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Non-Targeted Analysis Research at the US EPA and Related Topics
Citation:
Guiseppi-Elie, A. Non-Targeted Analysis Research at the US EPA and Related Topics. 2019 ICCA-LRI and JRC Workshop, Stresa, ITALY, June 19 - 20, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
Global stakeholders have greatly accelerated development of advanced methods for assessing chemical exposure, biological activity, and risk. However, complex chemical substances and mixtures still present challenges in evaluations used to support regulatory and product-stewardship decisions. The theme for this event is “21st Century Approaches for Evaluating Biological Activity, Exposures, and Risks of Complex Substances”. This workshop will explore these challenges, along with successes, strategies, and next steps in utilizing modern methods to evaluate complex chemical substances. The presentation will highlight the context for non-targeted analysis methods, and work done under ORD's Chemical Safety for Sustainability (CSS) research program to advance high-throughput chemical screening for better environmental decision making.
Description:
Humans and other ecological species are routinely exposed to physical, chemical, and biological stressors that can potentially affect health and well-being. Exposure science develops information pertinent to the “who”, “what”, “where”, “when” and “how” of defined exposure scenarios to characterize exposure. Exposure assessment applies this information as part of the risk assessment process to estimate risk and inform actions based on both potential negative and positive health outcomes. Since a significant component of disease may involve lifestyle/environmental factors, understanding the exposome has become as important in the etiology of disease as understanding the genome. The exposome addresses exposures inclusive of external factors like environmental, dietary, lifestyle as well as internal factors like metabolites and hormones. The traditional approach to characterizing chemical (exogenous and endogenous) exposure is through targeted chemical analysis, wherein known chemicals are carefully examined using optimized laboratory methods. Data from the application of these methods offer critical support for decisions and actions but are limited to the known universe of chemicals for which reference standards exist. Exposomics research, in contrast to traditional exposure science methods, strives to discover and prioritize total exposure from all chemicals and sources. These investigations may require the use of non-targeted analysis (NTA) methods, which use sophisticated analytical equipment, chemical libraries, and software applications to highlight previously unknown or understudied compounds that may be associated with unique exposure scenarios or health states. EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) conducts foundational and applied NTA research to facilitate the characterization of thousands of poorly-studied compounds in environmental, residential, and biological media. NTA is an important component of EPA’s Chemical Safety for Sustainability (CSS) National Research Program, which provides the approaches, data, tools and models for the Agency to make better-informed, more timely decisions about chemicals. This presentation will summarize ORD’s research efforts on NTA, summarize EPA’s Non-Targeted Analysis Collaborative Trial (ENTACT) - an international project that is intended to advance the field - and highlight uses of NTA that have practical applicability in the context of environmental decision making.
