KC Donnelly Externship Admin Supplement for Victoria Klaus P42ES007380 UKSRC

My current research within UKSRC Project 3 is to synthesize advanced sorbent materials with an affinity for PFAS. These materials are currently being studied for their ability to remove PFAS from aqueous systems, but we plan to assess their efficacy as enterosorbents to remove these contaminants from the human body. PFAS have been connected to a series of adverse health effects, and one of the most common routes of PFAS exposure is through contaminated drinking water. Thus, the removal of these contaminants from both drinking water and the human body is needed. Enterosorbents are orally administered sorbents that pass through the GI tract where they bind various substances without disturbing other systems within the body prior to excretion. Importantly, enterosorbents have been shown to be a promising, non-invasive therapeutic treatment approach for acute and chronic impacts of chemical contaminant exposures. Together with TAMUSRC Project 5 and their established bioassay techniques and ecotoxicological analyses, we will analyze advanced sorbent materials developed at UKSRC for treatment of PFAS in water at TAMUSRC to determine their safety and efficacy as enterosorbents. Our advanced sorbents developed within UKSRC Project 3 will be screened to identify those that exhibit the highest affinity for PFAS in preliminary aqueous studies at UK. These will be analyzed for their enterosorbents applications using analytical technologies and bioassay methods as part of TAMUSRC Project 5.