INTERACTIVE TOXICITY--SUPERFUND HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES

The focus f this proposal is to develop methods to detect, evaluate and
understand the toxicity of hazardous substances tin the environment of
dump sites and to enhance the utility of bacterial degradation as a
procedure to reduce the amount and toxicity of hazardous substances. This
focus takes advantage of our existing research strengths in toxicology,
environmental microbiology, analytical chemistry, environmental
engineering and hydrology. We seek to understand the chemical species which migrate from a site and
which are formed based on interactions with bacteria. The
characterization of these chemical species will require cooperation
between projects in hydrology and chemistry, particularly in the
development of selective and sensitive analyses to quantitate both metal
and organic species. The results from these studies will be used to quide the toxicology
experiments. Basic reseach is proposed to determine interactive toxicity
between metal(loid)s and between important organic species and the
inorganics. This is coordinated with a project to evaluate the important
cellular mechanisms to detoxify these metal(loid)s and important factors
which modify these mechanisms. Additional projects investigate immune and
teratogenic responses to environmental contaminants. Projects to enhance the utility of bacteria to remediate or reduce the
toxicity of environmental toxicity are proposed. The degredation of
halogenated hydrocarbons and the bacteria which can accomplish these
reactions are to be examined. The movement of bacteria are important in
understanding bacterial distribution and in planning how beneficial
bacteria could be effectively applied to a contaminated site. This will
be studied in addition to site treatment schemes which enhance the rates
of bacterial degredation of hazardous dumpsite chemicals.