Jochen Heidler

 

Departmental Affiliation

Environmental Health Sciences
Division of Environmental Health Engineering


Center and Institute Affiliations
Johns Hopkins Center for Water and Health; Johns Hopkins NIEHS Center in Urban and Environmental Health

Departmental Address

615 North Wolfe Street, Room E6628
Baltimore, MD 21205

Email: jheidler@jhsph.edu

Research

Antimicrobials are present in many household products of daily use, including soap, deodorant, toothpaste and other personal care products. Following down-the-drain disposal, these compounds may be removed from wastewater only incompletely in municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Despite their large production volume (>100,000 lbs/yr), antimicrobials remain unregulated - some of them even unmonitored. Among their known and potential health risks are the toxicity of the parental compounds, production byproducts, and environmental degradation products, many of which may persistent in the environment and have the potential to bioaccumulate in the food web. Certain antimicrobials are suspected to act as endocrine disruptors and carcinogens. My research focuses on the fate of these compounds in the environment and resultant unwanted human exposures. Use of liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) allows me to detect these compounds in different matrixes at parts-per-trillion (ng/L) levels and study their environmental fate and behavior. Currently, I am investigating the fate of polychlorinated aromatic antimicrobials in wastewater treatment processes. Additionally, I am working on a related project concerning human fetal exposures to drinking water contaminants.

Keywords

Antimicrobials, Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs), Mass spectrometry, LC/MS, WWTP

Selected Posters and Publications

R. U. Halden, Jochen Heidler, Daniel H. Paull, and Robert Classon. 2004. Trace analysis of the antimicrobial compound triclosan in drinking water, urban streams and wastewater by LC/APCI/MS and LC/ESI/MS. Presented at the 52 nd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry in Nashville , TN.

Mentoring

2004 – Cristina Matos, Summer Student ( University of Puerto Rico ).

Project: Chemical Indicators of Sewage Contamination in Water Resources

Honors and Awards

2004 – Center for Excellence in Environmental Public Health Tracking Research Fellowship

2004 – Procter and Gamble Fellowship