UofL Superfund Research Center awarded $10.8 million to study environmental toxins

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - The University of Louisville has been awarded $10.8 million in renewed funding to continue its studies into environmental toxins and their effects on human health. The research started in 2017 thanks to the initial five-year funding.

The research focuses on how volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can contribute to cardiometabolic disease.

Kevin Gardner, UofL’s executive vice president of research and innovation, said those toxins usually go unnoticed. He said people can smell different examples, like when you pump gas into your car, the air fresheners you spray, or maybe a waste plant near your house.

With so much at risk, researchers want to know more about where that exposure happens and what we can do to mitigate the harm.

“Just one example, a big project that’s been going on at the University of Louisville for many years is called the Green Heart Project,” Gardiner explained. “That’s planting trees in neighborhoods in Louisville to understand the beneficial effects of those trees. Trees do a lot of good for human health and the study of those trees and their beneficial effects on remediating the impacts has been done right here in the city of Louisville.”

The expanded research will broaden the human study to include 1,200 participants across Jefferson County.

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