NIEHS Spotlight

Trainees Prepare for Changing Job Market at Career Day

Faced with continuing changes in their career options, postdoctoral and post-baccalaureate trainees from throughout the Triangle and beyond flocked to the eleventh annual NIEHS Biomedical Career Fair on April 25....read more

Van Houten Honored by Slovak Academy of Sciences

NIEHS scientist Ben Van Houten, Ph.D., had several good reasons to look forward to his long flight to Bratslava, Slovak Republic for the “5th DNA Repair Workshop May 25 – 29, where he was to be honored with the “Medal of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS) for Support of Science.”....read more

Autism Town Hall Meeting Held in Sacramento

On May 3, more than 150 people attended a day-long Town Hall Meeting on Autism at the University of California Davis Cancer Center in Sacramento, Calif. The event was organized by NIEHS Health Science Administrator Cindy Lawler, Ph.D., and the UC Davis Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (MIND) Institute to provide an opportunity for parents and representatives of several different autism advocacy groups to interact with federal officials and researchers about the direction autism research should take....read more

Ramos Urges Expanded Planning for Emergencies

America’s 21st century disasters have led to some important work at NIEHS, including the research conducted by NIEHS/NIH Health Disparities Fellow Rose Ramos, Ph.D. Ramos, who works with the Metastasis Group, offered her thoughts on the need to “Prepare and Protect Vulnerable Populations for Emergencies” April 22 in Rodbell Auditorium and the connections with the NIH/NIEHS public health agenda....read more

Environmental Justice Grantee Receives Jane Jacobs Medal

On May 5, the Rockefeller Foundation announced that NIEHS extramural grantee Peggy Shepard was chosen as the winner of the prestigious 2008 Jane Jacobs Medal for Lifetime Leadership....read more

Veteran Summer Fellow Wins Award for Teaching Excellence

Edmond Koker, Ph.D., a multi-year NIEHS Summers of Discovery fellow and a professor of chemistry at Elizabeth City State University (ECSU), was honored May 9 as one of the 17 outstanding faculty selected by the University of North Carolina (UNC) Board of Governors as recipients of the prestigious 14th Annual Awards for Excellence in Teaching....read more

Extramural Grantee Recognized for Community-Campus Health Outreach

The University of Washington-based nonprofit Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH) announced May 4th that NIEHS Environmental Justice grantee Edward Emmett, M.D., has been recognized for his program’s partnership with the Decatur Community Association (DCA) with the 7th Annual CCPH Award. ....read more

Summers of Discovery Student Alumnae Honored

Two former Summers of Discovery student interns were honored recently by their universities for service to their communities as they have pursued studies related to their research in labs at NIEHS....read more

First Director of NIEHS Dies at 91

Pauline Kotin, wife of pioneer environmental health physician-scientist and NIEHS Director from 1966-1971 Paul Kotin, M.D., has notified friends at NIEHS of his death May 12, 2008 in Laguna Beach, Calif. In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren....read more

Inside the Institute

NIEHS People at the Biomedical Career Fair

A host of former NIEHS postdocs, grantees and scientists pitched in to help make the 2008 NIEHS Career Fair May 25 a success for NIEHS trainees.....read more

Drought Dominates NIEHS Earth Week Events

2008 NIEHS Earth Week April 22 – 24, which was organized by the Environmental Awareness Advisory Committee, featured talks, demonstrations and displays highlighting all areas of environmental sustainability — with eatable goodies, plant exchanges and live music mixed in for good measure.....read more

Stegman Retires After Nearly 30 Years Supporting Government IT

Employees gathered April 29 in Nottingham Hall to offer their best wishes to retiring Chief Information Officer (CIO) Nancy Stegman....read more

Take Your Child to Work Day a Big Success

Chalk up another successful Take Your Child to Work Day April 24 at NIEHS. NIH-wide, this annual event is championed by the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Management (OEODM)....read more

NIEHS Bike-To-Work Day

As a cycling fanatic, I am especially proud of my eight NIEHS co-workers who also gave up their cars for the day and rode bikes to and from NIEHS May 8 in celebration of Bike Month, which is organized annually by the League of American Cyclists....read more

Sweating, Groaning and Learning During Health and Fitness Week

When the magnolias start to blossom in Central North Carolina, it’s a sure sign that the annual NIEHS Health and Fitness week isn’t far away. Like the rising sap in the deciduous trees on campus, the energy level of NIEHS employees and contractors takes a leap forward as the more sedentary winter and early spring months come to a close....read more

Nottingham Staffers Enjoy Food and Music at Imperial Live at Lunch

Each spring, landlords at the Imperial Center in RTP throw a lunchtime party for the people who populate their buildings. The event combines food and drink from a major fast food vendor with music, fellowship and displays by vendors....read more

The Factor at 30 — Reflections of the Founding Editor

When I began work at NIEHS under then Public Information Officer Hugh Lee as a new hire in April 1978, my priority assignment was to start an Institute newsletter....read more

Science Notebook

Spring GEMS Meeting Focuses on MicroRNA

True to its quarter century tradition of highlighting new and emerging trends in biomedical research, the theme of the Genetics and Environmental Mutagenesis Society (GEMS) 2008 Spring Meeting was a topic of growing interest to environmental health sciences, “The Role of MicroRNA in Disease.” The group, meeting April 21 at the RTP headquarters of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), hosted presentations by five investigators working in Triangle-area labs at the cutting edge of microRNA research....read more

Duke-HHMI Researcher Delivers Rodbell Lecture

It has been nearly a decade since Martin Rodbell, Ph.D., NIEHS Scientific Director from 1985–1989, delivered his last lecture at the Institute in November 1998. Since then the lecture series that bears his name has brought a number of prominent researchers to NIEHS to discuss their work and distinguished careers in science....read more

