Dr Anthony Umeh
Research Associate
Global Centre for Environmental Remediation
- Email:anthony.umeh@newcastle.edu.au
- Phone: (02) 405 53252
Career Summary
Biography
Dr. Anthony Umeh’s is an environmental scientist with significant experience in contaminant fate and transport in soils, including contaminant bioavailability and bioaccessibility. His research seeks to understand the fate and behaviour of chemical contaminants after their release in soils and how living organisms are exposed to these contaminants, including potential health risks from such exposures and strategies to manage those risks.
He has experience investigating the bioaccessibilty of highly sequestered polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) residues in long-term contaminated soils, and he has evaluated associated cancer risks to human and ecological health from potential exposure to PAH non extractable residues in soil. He has also studied the fate of PAHs during plant-assisted biodegradation using C-14 respirometry.
Dr. Umeh is currently leading a project focusing on the fate and behaviour, particularly sorption (retention) and desorption (release), of PFAS in a wide range of temperate and tropical soils.
Since 2015, Dr. Umeh’s has presented at international contaminated land conferences featuring environmental regulators, industry participants, scientists, and other stakeholders in the contaminated land space. He has published over 10 peer-reviewed papers in top scientific journals.
Dr. Umeh’s research is contributing to minimising the uncertainties associated with PFAS fate and transport in soils, as well as helping to understand the science underpinning potential PFAS exposures through surface and subsurface soils, as well as surface and groundwater. Such understanding will help contaminated land stakeholders in Australia and beyond to make effective risk-based decisions for cost-effective management of PFAS-contaminated land.
Open to discussing potential collaboration and supervision opportunities on exciting projects.
Qualifications
- PhD (Environmental Remediation), University of Newcastle
- Bachelor of Science (Zoology) (Honours), Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria
- Master of Science, Lancaster University - England
Keywords
- Contaminant Bioaccessibility
- Contaminant Bioavailability
- Emerging Contaminants
- Environmental Health Risk Assessment
- Human Health Risk Assessment
- Hydrophobic Organic Contaminant Residues
- Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Chemicals
- Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
- Risk-based Contaminated Land Management
- Soil
Languages
- Igbo (Mother)
- English (Fluent)
- Yoruba (Fluent)
- Hausa (Working)
Professional Experience
UON Appointment
| Title | Organisation / Department |
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Awards
Distinction
| Year | Award |
|---|---|
| 2020 |
Distinguished Global Talent Australian Government |
Invitations
Participant
| Year | Title / Rationale |
|---|---|
| 2019 |
International Workshop on Science Diplomacy and Innovation Diplomacy I was one of the 40 researchers (and 2 from Australia) selected through a competitive process from a pool of over 1000 global applicants by the Advanced School of Science and Innovation Diplomacy Sao Paulo to attend the 10-day international workshop on science and innovation diplomacy at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. As a result of my participation at the workshop, I have an understanding and am developing an international network in the field of science and innovation diplomacy, valuable for successful scientific cooperation and collaborations in Australia and beyond. |
Publications
For publications that are currently unpublished or in-press, details are shown in italics.
Highlighted Publications
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 |
Umeh AC, Duan L, Naidu R, Semple KT, 'Residual hydrophobic organic contaminants in soil: Are they a barrier to risk-based approaches for managing contaminated land?', ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL, 98 18-34 (2017) [C1]
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| 2018 |
Umeh AC, Duan L, Naidu R, Semple KT, 'Time-Dependent Remobilisation of Non-Extractable Benzo[a]pyrene Residues in Contrasting Soils: Effects of Aging, Spiked Concentration, and Soil Properties.', ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, 52 12295-12305 (2018) [C1]
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| 2019 |
Umeh AC, Duan L, Naidu R, Esposito M, Semple KT, 'In vitro gastrointestinal mobilization and oral bioaccessibility of PAHs in contrasting soils and associated cancer risks: Focus on PAH nonextractable residues', Environment International, 133 (2019) [C1]
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Chapter (2 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 |
Wijayawardena MAA, Liu Y, Yan K, Duan L, Umeh AC, Naidu R, Semple KT, 'Assessment of the Oral Bioavailability of Organic Contaminants in Humans', Handbook of Environmental Chemistry 191-218 (2020) [B1] © 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG. Bioavailability estimates the actual internal uptake or absorption of contaminants that enter the body (internal dose) and helps in providi... [more] © 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG. Bioavailability estimates the actual internal uptake or absorption of contaminants that enter the body (internal dose) and helps in providing a more accurate estimation of the human risks than the usage of total concentration. This is important for exposure assessment for children in relation to their hand-to-mouth activities. For example significant reductions of the bioavailability of long-term contaminated soils have been demonstrated using various animal models. The measurement for bioavailability involves various uncertainties for organic contaminants. It is crucial to determine the parameters that influence the results of bioavailability. This chapter provides a summary of the current state of knowledge for the determination of bioavailability for a range of organic contaminants. The information provided will be useful in facilitating further research efforts for the investigation of bioavailability of contaminants in conducting exposure assessments.
