DAYTON, Ohio -- Naval Medical Research Unit - Dayton (NAMRU-D) participated in the bi-annual Tri-Service Toxicology Consortium (TSTC) meeting at the U.S. Army’s Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) in Vicksburg, Mississippi, January 30, 2018.
"This was another successful meeting of the TSTC, it was a great opportunity for DoD scientists involved in toxicology research to coordinate research efforts and offer recommendations to improve each other's studies,” said Dr. Karen Mumy, Director, Environmental Health Effects Laboratory (EHEL) at NAMRU-D.
The TSTC connects scientists from Navy, Air Force, and Army research facilities and works to coordinate, optimize, and communicate recent toxicology knowledge, approaches, and data toward the common goal of protecting human health and the environment for the Department of Defense.
Representing NAMRU-D on-site, Dr. Mumy provided updates regarding the command’s toxicology research activities. Most participants across the services attended remotely. Over the course of the day and a half meeting, 19 project updates were presented, four of which were delivered by EHEL scientists.
Dr. Frank Golich, principle investigator for a research team joining expertise from NAMRU-D’s two science directorates, EHEL and Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory, is testing whether low level exposure to nitrous oxide may influence, even subtly, pilot cognition or performance.
Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Shipman, aerospace physiologist, presented joint work with the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences to better understand the impact of shipboard exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on the human microbiome and metabolome. Results aim to provide a comprehensive exposure map of VOC exposures throughout U.S. Navy ships. According to Lt. Cmdr. Shipman, using a variety of sensors could create a deployable chemical exposure monitoring package suitable for nearly any operational environment, enhancing warfighter safety.
EHEL post-doctoral fellow, Dr. Andrew Keebaugh, is tackling the most common service-connected disability: hearing impairments. This collaborative effort with the Air Force Institute of Technology is investigating the role of sound exposure after a potentially harmful loud noise in the development of hearing loss. Using occupationally-relevant exposures, the goal of this project is to determine if permanent hearing loss from exposure to damaging levels of noise is made worse by further exposure to non-damaging noise.
Dr. Joyce Rohan, research physiologist, presented joint research efforts between NAMRU-D, U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine and 711th Human Performance Wing on the feasibility of capturing electrophysiology recordings from the brain in swine models, a never before attempted methodology.
Lt. Jed Lynn, biochemist, presented a completed study on the palatability and associated initial toxicological assessment of 2,4-dinitroanisole (DNAN), a principle component of new Insensitive Munition eXplosives (IMX) for the DoD.
Following project and service panel updates, on-site attendees were invited to tour several ERDC toxicology facilities.
“Having this tight-knit network of scientists work together across the services is the most efficient way of performing our individual and collective missions," said Dr. Mumy.
The next scheduled TSTC meeting is tentatively planned for late summer, 2018 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
| Date Taken: | 03.12.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 03.12.2018 15:28 |
| Story ID: | 269062 |
| Location: | WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, OH, US |
| Web Views: | 255 |
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