Environmental Health
The Division of Environmental Health Sciences (DEHS) includes the laboratories of Organic Analytical Chemistry, Inorganic and Nuclear Chemistry, and Environmental Biology. From the air we breathe, to the water we drink, the food that we eat, and even the types of consumer products we use, environmental contaminants can get into our bodies and affect our health. DEHS scientists are focused on identifying and mitigating those exposures through:
- Exposome – understanding the human exposome, which is the measure of all the exposures of an individual in a lifetime beginning with the prenatal life stage and continuing throughout other life stages with exposures from the environment, diet, lifestyle, etc., interacting with our own unique genetics and physiology.
- Human biomonitoring – use of mass spectrometry to analyze blood, urine, saliva, and other human tissues for exposure to toxic metals (e.g., lead and mercury), organic chemicals (PFAS, pesticides, phthalates) and emerging endocrine disrupting chemicals.
- Environmental monitoring – as NY State’s Principal Laboratory under EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Act, we analyze drinking water, non-potable water, and other sample matrices for microbiological, chemical, and radiological contaminants.
- Emergency response – laboratory preparedness to respond to chemical threats, nuclear incidents, and microbial outbreaks, through environmental and clinical analyses.
- Graduate education – DEHS maintains a strong partnership with the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the University at Albany, School of Public health, serving as faculty and educating the next generation of environmental health scientists.
State-of-the-Art Analytical Instrumentation
The Environmental Health Sciences’ Organic Analytical, Inorganic and Nuclear Chemistry Laboratories are equipped with state-of the art analytical instrumentation, only a portion of which are listed below:
- High resolution magnetic sector, time of flight and Orbitrap mass spectrometers
- Gas chromatographs and liquid chromatographs connected with different kinds of detectors
- Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometers (ICP-MS) including sector field high resolutions mass spectrometers
- ICP-optical spectrometers
- X-ray spectrometers
- Atomic absorption spectrometers
- Alpha and gamma counters
- Liquid scintillation counters
- Transmission electron microscopy
Environmental health research areas include: Atmospheric Chemistry, Environmental Analytical Chemistry, Environmental Biology, Exposome and Biomonitoring, Food Chemistry, Medical Geology and Nuclear Chemistry. Links to these areas are found in the menu.