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National Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institutes of Health
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Research Centers

The Institute supports a variety of center programs to address a range of environmental health issues. These centers are organized in different ways to accomplish an array of goals to advance the NIEHS mission. Across the center programs, scientists pursue the full spectrum of research: basic, applied, clinical, and community-based approaches. Some centers support community outreach and translation activities to ensure that research emanating from the center can be used by community organizations, health care professionals, or policy makers. Several of the center programs are administered in partnership with other NIH institutes or federal agencies.

Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Centers

Children outside jumping into the airInitiated in 2003, the seven-year Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Centers(http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/supported/centers/breast-cancer/index.cfm) program is jointly funded by NIEHS and the National Cancer Institute. The centers are studying the impact of prenatal-to-adult environmental exposures that may predispose a woman to breast cancer.

Centers for Children's Environmental Health & Disease Prevention Research

The Centers for Children's Environmental Health & Disease Prevention Research(http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/supported/centers/prevention/index.cfm) examine the effect of environmental exposures on children's health. Through a multidisciplinary research approach including basic, applied, and community-based participatory research, the centers translate and communicate their findings to clinical and public health professionals and policy makers to alleviate the burden of environmentally induced diseases in children.

Centers for Oceans & Human Health

Collaboratively sponsored by the NIEHS and the National Science Foundation, the Centers for Oceans & Human Health(http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/supported/centers/oceans/index.cfm) program offers tremendous promise for developing more comprehensive links between oceans and human health as the world's population continues to depend on one of our greatest natural resources for food, commerce, transportation, and recreation.

Centers for Population Health & Health Disparities

The Centers for Population Health & Health Disparities(http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/supported/centers/disparities/index.cfm) are designed to support cutting-edge research to understand and reduce differences in health outcomes, access and care. Centers conduct interdisciplinary research to examine how the social and physical environment, behavioral factors, and biologic pathways interact to determine health and disease in populations. The program is supported by four NIH institutes or offices.

Collaborative Centers for Parkinson's Disease Environmental Research

Researcher examines computer display screenCreated in 2002 to accelerate the pace of progress in this important area and the translation of research findings into the public health arena, the Collaborative Centers for Parkinson's Disease Environmental Research(http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/supported/centers/parkinsons/index.cfm) foster multidisciplinary research approaches to elucidate gene-environment interactions in Parkinson’s Disease.

Disease Investigation through Specialized Clinically Oriented Ventures in Environmental Research (DISCOVER)

The Disease Investigation through Specialized Clinically Oriented Ventures in Environmental Research (DISCOVER)(http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/supported/centers/discover/index.cfm) program will facilitate the integration of mechanistically driven and patient-oriented research to speed the translation of the environmental health sciences into clinical and public health applications.

Environmental Health Sciences Core Centers

The Environmental Health Sciences Core Centers(http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/supported/centers/core/index.cfm) are designed to build infrastructure and provide resources to stimulate research in environmental health sciences, including those needed to conduct basic, translational, clinical, and public health research. The program creates an environment for development of novel technologies and approaches that can be brought to bear on new and existing research projects.

Toxicogenomics Research Consortium

The Toxicogenomics Research Consortium(http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/supported/centers/trc/index.cfm) centers are designed to enhance research in the broad area of environmental stress responses using microarray gene expression profiling; develop standards and practices which will allow analysis of gene expression data across platforms and provide an understanding of intra- and inter-laboratory variation; contribute to the development of a robust relational database which combines toxicological endpoints with changes in gene expression profiles; improve public health through better risk detection, and earlier intervention in disease processes.

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USA.gov Department of Health & Human Services National Institutes of Health
This page URL: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/supported/centers/index.cfm
NIEHS website: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/
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Last Reviewed: November 12, 2008