About

The MSU Center for PFAS Research aims to assist with the development of PFAS standards, establish a center for development of green chemistry and remediation technologies, and provide a collaboration hub for academic, public health, state, federal and industry research surrounding PFAS and emerging contaminants.

To accomplish our goals, the center has six primary focus areas:

  • Health Impacts: Researchers will develop a framework that assesses the impact of PFAS on the health of humans and wild and domesticated plants and animals.
  • Environmental Monitoring/Modeling: Researchers will develop strategies for monitoring and predicting the bioactivity or effects of PFAS contaminants in our nation’s waterways, soils, and air.
  • Discovery and Measurement: Researchers will develop and apply analytical methods for discovering and measuring PFAS in water, vegetables, fruits, other foods, consumer products, and soils.
  • Agricultural Impacts: Researchers will investigate the transport and uptake of PFAS from the soil into agricultural crops and estimate exposure for humans and livestock.
  • Risk Assessment and Risk Management - Communication and Governance: The Center will advance social scientific inquiry by further assessing what types of information and levels of certainty decision makers require in order to make risk-reducing interventions in complex systems. The risk assessments will be used to inform multiple levels of risk management, including:
    • Identifying priorities for future research based on existing knowledge gaps
    • Establishing criteria and standards for remediation of contaminated sites
    • Proposing comparative benchmarks for the development of alternatives to PFAS
    • Risk communication strategies and materials for communities
    • Analysis of policy effectiveness
  • Risk Assessment and Risk Management - Remediation and Development of Alternatives: Researchers are developing methods of PFAS remediation, as well as alternatives to PFAS.

Explore our goals

 

PFAS Research Center Model
Diverse MSU researchers form an interdisciplinary core to respond to needs from various stakeholders related to PFAS contamination and, eventually, other emerging contaminants.

Center for PFAS Research

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