Analytical Strategies for Uncovering the Biological Burden of "Forever Chemicals"

Per/polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) (also known as “forever chemicals”) are highly persistent, ubiquitous environmental contaminants associated with adverse health effects in humans and other animals.

The presence of thousands of PFASs, many of which do not have analytical standards, has made comprehensive characterization of PFASs using traditional targeted analytical methods impossible. A significant fraction of total organofluorine in human blood is not captured by targeted LC-MS/MS. Here, I will discuss progress and remaining challenges in using high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) and other analytical techniques to comprehensively capture the total burden of PFASs accumulating in living organisms.

Presenter: Carrie A. McDonough (Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University)

Carrie McDonough is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), where she leads a research group at the intersection of analytical chemistry, environmental chemistry, and chemical biology. She also teaches two courses at CMU, Modern Analytical Instrumentation and Environmental Exposure & Risk Assessment. She received her B.Sc. in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2008 and Ph.D. in Chemical Oceanography from the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography (URI GSO) in 2017. Her dissertation focused on measuring air-water diffusive exchange of hydrophobic organic contaminants in the Great Lakes and Canadian Arctic using polyethylene passive samplers. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Colorado School of Mines, where she developed nontarget high-resolution mass spectrometry methods for per/polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in biological fluids to investigate toxicokinetics of complex PFAS mixtures and human exposure to novel PFASs. Broadly, McDonough's current research explores how the molecular structure and chemical properties of pollutants influence their fate in the environment and their relevance in terms of exposure, internal dose, and toxic effects. Her overarching objective is to develop analytical and bioanalytical strategies to identify and prioritize contaminants of concern for remediation and toxicological investigation.