Stellar Summer: New papers by the Hsu-Kim lab

As the academic year gets underway at Duke, we look back on a productive summer filled with moments of reinvigoration, fun summer travels, and focus on our research endeavors. Congratulations to current and former PhD students Lijia Gao, Caroline Zuber Rudd and Josh Miller on reaching major milestones by publishing key papers from their doctoral research. Their work advances our understanding of the distribution of chemicals in the environment and refines methods to improve our analysis. Here are the highlights!:

Image

• Lijia's study evaluated the affinity of nanocarbon-based particles to soils as these materials are used to for agricultural applications. By decoupling physical and chemical retention mechanisms, her study reveals how soil organic matter and complex cation interactions dictate the mobility of carbon-based nano-fertilizers in heterogeneous agricultural soils.

Gao, Lijia, Amalia Turner, Nathan Bossa, Heileen Hsu-Kim, and Mark Wiesner. “Evaluation of the Affinity of a Nanocarbon-Based Product for Soils in Agricultural Applications.” Environmental Science & Technology 60, no. 22 (June 2026): 16225–34. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6c04741.

Image

• Caroline's paper documented the presence of metals and PFAS in farmed and wild oysters along the coastal North Carolina region. Consistent with the region's diffuse population and low-/moderately-developed landscape, her study detected these contaminants at low levels. However, certain PFAS chemicals including the long change PFAS compounds and their precursors tended to bioaccumulate more readily in the oysters. Her findings underscore the high variability in consumer risk and highlight key uncertainties in current regulatory frameworks.

Caroline Z. Rudd, Marzieh Shojaei, Nelson A. Rivera, Riley Lewis, Lisa Rider, Heileen Hsu-Kim, P. Lee Ferguson; Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) and Metals in Wild and Farmed Oysters of a Minimally Developed Coastal Region in the Southeastern United States. ACS EST Water 2026; https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestwater.6c00614

Image

• Josh's study expands the capabilities of wearable silicone wristbands for personalized exposure assessments to chemicals in the ambient environment. Josh tested a new wearable passive sampler that incorporated a polyurethane foam to detect particulate-bound chemicals such as metals. The study showed that lead levels in the foam positively correlated with floor dust wipes from participants' homes, establishing that these wearable devices can effectively isolate individual dust exposures from dietary or water sources. His study contributes to the evolving application of wearable sensors for tracking personal exposures to metals in the environment.

Miller, Joshua D., Kate Hoffman, Samantha M. Samon, Robert C. Hill, Grace A. Hall, Gary S. Dwyer, Nelson A. Rivera, Heather M. Stapleton, and Heileen Hsu-Kim. “Polyurethane Foam Wristbands as Personal Passive Samplers of Ambient Particulate Exposures to Lead and Other Metals.” Environmental Science & Technology 60, no. 25 (June 2026): 17756–65. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6c05099.