A trans-NIH (NIEHS, NIAAA, and NHLBI) request for applications was issued in 2006 titled "Comparative Biology Studies to Elucidate Susceptibility and Mechanisms for Pathways and Networks in Environmentally-Influenced Disease," and twelve awards have been funded in 2007 under this program. The primary purpose of the Comparative Biology program is to utilize comparative biology studies and approaches with environmental health expertise to further the understanding of mechanisms of susceptibility to environmentally-influenced diseases. Several previous NIEHS initiatives, programs and projects have provided the infrastructure and set the stage for the initiative in comparative genomics. The concept also came out of recommendations from an NIEHS Environmental Genomics Workshop that specifically encouraged more extensive use of model systems in environmental health sciences.
The grants accepted into this program are interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary projects that have a broad scope of approaches spanning many key model organisms for a wide range of environmentally-relevant diseases. Annual grantee meetings will be held to discuss scientific advances and potential for collaborations, data sharing and repositories, and other research opportunities.
Program Contacts
Kimberly A. McAllister, Ph.D. (NIEHS)
Program Administrator