On February 10, 2026, the Wadsworth Center’s Division of Environmental Health Sciences (DEHS) hosted the 2026 United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2 State/Territory Laboratory Group Meeting at the Biggs Laboratory facility at Empire State Plaza. The annual meeting convenes environmental laboratory leaders and partners from federal, state, and territorial agencies across EPA Region 2, which spans New York to the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
More than 60 participants joined in person and remotely, including representatives from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, New York State Department of Health, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and New Jersey Department of Health, Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, Puerto Rico Department of Health, and the Virgin Islands Department of Natural Planning and Resources. The meeting serves as a forum for information sharing, collaboration, and advancing innovative environmental research and laboratory practices.
Discussions focused on critical public health and environmental topics, including emerging contaminants such as micro- and nanoplastics, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), advances in environmental radiochemistry, and existing and proposed regulatory requirements and frameworks.
DEHS experts delivered several key presentations:
- Dr. Kurunthachalam Kannan highlighted research advancements in analyzing micro- and nanoplastics in his presentation, “Analysis of Micro and Nanoplastics: Methodological Considerations for Human Biomonitoring.”
- Dr. Bryan Duffy discussed optimizing PFAS test methods in drinking water, presenting his work on the “Evaluation of Delay Column Performance for PFAS Liquid Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) Methods.”
- Dr. Ezekiel Blain detailed the benefits of a specialized laboratory-developed New York State method for radium analysis in water in his presentation, “Discussion of NYS Method for Radium Analysis in Potable and Non-Potable Water (Ra-NY03).”
- Dr. Sherry Faye led a discussion on “Networking Efforts to Strengthen Public Health Radiochemistry Laboratories.”
- Dr. Amy Steuerwald from the Wadsworth Center’s Division of Laboratory Quality Certification (DLQC) provided an update on the New York State Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (ELAP).
EPA Region 2 Laboratory Branch Chief and meeting coordinator John Bourbon, recognized DEHS’s leadership in planning and coordinating a well-organized event.
The meeting concluded with guided tours of several DEHS laboratories, offering participants firsthand insight into the division’s state-of-the-art analytical capabilities.