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| 2020 |
Umeh AC, Naidu R, Owojori OJ, Semple KT, 'Bioavailability and Bioaccessibility of Hydrophobic Organic Contaminants in Soil and Associated Desorption-Based Measurements', Bioavailability of Organic Chemicals in Soil and Sediment, Springer Nature, Switzerland 293-350 (2020) [B1]
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Journal article (11 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 |
Umeh AC, Naidu R, Shilpi S, Boateng EB, Rahman A, Cousins IT, et al., 'Sorption of PFOS in 114 Well-Characterized Tropical and Temperate Soils: Application of Multivariate and Artificial Neural Network Analyses.', Environ Sci Technol, 55 1779-1789 (2021)
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| 2020 |
Naidu R, Nadebaum P, Fang C, Cousins I, Pennell K, Conder J, et al., 'Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS): Current status and research needs', Environmental Technology and Innovation, 19 (2020) [C1]
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| 2019 |
Umeh AC, Panneerselvan L, Duan L, Naidu R, Semple KT, 'Bioaccumulation of benzo[a]pyrene nonextractable residues in soil by Eisenia fetida and associated background-level sublethal genotoxicity (DNA single-strand breaks)', Science of the Total Environment, 691 605-610 (2019) [C1]
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| 2019 |
Umeh AC, Duan L, Naidu R, Semple KT, 'Extremely small amounts of B[a]P residues remobilised in long-term contaminated soils: A strong case for greater focus on readily available and not total-extractable fractions in risk assessment', Journal of Hazardous Materials, 368 72-80 (2019) [C1]
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| 2019 |
Umeh AC, Duan L, Naidu R, Esposito M, Semple KT, 'In vitro gastrointestinal mobilization and oral bioaccessibility of PAHs in contrasting soils and associated cancer risks: Focus on PAH nonextractable residues', Environment International, 133 (2019) [C1]
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| 2018 |
Umeh AC, Vázquez-Cuevas GM, Semple KT, 'Mineralisation of ¹4C-phenanthrene in PAH-diesel contaminated soil: Impact of Sorghum bicolor and Medicago sativa mono- or mixed culture', Applied Soil Ecology, 125 46-55 (2018) [C1]
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| 2018 |
Umeh AC, Duan L, Naidu R, Semple KT, 'Comparison of Single- and Sequential-Solvent Extractions of Total Extractable Benzo[a]pyrene Fractions in Contrasting Soils', Analytical Chemistry, 90 11703-11709 (2018) [C1]
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| 2018 |
Umeh AC, Duan L, Naidu R, Semple KT, 'Enhanced Recovery of Nonextractable Benzo[a]pyrene Residues in Contrasting Soils Using Exhaustive Methanolic and Nonmethanolic Alkaline Treatments', Analytical Chemistry, 90 13104-13111 (2018) [C1]
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| 2018 |
Umeh AC, Duan L, Naidu R, Semple KT, 'Time-Dependent Remobilisation of Non-Extractable Benzo[a]pyrene Residues in Contrasting Soils: Effects of Aging, Spiked Concentration, and Soil Properties.', ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, 52 12295-12305 (2018) [C1]
|
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| 2017 |
Umeh AC, Duan L, Naidu R, Semple KT, 'Residual hydrophobic organic contaminants in soil: Are they a barrier to risk-based approaches for managing contaminated land?', ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL, 98 18-34 (2017) [C1]
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Bekele DN, Liu Y, Donaghey M, Umeh A, Arachchige CSV, Chadalavada S, Naidu R, 'Separation and Lithological Mapping of PFAS Mixtures in the Vadose Zone at a Contaminated Site', Frontiers in Water, 2 [C1]
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| Show 8 more journal articles | |||||||||||
Conference (1 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 |
Umeh A, Duan L, Semple K, Naidu R, 'Remobilisation of 'non-extractable' Benzo[a]pyrene residues in contrasting Australian soils', ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, Boston, MA (2018)
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Dr Anthony Umeh
Position
Research Associate
Global Centre for Environmental Remediation
College of Engineering, Science and Environment
Contact Details
| anthony.umeh@newcastle.edu.au | |
| Phone | (02) 405 53252 |
| Link |
Office
| Room | ATC Building, Level 1 |
|---|---|
| Building | Advanced Technology Centre (ATC) Building |
| Location | Callaghan University Drive Callaghan, NSW 2308 Australia |
