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Unleash the Data: Querying the Nontarget Analysis/High Resolution MS Literature to Better Identify the Next Generation of Contaminants of Emerging Concern and Possible Effect on Human and Environmental Health
Citation:
Furlong, E., E. Medlock Kakaley, S. Glassmeyer, AND D. Kolpin. Unleash the Data: Querying the Nontarget Analysis/High Resolution MS Literature to Better Identify the Next Generation of Contaminants of Emerging Concern and Possible Effect on Human and Environmental Health. 2019 SETAC NA Annual Meeting, Toronto, CANADA, November 03 - 07, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
This presentation will discuss the growth of nontargeted analysis and effects based assays (bioassays) and how both techniques expand the understanding on the chemicals present in water samples beyond what is known from targeted analysis of a limited number of chemicals.
Description:
A theme of current environmental research is to develop tools that bridge the gap between the ability to identify responses to toxicants in water resources, and to identify the causes, singly or in mixtures, of that observed toxicity. One important constraint has been the limited number of chemicals that could be identified and quantified in a sample due to limitations in analytical techniques and the availability of authentic standards to verify the identity and concentration of any toxicants. For organic contaminants, recent advances in high-resolution mass spectrometry have permitted identification of thousands of unique molecular entities in water samples, each of which may contribute to any toxicity measured for that sample. Development of tools capable of systematically and iteratively sorting and winnowing these molecular entities to a standardized level-of-confidence results in a prioritized set of known, suspect, or unknown (that is, newly identified) contaminants that may contribute to observed toxicity. Such nontarget screening or analysis (NTA) approaches have become important techniques. Parallel developments of in vitro and low complexity in vivo effects-based assays (bioassays), which often utilize quantifiable molecular initiating events that reflect established physiological adverse outcomes, provide a similar non-targeted screening approach for organic contaminants in water samples. Specifically, bioassays measure cumulative toxicity responses upon environmental mixture exposures. A similar interpretive sophistication is required to understand the effects of multiple contaminants and multiple toxic responses present in environmental samples. Integrating these two data-rich streams of chemical and biological information to extract meaningful knowledge (e.g. iceberg modeling, mass balance) is an area of research and promises to advance our understanding of the sources of aquatic toxicity that could have adverse effects upon human and ecosystem health. This presentation examines recent developments in NTA and toxicity screening and the potential for integration of these data streams to advance our understanding of the sources of toxicity and the means available to characterize and mitigate that toxicity. We discuss the challenges science faces as we try to understand the sources, mechanisms, and mitigation of toxicity in aquatic water resources and the implications these challenges pose for improving human and ecosystem health.