UK-SBRP Program Director Dr. Bernhard Hennig
at the 27th International Symposium on
Halogenated Persistent Organic Pollutants

Welcome to the University of Kentucky Superfund Basic Research Program

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
Click here to view AVAILABLE POSITIONS within the UK-SBRP program.

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By participating in the National Institute of Environmental Health Science's nationwide family of Superfund Basic Research Program (SBRP), the University of Kentucky continues its strong tradition of cross-disciplinary collaboration that accompanies its land grant institution mandate.

UK-SBRP research focuses on the toxicology of Superfund chemicals and potential methods of modulating the health effects of exposure through such intrinsic factors as genetics and such extrinsic factors as nutrition. Within this broad paradigm, UK-SBRP researchers study both the effects of exposure to chlorinated organic compounds on human health and novel techniques for the detecting and removing these pollutants from the environment.

Chlorinated organics, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and trichloroethylene (TCE) are prevalent in most Superfund sites. There are more than 500 Superfund sites in Kentucky alone, where the rates of such chronic diseases as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and hypertension are well above national averages. The UK-SBRP program hypothesizes that chlorinated organics contribute to the etiology of these diseases. The program also hypothesizes that nutrition can modulate the toxicity of these pollutants, thereby impacting health and disease outcome. In addition, UK-SBRP scientists are working to devise advanced new techniques for the detection, monitoring, remediation, and destruction of these chlorinated organics.

Assisting UK-SBRP research project teams are several support cores. The Research Support team provides material assistance through equipment and analysis, while the Research Translation and Community Outreach cores assist with informing and educating the population, making technology transfer possible, and providing the most up-to-date data possible available to policymakers in Kentucky and throughout the United States. The Interdisciplinary Training Core helps assure that young researchers participating in the UK-SBRP will be well equipped to continue their own research in the future, whether through the UK-SBRP or in other academic, industrial, or medical settings.

In addition to UK-SBRP internal organization, UK recently added an important resource for scientists throughout the university. The Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCST) provides a centralized infrastructure consisting of key core facilities and services to help investigators, clinicians, and scholars from across the university and the Commonwealth of Kentucky access the necessary resources not only to become educated on the conduct of clinical research but also to afford them mechanisms in which they can access a gamut of support services needed for the conduct of high quality clinical and translational research.

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