 ... Full text Cite

Single-walled carbon nanotube transport in representative municipal solid waste landfill conditions.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · August 2013 Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are being used in many consumer products and devices. It is likely that as some of these products reach the end of their useful life, they will be discarded in municipal solid waste landfills. However, there has been ... Full text Cite

Bioaccumulation and toxicity of single-walled carbon nanotubes to benthic organisms at the base of the marine food chain.

Journal Article Environmental toxicology and chemistry · June 2013 As the use of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) increases over time, so does the potential for environmental release. This research aimed to determine the toxicity, bioavailability, and bioaccumulation of SWNTs in marine benthic organisms at the base ... Full text Cite

Chirality affects aggregation kinetics of single-walled carbon nanotubes.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · February 2013 Aggregation kinetics of chiral-specific semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) was systematically studied through time-resolved dynamic light scattering. Varied monovalent (NaCl) and divalent (CaCl(2)) electrolyte composition was used as bac ... Full text Cite

Application of a label-free, gel-free quantitative proteomics method for ecotoxicological studies of small fish species.

Journal Article Environ Sci Technol · January 15, 2013 Although two-dimensional electrophoresis (2D-GE) remains the basis for many ecotoxicoproteomic analyses, newer non-gel-based methods are beginning to be applied to overcome throughput and coverage limitations of 2D-GE. The overall objective of our research ... Full text Link to item Cite

Novel and high volume use flame retardants in US couches reflective of the 2005 PentaBDE phase out.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · December 2012 California's furniture flammability standard Technical Bulletin 117 (TB 117) is believed to be a major driver of chemical flame retardant (FR) use in residential furniture in the United States. With the phase-out of the polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) ... Full text Cite

Characterization and quantitative analysis of single-walled carbon nanotubes in the aquatic environment using near-infrared fluorescence spectroscopy.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · November 2012 Near infrared fluorescence (NIRF) spectroscopy is capable of sensitive and selective detection of semiconductive, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) using the unique electronic bandgap properties of these carbon allotropes. We reported here the first de ... Full text Cite

Silver nanocolloids disrupt medaka embryogenesis through vital gene expressions.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · June 2012 Silver nanomaterials are the major components of healthcare products largely because of their antimicrobial effects. However, their unintended toxicity to biological organisms and its mechanism are not well understood. Using medaka fish embryo model, the t ... Full text Cite

A critical body residue approach for predicting persistent bioaccumulative toxicant effects on reproduction and population dynamics of meiobenthic copepods.

Journal Article Environmental toxicology and chemistry · May 2012 Critical body residues (CBRs) are the measured tissue toxicant concentrations yielding a median dose-response on a dry-weight or lipid-normalized basis. They facilitate management decisions for species protection using tissue analysis. Population CBR is th ... Full text Cite

Identification and expression of the ecdysone receptor in the harpacticoid copepod, Amphiascus tenuiremis, in response to fipronil.

Journal Article Ecotoxicology and environmental safety · February 2012 The marine copepod, Amphiascus tenuiremis (A. tenuiremis), is a well characterized invertebrate model for the screening and evaluation of endocrine and reproductive toxins using life-cycle assays. These tests evaluate phenotypic endpoints related to develo ... Full text Cite

Analysis of engineered nanomaterials in complex matrices (environment and biota): general considerations and conceptual case studies.

Journal Article Environmental toxicology and chemistry · January 2012 Advances in the study of the environmental fate, transport, and ecotoxicological effects of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) have been hampered by a lack of adequate techniques for the detection and quantification of ENMs at environmentally relevant concent ... Full text Cite

Photoluminescence from inner walls in double-walled carbon nanotubes: some do, some do not.

Journal Article Nano letters · October 2011 Double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWNTs) have recently been recognized as important members in the carbon nanotube family because they are expected to have certain unique properties. For example, DWNTs are expected to replace single-walled carbon nanotubes ( ... Full text Cite

Identification of flame retardants in polyurethane foam collected from baby products.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · June 2011 With the phase-out of PentaBDE in 2004, alternative flame retardants are being used in polyurethane foam to meet flammability standards. However, insufficient information is available on the identity of the flame retardants currently in use. Baby products ... Full text Cite

Toward identifying the next generation of superfund and hazardous waste site contaminants.

