Contact Us

Mailing address:
Department of Environmental
and Molecular Toxicology
Box 7633, NC State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7633

Shipping address:
Suite 1104, 850 Main Campus Dr.
Raleigh, NC 27606

Phone 919.515.2274
Fax 919.515.7169

Damian Shea, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology

Phone: 919-513-3899
E-mail: d_shea@ncsu.edu

Education


PhD, University of Maryland
NRC Postdoctoral, National Institute of Standards and Technology

Research Interests

Environmental Fate and Effects of Toxic Contaminants

Our research program is a broad-based effort to study the fate and effects of toxicants in the aquatic environment through research in three areas: analytical toxicology, environmental chemistry, and environmental toxicology. Current research in analytical toxicology includes the development of capillary electrophoresis (CE) methods to measure insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides, including the separation of chiral compounds. We are also using CE with laser-induced fluorescence detection and liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry to identify and measure "red tide" brevetoxins. In the area of environmental chemistry, we are studying the sources and fate of organic contaminants in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, focusing on Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay. We also are working on 27 national wildlife refuges in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley to understand and model the processes controlling pesticide movement and fate in this area. This work includes the development of passive sampling devices to measure bioavailable contaminants, mass balance modeling, and multi-variate statistical models to help identify contaminant sources. Ongoing environmental toxicology studies include the bioaccumulation and potential effects of over 100 organic contaminants in marine mammals and associated food webs of the NW Atlantic. Ongoing international work is focused on the fate and effects of pesticides used on banana plantations in Ecuador and Costa Rica.


Model Depicting the fate of the fungicide chlorothalonil at a banana plantation in Costa Rica.

Selected Publications

  • Miller, J.L., Khaledi, M.G., and Shea, D. 1997. Separation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis using charge-transfer complexation with planar organic cations. Anal. Chem. 69: 1223-1229.
  • Shea, D. 1997. Analysis of brevetoxins by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography and laser-induced fluorescence detection. Electrophoresis 18: 277-283.
  • Hofelt, C.S., D. Shea. 1997. Accumulation of Organochlorine Pesticides and PCBs by Semipermeable Membrane Devices and Mytilus edulis in New Bedford Harbor, MA. Environ. Sci. Technol. 31, 154-159.
  • Penmetsa, K.V., R.B. Leidy, and D. Shea. 1997. Separation of fungicides by micellar electrokinetic capillar chromatography. Electrophoresis 18: 235-240.
  • Penmetsa, K.V.; Leidy, R.B.; Shea, D. 1997. Analysis of primisulfuron and triasulfuron in water and soil samples by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography. J. Chromatogr. A 766: 225-231.
  • Baldwin, W.S., S.E. Graham, D. Shea, G.A. LeBlanc. 1997. Metabolic androgenization of female Dapnia magna by the xenoestrogen 4-nonylphenol. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 16: 1905-1911.
  • White, R.D., D. Shea, and J.J. Stegeman. 1997. Metabolism of the aromatic hydrocarbon receptor agonist 3,3',4,4'-tetrachlorobiphenyl by the marine fish scup (Stenotomus chrysops) in vivo and in vitro. Drug Metabolism and Disposition 25: 564-572.
  • White, R.D., D. Shea, A.R. Solow, and J.J. Stegeman. 1997. Regulation of teleost hepatic cytochrome P4501A1 by the aryl hydrocarbon receptor agonist 3,3',4,4'-tetrachlorobiphenyl: a dual effect of transcriptional induction and post-transcriptional suppression. Biochemical Pharmacology 53: 1029-1040.
  • Shea, D.; Hofelt, C.S. 1997. Response to Comments on "Accumulation of organochlorine pesticides and PCBs by semipermeable membrane devices and Mytilus edulis in New Bedford Harbor, MA." Environ. Sci. Technol. 31: 3734-3735.
  • Shea, D. 1997. Transport and fate of toxicants. In Hodgson, E. and Levi, P.E. (eds.) A Textbook of Modern Toxicology, 2nd edition. Norwalk, CT: Appleton & Lange, pp. 407-430.
  • Shea, D. 1997. Ecological risk assessment. In Hodgson, E. and Levi, P.E. (eds.) A Textbook of Modern Toxicology, 2nd edition. Norwalk, CT: Appleton & Lange, pp. 431-450.