Excecutive Summary
2006
- Introduction
- Research Cores
- Facility Cores
- Community Outreach and Education Program
- Pilot Project Program
- Administrative Core
The Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility (CEHS) at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) is an interdepartmental program established on April 1, 2001, funded by NIEHS and UNC-CH. The Center has the following specific aims: to promote state-of-the-art research on environmental health that will help reduce the burden of environmentally related disease; to enhance basic research on mechanisms of toxicity of hazardous chemicals; to foster inter-disciplinary collaborations and creative uses of the expertise and facilities within the Center that will improve our understanding of the environmental and genetic determinants of disease; and to provide a resource to the State of North Carolina on the environmental determinants of health. The organization of the Center is designed to maximize the opportunities for interaction among Center Members and Affiliates housed in differing University departments and near-by research institutions. This choice reflects the Center's chief goal, which is to draw investigators together so that the sum of their efforts will exceed what they can do individually. To accomplish its purpose, the Center was organized into five Research Cores, four Facility Cores, a Community Outreach and Education Program (COEP), a Pilot Projects Program, and an Enrichment Program, all of them supported by an Administrative Core.
The characteristics of the Research Cores, Facility Cores, Community Outreach and Education Program, Pilot Projects Program, and Administrative Core, are summarized below, followed by a detailed presentation of accomplishments in the subsequent sections, including a Center’s Research Highlights and COEP Highlights section.
The Center focuses on the theme: “Susceptibility to Environmental Exposures”. We focus on this theme through five Research Cores: (1) Genetic Susceptibility, (2) Developmental Susceptibility, and (3) Exposure-Biomarkers, (4) Transomics, and (5) Obesity. These five Research Cores cover issues at the cutting edge of environmental health. The first three have been a major focus of the CEHS since its inception. We added obesity as a new focus two years ago, as it has become one of the fastest increasing health issues in the country. We have a large, highly interdisciplinary group of investigators interested in many aspects of obesity, the environment that modulates the incidence of obesity, and the role it plays in disease. We are taking advantage of recent advances in expertise and technology associated with genomics through our Transomics Research Core, also initiated two years ago. This core provides a matrix for the incorporation of these new techniques and knowledge into the other four research cores and brings additional state-of-the-art research to the CEHS and seeks to incorporate these advances into CEHS research proposals and Pilot Projects. In this Executive Summary, some of the major areas of research being undertaken are highlighted. More complete descriptions of collaborative efforts are provided in the individual research core reports.
- The Genetic Susceptibility Research Core brings together molecular epidemiologists that conduct population-based studies and biologists investigating mechanisms of disease such as metabolic polymorphisms, DNA damage and DNA repair mechanisms and genetic polymorphisms that impact these processes, in order to address genomic determinants of susceptibility. This core has excelled at bringing a wide variety of investigators together to discuss ongoing research, identify new areas of collaboration, plan and submit multi-investigator research proposals, encourage young investigators to submit Pilot Projects and suggest speakers for our Enrichment Program. During 2006, new collaborations involving basic scientists (pathologists, toxicologists, geneticists), epidemiologists, bio-informaticists, and clinicians have evolved that were not likely to have formed in the absence of the CEHS. More details can be found in the core’s write up that follows the Executive Summary.
- The Developmental Susceptibility Research Core integrates epidemiologists and basic scientists investigating how different stages in the life cycle influence susceptibility to exposures that result from critical windows of development. Particular concentration is given to exposures received from conception through childhood. Through this core, the CEHS has made great strides in stimulating new interactions, collaborations and thinking about better ways to identify, plan and execute cutting-edge research on mechanisms of environmental disease, gene-environment interactions involved in developmental disease, interactions between nutrition and developmental diseases, and the role of environmental modulators in neurodevelopment. New approaches for studying gene-environment interactions include the use of blood spots for investigations of genetics and environmental etiologies of birth defects. We have featured Choline and Neurodevelopment as one of our CEHS Research Highlights for the current year.
- Exposure-Biomarkers is a new Research Core that evolved two years ago from the previous Toxicokinetic Susceptibility Research Core in order to foster ideas and enhance collaboration between researchers who develop/need biomarkers of exposure to generate and apply more quantitative measures of exposure in the study of environmental disease. One of this year’s Pilot Projects funds new research to investigate the dermal metabolism of fenbuconazole and propiconazole. Other investigations are examining dermal exposure, a major source of human exposure that is vastly understudied. This core and the Genetic Susceptibility Research Core played important roles in the development of a highly interdisciplinary Superfund Basic Research Program proposal funded on April 1, 2006. It has also stimulated epidemiologists and basic scientists to work together on the application of GIS to research studies of environmental disease, as well as scientists working on biomarkers to improve occupational exposure assessment, mode of action of environmental toxicants, and risk assessment. Dr. Lena Nylander-French became the Director of this Research Core in December.