Journal Article Environmental health perspectives · January 2011 BackgroundThis commentary evolved from a workshop sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences titled "Superfund Contaminants: The Next Generation" held in Tucson, Arizona, in August 2009. All the authors were workshop part ... Full text Cite

Reaction of N-acylhomoserine lactones with hydroxyl radicals: rates, products, and effects on signaling activity.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · October 2010 Chemical communication in bacteria, sometimes called quorum sensing, is a fundamental microbial process that is based on the exchange of molecular signals between cells. The signaling molecules involved in this process are thermodynamically unstable in som ... Full text Cite

Systematic change in chirality affects aggregation kinetics of single-walled carbon nanotubes

Conference ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY · August 22, 2010 Link to item Cite

Identification of hydroxyl radical oxidation products of N-hexanoyl-homoserine lactone by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry.

Journal Article Rapid communications in mass spectrometry : RCM · April 2009 A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray tandem mass spectrometry method was developed for the characterization of hydroxyl radical oxidation products of N-hexanoyl-homoserine lactone (C6-HSL), a member of the N-acylhomoserine l ... Full text Cite

Stage-dependent differences in effects of carbaryl on population growth rate in Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes).

Journal Article Environmental toxicology and chemistry · November 2008 Fish embryo toxicology is important because embryos are considered more susceptible than adult fish to the effects of toxic chemicals. Recently, fish embryo bioassay was proposed to replace the conventional fish acute toxicity chemical test of the Organiza ... Full text Cite

Influence of sediment-amendment with single-walled carbon nanotubes and diesel soot on bioaccumulation of hydrophobic organic contaminants by benthic invertebrates.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · May 2008 Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) have extremely high affinity for hydrophobic organic contaminants, considerably higher than natural or refractory (e.g., soot and detrital) carbon found in sediments. To evaluate the effect of sediment-associated SWNT ... Full text Cite

Turnip yellow mosaic virus as a chemoaddressable bionanoparticle.

Journal Article Bioconjugate chemistry · May 2007 Viruses and virus-like particles (VLPs) have been demonstrated to be robust scaffolds for the construction of nanomaterials. In order to develop new nanoprobes for time-resolved fluoroimmuno assays as well as to investigate the two-dimensional self-assembl ... Full text Cite

Life-cycle effects of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) on an estuarine meiobenthic copepod.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · December 2006 Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) are finding increasing use in consumer electronics and structural composites. These nanomaterials and their manufacturing byproducts may eventually reach estuarine systems through wastewater discharge. The acute and ch ... Full text Cite

Application of ion trap-MS with H/D exchange and QqTOF-MS in the identification of microbial degradates of trimethoprim in nitrifying activated sludge.

Journal Article Analytical chemistry · July 2005 In this work, the identification of two microbial degradation products of the antimicrobial trimethoprim (290 Da) is described. The structural elucidation of the metabolites, which were produced by nitrifying activated sludge bacteria in a small-scale labo ... Full text Cite

Proteomic analysis of arginine adducts on glyoxal-modified ribonuclease.

Journal Article Molecular & cellular proteomics : MCP · December 2004 Accumulation of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) on proteins is associated with the development of diabetic complications. Although the overall extent of modification of protein by AGEs is limited, localization of these modifications at a few critica ... Full text Cite

Proteome analyses using accurate mass and elution time peptide tags with capillary LC time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

Journal Article Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry · September 2003 We describe the application of capillary liquid chromatography (LC) time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometric instrumentation for the rapid characterization of microbial proteomes. Previously (Lipton et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2002, 99, 11049) the ... Full text Cite

Biogeochemistry of nonylphenol ethoxylates in urban estuarine sediments

Journal Article Environmental Science \& Technology · August 2003 We have examined the concentrations and distributions of nonylphenol ethoxylate (NPEO) surfactants and their primary neutral metabolites in two dated sediment cores collected in 1988 and 1996 from a depositional area proximal to a wastewater treatment plan ... Cite

Use of artificial neural networks for the accurate prediction of peptide liquid chromatography elution times in proteome analyses.

Journal Article Analytical chemistry · March 2003 The use of artificial neural networks (ANNs) is described for predicting the reversed-phase liquid chromatography retention times of peptides enzymatically digested from proteome-wide proteins. To enable the accurate comparison of the numerous LC/MS data s ... Full text Cite

Degradation of nonylphenol ethoxylates in estuarine sediment under aerobic and anaerobic conditions

Journal Article Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry · 2003 Nonylphenol ethoxylate (NPEO) surfactants and their metabolites are ubiquitous contaminants of the aquatic environment. Despite considerable interest in the environmental fate of these compounds due to concerns over toxicity and estrogenic activity, the pa ... Full text Cite

Proteome analysis by mass spectrometry.

