The UKSRC is supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Hazardous Substance Basic Research and Training Program (Superfund Research Program [SRP]) under Award Number P42ES007380.
UK SRC was first funded by NIEHS SRP in 1997. The NIEHS SRP provides practical, scientific solutions to protect health, the environment, and communities. As part of NIEHS, an Institute of the National Institutes of Health, SRP works to learn more about ways to protect the public from exposure to hazardous substances, such as industrial solvents, arsenic, lead, and mercury. These and other toxic substances are found in contaminated water, soil, and air at hazardous waste sites throughout the United States.
SRP funds university-based grants on basic biological, environmental, and engineering processes to find real and practical solutions to exposures to hazardous substances. These activities complement the work of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and other federal and state agencies. In keeping with the NIEHS mission, SRP's teams of diverse professionals develop, test, and implement unique, solution-oriented approaches to address complex environmental health problems. These teams study environmental contaminants in order to lower environmental cleanup costs, reduce human exposure, and improve human health. SRP's central goal is to understand and break the link between chemical exposure and disease.