How Can Environmental Engineering Help Tackle the PFAS Problem? Developing Model and Policy Frameworks for Wicked Pollution Problems

Per and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) are a diverse group of chemicals used in a dizzying array of applications. Based on national biomonitoring studies, the CDC estimates that nearly all (97%) of the population of the United States has some PFAS in their blood. Growing public concern over this ubiquitous exposure, given the recognition that some PFAS are bioaccumulative and toxic, have prompted ongoing and diverse policy responses at state, federal, and international levels. Yet the development of sound policy and decisions around whether and how PFAS should be used are complicated by lack of data on most PFAS. There remain practical difficulties around a substance-by-substance approach to evaluating these chemicals, particularly given their unique properties, structural diversity, and divergent behavior in environmental and biological systems. In this talk, I will highlight several initiatives in my research group and collaborative work to tackle the PFAS problem from different perspectives: using computational models to understand their behavior at the molecular level, using animal models to predict their bioaccumulation potential and toxic effects, and finally developing policy frameworks in collaboration with a team of international academic and regulatory scientists and policy analysts to develop scientifically-sound strategies to eliminate hazardous PFAS from products and processes.

Dr. Carla Ng is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, with a secondary appointment in Environmental and Occupational Health in the Graduate School of Public Health. She received her PhD in Chemical & Biological Engineering from Northwestern University in 2008. The research in Dr. Ng's group focuses on the development of models for the fate of chemicals in organisms and ecosystems, at the intersection of chemistry, biology and engineering. She has a particular focus on the development of mechanistic toxicokinetic models of PFAS in organisms and using protein-PFAS interactions to understand and predict their impacts across different PFAS structures and species of interest. She was recently awarded an NSF CAREER award to support her ongoing work on PFAS with particular application to molecular modeling and drinking water treatment. Other areas of research include tracking the evolution of complex chemical mixtures in the environment and exploring the role of the industrial food system on the fate of contaminants, with implications for human exposure.