A team of scientists from Keck School of Medicine of USC and USC Viterbi School of Engineering has been awarded an $8 million, five-year grant from one of the National Institutes of Health to launch a Superfund Research Program Center where they will study environmental contamination from “forever chemicals,” or PFAS, which are used to make multiple household items from cookware to furniture. With the grant, the USC scientists are establishing the Southern California Superfund Research and Training Program for PFAS Assessment, Remediation and Prevention, or ShARP Center. There, they will investigate how these chemicals impact liver health, and how to detect and remove them from public water sources. Scientists at the ShARP Center will also focus on understanding how PFAS affect liver health, building on early evidence from animal models. To explore how PFAS exposure affects human liver cells, Chatzi and her team will employ advanced techniques such as 3D spheroid modeling. These lab-grown clusters of cells help scientists more accurately simulate what happens in the human body, compared to traditional 2D cell cultures. They will also conduct a population study that examines the link between PFAS exposure and liver disease in youth, a group that faces an outsized and growing risk of the condition. One major problem is PFAS contamination of public drinking water, which affects an estimated 200 million people nationwide. Researchers from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering will explore ways to remove PFAS from polluted water, including through the use of special microbes, chemicals or heating methods that can break down the chemicals.

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