About the Chemical Characterization and Exposure Division
On This Page:
What We Do
Our Research
Management
Branches
Main Office Location
What We Do
The Chemical Characterization and Exposure Division (CCED) performs research to develop and advance experimental chemistry approaches that are critical to the rapid characterization of the presence, structural characteristics, and properties of chemicals that are of interest to EPA scientists due to their potential environmental fate and toxicity. In addition to chemical characterization, CCED develops computational models to predict external exposure and internal doses for large numbers of chemicals based on minimal data.
CCED strives to reduce the time to conduct toxicity and exposure assessments from years to months by developing:
- Chemoinformatic tools and knowledgebases
- Rapid analytical methods for identifying environmental chemicals in environmental and biological samples
- Predictive models of both exposure and dose for environmental chemicals
- Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism and Excretion approaches for environmental chemicals and model parameterization
Our Research
- Exposure Forecasting
- HTTK R Package
- Non-Targeted Analysis
- CompTox Chemicals Dashboard
- Chemical Exposure Knowledgebase
- DSSTox
- Toxicity Estimation Software Tool
- Adverse Outcome Pathway
- PFAS Tiered Testing Research
Management
Mike DeVito, Director
- Phone: 919-541-4016
- Email: devito.michael@epa.gov
Ardra Morgan, Associate Director
- Phone: 919-541-3658
- Email: morgan.ardra@epa.gov
Branches
- Computational Chemistry and Cheminformatics Branch: Dan Chang, Branch Chief
The Computational Chemistry & Cheminformatics Branch develops and advances a comprehensive chemical knowledgebase by using cheminformatic approaches to consolidate chemical data resources (chemical structures, properties, feature sets, activities) and computational chemistry methods to relate chemical structure and properties to human and ecological toxicity, environmental fate and transport, chemical use, exposure, and toxicokinetic properties. - Computational Exposure and Toxicokinetics Branch: Peter Egeghy, Branch Chief
The Computational Exposure & Toxicokinetics Branch (CETB) uses statistical and informatic approaches to mine, analyze, and integrate information on chemical use, manufacturing processes, formulation science, biomonitoring, and ecological monitoring to identify and assess potential exposure pathways and provide screening-level estimates of exposure for any chemical structure. The exposure predictions cover the general population, workers, highly exposed or susceptible population groups, and specific demographic groups or lifestages (e.g., children), as well as ecological species. - Experimental Toxicokinetics and Toxicodynamics Branch: Mike Hughes, Branch Chief
The Experimental Toxicokinetics & Toxicodynamics Branch (ETTB) develops in vitro and in vivo models to more rapidly characterize the toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics of chemicals. The ETTB develops and applies experimental in vitro methods and in vivo models to measure the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of chemicals. The ETTB works with the Advanced Analytical Chemistry Methods Branch for the analysis of parent and metabolites in complex biological systems. ETTB works with the Computational Exposure and Toxicokinetic Branch (CETB) to parameterize compartmental and physiologically-based toxicokinetic modeling that simulate chemical fate and distribution in humans and animal models. ETTB also develops short-term in vivo models coupled with state-of-the-art measurement technologies to qualitatively identify potential hazards and quantitatively predict effect levels. ETTB collects experimental data to validate in vitro assays and computational models developed by CCTE’s Biomolecular and Computational Toxicology Division (BCTD) and CETB. The Branch works with CCTE’s Scientific Computing and Data Curation Division (SCDCD) to publicly release toxicokinetic and toxicodynamic data, and models through online tools and dashboards.