The NIEHS Superfund Research Program (SRP) is sponsoring a Risk e-Learning webinar series, hosted by CLU-IN, focused on research efforts to develop tools for sampling, monitoring, detecting, and characterizing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination.

The three-part series will feature SRP-funded researchers and collaborators whose research focuses, in part, on understanding the distribution and fate of PFAS in the environment.

The first session will feature SRP-funded investigators working on innovative methods to classify and/or quantify PFAS compounds.

To learn about and register for the other sessions in this webinar series, please see the SRP website.

Diana Aga, Ph.D., of the State University of New York at Buffalo (University at Buffalo) will discuss work affiliated with her R01 grant, Model-aided Design and Integration of Functionalized Hybrid Nanomaterials for Enhanced Bioremediation of Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances. Discussed will be various complementary techniques used to identify and quantify known and unknown PFAS in complex environmental samples, such as liquid chromatography (LC) with high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC), combustion ion chromatography (CIC), and fluorine nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (19F-NMR). Diana will examine the advantages and limitations of these techniques in terms of their applications in PFAS analysis in wastewater and biosolids samples.

Erin S. Baker, Ph.D., of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will illustrate how combining liquid chromatography, ion mobility spectrometry and mass spectrometry enables the evaluation of a broader range of chemical exposure, while uncovering novel species yet to be reported. Throughout life, people are frequently exposed to both naturally occurring and human-made chemicals such as PFAS. Associating these exposures to health risks can however be quite difficult since, for example, there are over 14,000 PFAS listed in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's PFAS Master List but only a few hundred standards available for targeted analytical tests and highlights how non-targeted approaches are of great importance.

Lee Ferguson, Ph.D., of Duke University will focus on the development of novel non-targeted, high-resolution mass spectrometry methods and cheminformatics approaches for characterizing PFAS in the environment. He will discuss applications of these methods to assessment of PFAS contamination in drinking water and wastewater in North Carolina. To view this archive online or download the slides associated with this seminar, please visit http://www.clu-in.org/conf/tio/PFAS-Characterization-1_100623/