Targeted Analysis Resource - Wadsworth Center's Children's Health Exposure Assessment Resource (WC CHEAR)

Wadsworth Center, Menands NY

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT The overall objective of the Wadsworth Center's Targeted Analysis Resource is to provide access to state-of- the-art, specialized analytical facilities to NIH-funded researchers conducting research studies into the effects of environmental contaminants on children's health. The Wadsworth Center is certified as a clinical laboratory under CLIA-88, and its facilities are designed to support multiple NIH-funded studies, where children's urine and/or serum will be analyzed for organic chemical contaminants including, but not limited to, polychlorinated biphenyls, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, fluorinated compounds, brominated flame retardants, organophosphate insecticides, phenolic endocrine disrupting chemicals, and phthalates using techniques based on mass spectrometry. The Center's laboratories are also able to analyze children's blood and urine for exposure to toxic heavy metals including, but not limited to, lead, cadmium, and mercury, and toxic metalloid such as arsenic, using the most sensitive methods available based on inorganic mass spectrometry. In addition to measuring children's exposure to organic and inorganic chemicals, the laboratories are able to analyze children's blood, serum/plasma, and urine for endogenous compounds including hormones, vitamins, protein markers, electrolytes and metabolite panels (including but not limited to estrogens, androgens, testosterone, thyroid panels, triglycerides, cholesterol, vitamin D and B12, folate, homocysteine and insulin) that may be affected by environmental exposures. In addition to the analysis of blood, urine and serum/plasma, Wadsworth's extensive capabilities for analyzing non-traditional matrices such as placenta, cord blood, baby teeth, dried blood spots, hair, nails, and saliva for organic and inorganic contaminants will be accessible to NIH-funded researchers looking for novel approaches to measure children's exposure to toxic chemicals in their environment. The Targeted Analysis Resource will benefit from the Wadsworth Center's international reputation and leadership in the field of clinical laboratory medicine, and as an organizer of proficiency testing (PT) programs in environmental laboratory medicine, clinical chemistry and toxicology. The experience and capability that Wadsworth brings in this regard will provide the NIEHS Children's Health Environmental Analytical Resource (CHEAR) network with a PT program customized to support biomonitoring studies and the needs of the network. The WC-CHEAR will also produce well- characterized, matrix-based reference materials containing exogenous contaminants and endogenous analytes of interest at critical concentration ranges relevant to biomonitoring studies, and that will be shared across the NIEHS CHEAR lab network.