Fogarty Director Highlights Benefits of Global Health Research

For NIH Fogarty International Center (FIC) Director Roger Glass, M.D., Ph.D., re-visiting NIEHS May 2 was a bit like coming home. In the course of his Frontiers of Environmental Sciences Seminar talk on “Global Health in the 21st Century: A Fresh Perspective,” Glass referred several times to the way his experiences with NIEHS have profoundly influenced his 36-year career in global environmental health. ....read more

New Opportunities for Disseminating Environmental Justice Research

Opportunities for Environmental Justice researchers have increased due to two recent developments. On May 14, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. announced the publication of the first issue of its new journal, Environmental Justice, featuring NIEHS Director Emeritus and Principal Investigator Ken Olden, Ph.D., in the position of senior editor. Earlier in the month, the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) issued “A Call for Papers: Environmental and Occupational Justice” for a special issue to be published in 2009....read more

SBRP Distinguished Lecture - Metal Oxides, Applications and Health Effects

Ian Kennedy, Ph.D., a Superfund Basic Research Program (SBRP)-funded engineer from the University of California, Davis (UCD), spoke to NIEHS scientists May 12 in Rodbell Auditorium. His SBRP Distinguished Lecture focused on “Metal Oxides: Applications and Health.” Kennedy wears two hats as an SBRP investigator—he is an engineer by training and a biologist by association. According to lecture host and SBRP Acting Director Claudia Thompson, Ph.D., he exemplifies what the SBRP fosters — interdisciplinary studies and multidisciplinary research....read more

MIT Researcher Offers Insight into Death by DNA Repair

On May 19, the Genetics Training Action Committee (TAC), comprised of postdoctoral fellows in the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, hosted a talk by DNA damage expert Leona Samson, Ph.D. The presentation, "Complex Responses to Damaging Agents," was part of TAC’s continuing seminar series and took place in Rodbell Auditorium. IRTA Fellow Chris Halweg, Ph.D., hosted the event.....read more

Upcoming Distinguished Lecturer Jonathan Samet

The 2007 – 2008 NIEHS Distinguished Lecture Series will welcome its next speaker, Jonathan Samet, M.D., at 11:00 a.m. June 10 in Rodbell Auditorium, when he explores the topic of “Airborne Particles and Health; What Do We Know in 2008?” The lecture host will be NIEHS Acting Clinical Director Darryl Zeldin, M.D. Samet is chairman of the Department of Epidemiology, director of the Institute for Global Tobacco Control and the Irene B. Fabrikant Professor in Health, Risk and Society at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health....read more

Extramural Research

Extramural Update

NIEHS grant applications submitted in June 2008 may be eligible for review by a new pilot special emphasis panel (SEP) recently approved by the NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR)....read more

Extramural Papers of the Month

• Deconstructing Aflatoxin B1 Production
• Statin Drugs Reduce the Risk of Parkinson’s Disease
• New Findings Contradict Aging/Mitochondrial DNA Mutation Theory
• World Trade Center: Modeling Exposure Based on Perceived Air Pollution

Intramural Research

Intramural Papers of the Month

• Indicators of Obesity Are Related to Disability in the Elderly
• Altered RNA-binding in Yeast Puf4p
• Glis2 is Critical for Proper Kidney Function
• Vitamin E and NAG-1 Play a Role in Prostate Cancer

Calendar of Upcoming Events

• June 2 in Rall F-193, 10:00 – 11:00 — Laboratory of Signal Transduction Seminar Series featuring Zefeng Wang, Ph.D., speaking on "Towards a splicing code: the regulation and modulation of pre-mRNA splicing"
• June 3 (All over campus) 8:00 – 5:00 — Third Annual NIEHS Friends and Family Day
• June 5 at the NIEHS Ball Field Picnic Shelter, 11:30 – 1:00 — Blacks In Government (BIG) Annual Fish Fry
• June 10 in Rodbell Auditorium, 11:00 – 12:00 — Distinguished Lecture Seminar Series with Jonathan Samet, M.D., speaking on “Airborne Particles and Health: What Do We Know in 2008?”
• June 11 – 12 (Offsite Event) at the Radisson Hotel Research Triangle Park, 8:30 – 5:00 — NTP Board of Scientific Counselors Meeting
• June 12 in Rodbell Auditorium, 11:00 – 12:00 — Seminar on “Cutting Edge Consent: What Law and Ethics May Require Beyond Current Practices,” presented by Jerry Menikoff, M.D., J.D.
• June 12 in Rall F-193, 1:00 – 2:00 — Laboratory of Structural Biology Seminar Series on “For Mammalian Expression - Go Viral?” with Robert Petrovich, Ph.D.
• June 18 — 19 (Offsite Event) at the Radisson Hotel Research Triangle Park — Meeting of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Alternative Toxicological Methods (SACATM)
• June 19 in Rall F-193, 1:00 – 2:00 — Seminar on "Engineering the Pumilio RNA Binding Domain to Modulate RNA Splicing," speaker TBA
• June 24 in Rodbell Auditorium 9:00 – 11:00 — Town Hall Information Meeting on new ID Badge and the Personal Identity Verification Process at NIEHS
• June 30 in Rodbell Auditorium, 11:00 – 12:00 — Partnership for Environmental Public Health Workshop

View More Events: NIEHS Public Calendar

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The Environmental Factor is produced monthly by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/), Office of Communications and Public Liaison. The content is not copyrighted, and it can be reprinted without permission. If you use parts of Environmental Factor in your publication, we ask that you provide us with a copy for our records. We welcome your comments and suggestions. (bruskec@niehs.nih.gov)