- The Transomics Research Core incorporates the excitement and superb institutional commitment in genomics, proteomics and metabolomics that have been brought to researchers at UNC-CH. While only two years old, this Core has already encouraged and greatly expanded collaborations applying contemporary ‘omics’ technologies to environmental health and susceptibility issues. Through this knowledge, the use of these state-of-the-art technologies across many areas of research is being enhanced, including the generation of Pilot Projects that incorporate these methods. This core stimulates use of the Biomarkers Facility Core by CEHS members and advances development of bioinformatics support. A major research focus that has evolved includes research proposals that develop integrated, or systems biology approaches to environmental health research.
- The Obesity Research Core focuses much of its research around the built environment. As such, it has supported and enhanced collaborative research in obesity-environmental interactions affecting human health. For this purpose, the Core created an OBE seminar and organized a series of lunch meetings of core members to help build our knowledge on this very new topic of study, and promoted interactions across campus to expand our research collaborations and training in this area. The high level of enthusiasm and interest of this group is reflected by the number of new grant proposals submitted in this area during 2006, utilizing diverse approaches to rigorously design studies to determine environmental factors that predispose to obesity and its subsequent diseases.
The Center has four Facility Cores designed to enhance the research capabilities and cost-efficiency of Center investigators by providing critical resources and coordinated research support. These are described in detail in the individual Core reports and tables. Furthermore, the importance of these cores is clearly apparent in the compilation of CEHS publications, which demonstrates that facility cores are heavily involved in our major product, scientific publications on environmental health.
- The Molecular Epidemiology Facility Core provides centralized resources for biospecimen collection, preparation, storage and tracking, and high quality genotyping needed for genetic analysis in large epidemiologic studies, as well as pilot studies to generate preliminary data for new research proposals. We have recently made major upgrades in facilities and equipment that will lead to further enhanced use and efficiency of the core.
- The Biostatistics and Epidemiologic Methods Facility Core provides consultation on statistical and epidemiologic study design and analysis. It is heavily used by our members and assures that high quality statistical analysis is readily available to all CEHS members. In recent years, this has been the most widely used Facility Core and has also become a hotbed for bioinformatics analysis within the CEHS. Dr. Amy Herring will become the new Director of this Facility Core on April 1, 2007.
- The Biomarkers Facility Core provides access to GC and LC/MS/MS equipment for DNA and protein biomarker studies, real-time and slot blot assays for DNA damage and repair, immunohistochemistry and image analysis, extensive support for proteomics, as well as microarray, metabolomics and mouse genotyping services that enable Center investigators to introduce and better utilize biomarkers and “omics” technology in their research. Dr. Gunnar Boysen became Director of this Facility Core last fall, following the departure from UNC of Dr. Borchers
- The Nutrient Assessment Facility Core adapts and translates expertise in nutrient biomarker analysis and diet assessment for inclusion in environmental population-based studies. These investigations are also supported in the GCRC, where clinical trials can test hypotheses on gene-environment interactions.
Community Outreach and Education Program
The Community Education and Outreach Program (COEP) plays a vital role in promoting awareness of environmental health issues and in disseminating research findings of Center investigators to professionals, the media, and the public at large. The COEP emphasizes issues affecting the state of North Carolina and promotes two-way scientist/citizen interactions, as well as translation of CEHS research to the state and local health agencies. One of our CEHS Highlights featured for the current year corresponds to the Community Outreach and Education Program.
The Pilot Projects Program (PPP) provides a critical mechanism to stimulate new, innovative, and collaborative research at the Center, providing short-term funding to collect preliminary data or demonstrate feasibility of an idea to strengthen a grant proposal and pursue support from funding sources. The PPP is targeted at new investigators, encouraging them to developing a research program in environmental health; established investigators interested in pursuing an innovative research line involving new collaborations; and established investigators in other research areas, who have an interest in applying their expertise to Center-related issues. During 2006, the PPP received 14 applications for Standard PP and were able to fund 6. Five of the PP went to young investigators and one went to a senior investigator undertaking a project on Susceptibility to Prenatal Dieldrin Exposure. Recently, we have been granted permission by NIEHS to expand our PPP award types, introducing a new type of pilot project that is directed towards enhancing the role of the physician-scientist in multi-disciplinary research in environmental health. This new PPP award program will give preference to pilot applications that list the physician-scientist as PI, although we will also accept applications where the physician-scientist is a key co-investigator of the proposed project. Overall, the PPP has been very successful in generating data for subsequently funded grant applications: an investment of $745,000 yielded new grants totaling $12,114,465, a 16-fold return on investment, as described in detail in the PPP document and tables.
The Administrative Core houses the Director, Deputy Director, Scientific Coordinator, Business Manager, and other support personnel. Its purpose is to ensure integration and efficient operation of the activities of the Center in order to achieve its top priority: to bring about a higher level of cross-disciplinary thinking, grant proposal writing, and research on important issues in environmental health. The Administrative Core is led by the Center Director, Dr. James A. Swenberg, who is assisted by the Deputy Director, Dr. Marilie D. Gammon, the Scientific Coordinator, Dr. Jorge N. Izquierdo, and the Business Manager, Ms. Evelyn Kidd. The Administrative Core is responsible for membership decisions, financial operations, new recruitments, Pilot Projects Program, Enrichment Program, communications, and evaluation activities, including those of the Internal Advisory Committee (which meets quarterly) and External Advisory Committee (which meets annually).
