Small Fish for a Large Task
David Hinton Takes His Medaka West to Monitor California's
Drinking Water p.5
Assisting Dr. Hinton in the Duke University
studies is Seth Kullman, assistant research professor and
Karl Linden a Warren Faculty Scholar at Duke’s Pratt School
of Engineering who is investigating alternative ways to disinfect
wastewater, such as using ultraviolet radiation in lieu of
chlorination. This work is funded by the American Waste Water
Association Research Foundation. Kullman has additional support
from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center and the Water
Environmental Research Foundation to develop medaka gene expression
arrays to detect pharmaceuticals in waste and reuse waters.
“Karl’s group is trying to look at new ways to
break down compounds,” he says. “We want to get water that
has been treated and let our fish live in it to see if the
breakdown products and the treated water are free of toxicity.”
Hinton adds that he’d also like to do similar
partnering in Durham, “the City of Medicine,” to evaluate
whether traces of medicine in effluents are creating any unintended
problems.
He also has been instrumental in creating a new
Nicholas School professional master’s program area in environmental
health and security. “What we’re trying to do is make sure
that students see that there are dangers to the ecosystem
from what humans are doing,” he says.
“There are also naturally occurring changes such
as rises in sea level, floods, fires and earthquakes, that
can disrupt this human-built water delivery and reuse system
to the point where it can no longer convey useful water to
distant cities.
“This program tries to look at the interfaces
between concerns for humans, concerns for the ecosystem, and
how that relates to our ability to assure individuals that
they’re going to have sufficient water or air or soil quality
to do the things that we need to do.”
Monte Basgall is a senior writer with Duke’s
Office of News and Communications and specializes in science
coverage.
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