As a human population we use and are exposed to hundreds of chemicals each day, many of which are ultimately emitted into aquatic and terrestrial systems where other organisms are in turn exposed to these same chemicals. Assessing the impact of these chemicals in the environment has been a complex problem. Chemical composition and concentration vary over time and space and contaminants often occur as mixtures and therefore are difficult to characterize. Assessing the risk from these exposures is equally complex as research has shown that chronic low-level exposures have impacts on biochemical pathways that were not normally considered when evaluating safety. In addition, any one compound may occur at a dose that is below a traditional threshold of harm, yet the timing of exposure or exposure to a combination of chemicals ultimately can cause an effect. New chemicals in the marketplace, such as nanomaterials or new pharmaceuticals, present new questions as to their biological interactions and how best to determine their potential environmental impact. Research over the last 20 years has transformed the toolbox available to the field of environmental science to determine the extent to which these emerging contaminants impact organisms in aquatic environments. This presentation will discuss the innovations being made, through for example genomic technologies and in vitro screening, that advance our understanding of the interaction of emerging contaminants and organisms across phyla.  Linking these technologies to environmental studies further builds the toolbox that can be used to better determine the safety of new chemicals and their environmental impact across organisms and ecosystems.

Building the toolbox to address the complexity of exposures and effects of emerging contaminants

ACS Fall 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.