Journal Article Annual review of biophysics and biomolecular structure · January 2003 The coupling of high-performance mass spectrometry instrumentation with highly efficient chromatographic and electrophoretic separations has enabled rapid qualitative and quantitative analysis of thousands of proteins from minute samples of biological mate ... Full text Cite

Focal point: Hyphenated mass spectrometry: A. Liquid chromatography - Mass spectrometry

Journal Article Chimia · January 1, 2003 The identification of unknown compounds is essential in a wide variety of research areas and especially so in environmental analysis. Combining liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry today allows the identification of substances that were not ... Full text Cite

Characterization of marine worm digestive fluid surfactants by electrospray MS/MS

Conference Proceedings 50th Asms Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics · December 1, 2002 The electrospray MS/MS was used for the qualitative characterization of digestive surfactants in a marine deposit-feeding worm. The digestive fluids collected from Neresis succinea were separated by gradient HPLC, with collection of discrete two-minute fra ... Cite

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon bioaccumulation by meiobenthic copepods inhabiting a superfund site: techniques for micromass body burden and total lipid analysis.

Journal Article Environmental toxicology and chemistry · November 2002 Microtechniques for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) body burden and total lipid analysis were developed and applied to determine the first lipid-normalized bioaccumulation factors for a hydrophobic organic toxicant in a meiobenthic organism (0.063-0. ... Full text Cite

Effects of sewage-impacted sediment on reproduction in the benthic crustacean Leptocheirus plumulosus.

Journal Article Marine environmental research · September 2002 Several organic contaminants in sewage effluent have been shown to elicit an estrogenic response in juvenile fish. Comparatively little emphasis has been placed on assessing these effects in marine invertebrates, particularly benthic organisms inhabiting s ... Full text Cite

Estrogenic responses of larval sunshine bass (Morone saxatilis x M. Chrysops) exposed to New York City sewage effluent.

Journal Article Marine environmental research · September 2002 To determine the estrogenicity of effluents from sewage treatment plants (STPs) to larval fish, 2-day-old sunshine bass were exposed to effluents from three STPs serving New York City (NYC), varying in size and treatment level. Estrogenic response was eval ... Full text Cite

Applications of HPLC-MS in marine organic geochemistry.

Conference Abstracts Of Papers Of The American Chemical Society · August 2002 Cite

Analysis of nonylphenol and nonylphenol ethoxylates in environmental samples by mixed-mode high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray mass spectrometry.

Journal Article Journal of chromatography. A · December 2001 A new method is described based on mixed-mode high-performance liquid chromatography with electrospray mass spectrometry detection for comprehensive quantitative analysis of nonylphenol (NP) and nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEOs) in wastewater and sediment. E ... Full text Cite

Determination of steroid estrogens in wastewater by immunoaffinity extraction coupled with HPLC-electrospray-MS.

Journal Article Analytical chemistry · August 2001 A new method, based on immunoaffinity extraction coupled with liquid chromatography/electrospray mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-MS) is described for the determination of the steroid estrogens beta-estradiol (E2), estrone (E1), and alpha-ethynylestradiol (E2) in ... Full text Cite

Distribution and fate of neutral alkylphenol ethoxylate metabolites in a sewage-impacted urban estuary.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · June 2001 The distribution and fate of neutral metabolites of the alkylphenol ethoxylate (APEO) surfactants in an urbanized estuarine environment were examined utilizing a recently developed, highly sensitive LC-MS method. Results indicated that short ethoxyl-chain ... Full text Cite

Analysis of alkylphenol ethoxylate metabolites in the aquatic environment using liquid chromatography-electrospray mass spectrometry

Journal Article Analytical Chemistry · September 2000 A quantitative method is described for the analysis of the metabolites of alkylphenol ethoxylate (APEO) surfactants in estuarine water and sediment samples using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with electrospray mass spectrometry dete ... Cite

Ascaris suum, an intestinal parasite, produces morphine.

Journal Article Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) · July 2000 The parasitic worm Ascaris suum contains the opiate alkaloid morphine as determined by HPLC coupled to electrochemical detection and by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The level of this material is 1168 +/- 278 ng/g worm wet weight. Furthermore, Asca ... Full text Cite

A laboratory and field comparison of sediment polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon bioaccumulation by the cosmopolitan estuarine polychaete Streblospio benedicti (Webster)

Journal Article Marine Environmental Research · May 1, 1998 Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) bioaccumulation by the polychaete worm Streblospio benedicti (Webster) was measured under exposure to PAH-contaminated sediments in the field and for 28 d in the laboratory. Streblospio benedicti collected from field s ... Full text Cite