Michigan Polybrominated Biphenyls: Assessing Health Effects of Cumulative Environmental Exposures

Under the direction of Michele Marcus, PhD, an EHS Core Center Administrative Supplement was awarded to Emory University to expand an ongoing Michigan polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) study begun in the 1970’s to include chemical workers and their families exposed to multiple highly persistent organic pollutants. The study came at the request of the community and local health department with the aim of effectively engaging the community while advancing scientific knowledge regarding exposure science, health effects of cumulative exposures and multigenerational effects of persistent environmental pollutants.

The PBB supplement study demonstrates one of the primary goals of the HERCULES Center—to facilitate highly collaborative and innovative research to pursue key challenges in environmental health research. Targeted analytics and high-resolution metabolomics are being run on collected samples. All of the data collected will inform future healthcare of the affected individuals while also providing valuable epidemiologic and exposure data on environmental contaminants of concern.

To learn more visit PBBregistry.emory.edu!