National Science Foundation Project on Tire-Wear Pollution Strengthens Southern University & Grambling State University’s Research and STEM Training Partnership
When many people think about Southern University and Grambling State University the annual Bayou Classic football game in New Orleans usually comes to mind, but the two colleges have been collaborating off the grid iron as well. One of these collaborations is a National Science Foundation (NSF) research project focused on the emerging environmental impacts of tire-wear pollution.
Southern University’s Department of Environmental Toxicology in the College of Agricultural, Human and Environmental Sciences (CAHES) received $893,779 in funding for the collaborative research project with Grambling State University (GSU) to advance fundamental environmental science while expanding interdisciplinary research and STEM training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students.
The research focuses on 6-PPD quinone (6-PPDQ), a transformation product of 6-PPD, a chemical widely used in automobile tires. Tire wear releases these chemicals into the environment, and 6-PPDQ has emerged as a contaminant of growing concern due to its widespread occurrence and documented biological effects. Despite increasing recognition of this emerging contaminant, the fundamental molecular mechanisms through which 6-PPDQ affects cellular function remain incompletely understood. The Southern University-Grambling State University research team will investigate how 6-PPDQ disrupts the molecular processes that allow cells to respond and adapt to environmental stress. Particular emphasis will be placed on interactions among stress granules and processing bodies, which regulate RNA processing during cellular stress, and Polycomb repressive complexes, which regulate gene activity through epigenetic mechanisms. Using human lung epithelial cells, the investigators will integrate advanced molecular biology, high-resolution imaging, transcriptomics, proteomics, and computational approaches, including molecular modeling, molecular dynamics simulations, and density functional theory, to determine how the environmental contaminant perturbs interconnected RNA-regulatory and epigenetic networks. The research is expected to generate fundamental knowledge and broadly applicable experimental and computational approaches for understanding the molecular actions of emerging environmental contaminants.
The project represents an expansion of an established research and student-training collaboration between Southern University and Grambling State University. Undergraduate students from GSU will engage directly in project-related researchand receive hands-on training in environmental toxicology, molecular and cellular biology, advanced imaging, transcriptomic and proteomic approaches, computational modeling, and data analysis. Students will work closely with Southern University faculty and doctoral trainees, creating an interdisciplinary environment where undergraduate researchers can develop technical expertise, critical-thinking abilities, scientific communication skills, and greater confidence as emerging scientists. The project will also provide important professional development opportunities for Southern University doctoral students, who will participate in training and near-peer mentoring of GSU undergraduate researchers. This multi-level mentoring approach will simultaneously provide undergraduate students with access to research mentors and enable doctoral trainees to develop leadership, teaching, and mentoring skills that are increasingly important for careers in academia, biotechnology, industry, and government.
An important long-term goal of the collaboration is to strengthen an undergraduate-to-doctoral STEM pathway between Grambling State University and Southern University. By providing GSU students with sustained research experiences, faculty, and graduate-student mentoring, exposure to advanced research technologies, and familiarity with Southern University’s doctoral training environment, the project will encourage talented undergraduate students to consider advanced education, including doctoral training in Environmental Toxicology at Southern University. The project will further extend its educational impact through K–12 STEM outreach activities designed to introduce younger students to environmental science, toxicology, biotechnology, and computational research.
Dr. Sanjay Batra, Professor and Chair of the Department of Environmental Toxicology, serves as the Principal Investigator (PI) of the project and Dr. Waneene Dorsey, the Ernest Everett Just Endowed Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Grambling State University, serves as Co-Principal Investigator(Co-PI).
The project began in September 2026 and will conclude in August 2029.
