Further development of this plan will require continuing interaction between the Office of 
Research and Development’s (ORD) Laboratories and Centers, as well as with EPA’s Program 
Offices and Regions, to ensure that the approaches developed are compatible with those for 
exposure and risk characterization. Collaboration with the Office of Water, Regions, States, and 
Tribes will be essential to ensure that this research directly supports regulatory mandates. In 
addition, it will be essential to integrate the research with future grant initiatives (including 
EPA’s Science to Achieve Results [STAR] program) to ensure that ORD-sponsored research 
complements in-house programs. 
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