"Analyzing patterns of gene expression in vivo and in vitro will provide more accurate biomarkers of environmental injury and lead to better mechanistic endpoints that can be used for risk assessment and remediation decisions." (Robert Tukey, SBRP Director)

."....the proposal will produce new methodologies and techniques to assess the dangers of exposure to toxic chemicals and augment analytical tools and remediation procedures now in use by regulatory agencies." (Robert Tukey, SBRP Director)

Description:

The Research Translation Core (RTC) of UC San Diego’s Superfund Basic Research Program applies cutting-edge biomolecular knowledge and technologies to real-life problems involving environmental and public health. The objective is to improve capacity for detecting, assessing and minimizing the effects of exposure to toxic substances. Geographically, the RTC focuses on the San Diego-Tijuana city region, including tribal lands, and the U.S.-Mexico border region as defined by U.S. EPA’s Border 2012 program. At each of these geographic scales, UC San Diego’s multidisciplinary team of SBRP researchers will form a working partnership with select public, private and non-profit organizations who are engaged in environmental monitoring, watershed management and the remediation of hazardous waste sites. Through this collaborative approach the RTC aims to demonstrate and evaluate the practical utility of biomarkers, biosensors (biomolecules/nanoparticles), bioremediation, phytoremediation and model transgenic organisms (yeast, mice, plants, cell-based systems) as novel systems for improving exposure assessment, risk assessment, environmental monitoring and restoration.

It is important to understand and document the technical, regulatory, and cultural dynamics (barriers and bridges) involved in moving basic science from the bench to demonstration to commercialization. The RTC will thus produce a series of analytical case studies of SBRP efforts aimed at (i) implementing new biological methods of testing for toxicants in water/soil/sediment samples; (ii) creating university-industry partnerships targeting the experimental development and commercialization of novel bioremediation and phytoremediation technologies (e.g., transgenic plants that can bioaccumulate heavy metals, bacterial methods to detoxify heavy metals); and (iii) pushing the frontiers in nanotechnology through cross-project collaboration geared to developing new fieldable microstructures containing biomolecules/nanoparticles that can be used as biosensors for detecting exposure to toxicants (e.g., harmful levels of pesticides).

Our plan for linking this knowledge to environmental policy and action depends upon the effective integration of three challenges, each of which will be evaluated through performance-based measures of success over time: (1) creating collaborative, project-driven partnerships among university, government, industry and science-based community organizations, (2) technology transfer of new biological models and tools , and (3) communicating the significant potential of SBRP advances in toxico-genomic and proteonomic approaches to broad audiences.

Importantly, the RTC will build upon the considerable five-year investment (2000-2005) that UC San Diego’s SBRP placed in developing a Web-based Regional Workbench Consortium (RWBC). The RWBC’s mission is to “create innovative research-learning partnerships, planning support systems, and educational tools to enable sustainable city-region development.” In partnership with the San Diego Supercomputer Center, the RWBC provides an important test bed for developing/applying/evaluating advanced information, visualization, and communications technologies in the context of partnership-driven research projects. The RWBC’s Web-based tools include on-line geographic information systems (GIS), interactive narratives and 3D visualization—all of which can be used to facilitate research translation. The RTC’s efforts to communicate to broad audiences will also be accomplished through periodic workshops; short symposia; participation in regional, national and international conferences; as well as through more traditional communication tools including the translation of complex research findings into print and materials intended for the lay public based on communication best practices.

Specific Aims

1. Build partnerships with federal, state, regional, local and tribal government agencies to advance the knowledge and practical contributions of toxicogenomics in environmental policy-making and regulatory activity concerning hazardous substances.

2. Translate mechanism-based research and transgenic technologies (e.g., molecular biomarkers, biosensors/nanoparticles, bioremediation, phytoremediation and mouse toxicologic models) into new biological tools for hazardous substance detection, risk assessment, and remediation in regional watersheds.

3. In collaboration with corporate partners, science-based citizen groups, tribal and government agencies, establish an experimental program in the San Diego-Tijuana U.S.-Mexico border region to utilize and evaluate the SBRP’s innovative biomolecular and transgenic technologies.

4. In partnership with UCSD’s Office of Technology Transfer (TechTIPS), organize technology showcases, entrepreneurs/innovators forums, intellectual property awareness seminars and educational workshops that will invite and attract both academic and industry representatives—thereby fostering the commercial development and utilization of innovative SBRP technologies.

5. Capitalize on the SBRP’s Regional Workbench infrastructure and social networks to communicate complex research findings to broad audiences through periodic workshops; symposia; participation in regional, national and international conferences; and Web-based methods including on-line geographic information systems (GIS), multimedia interactive stories, and 3D visualization.