Genes, Environment and Health Initiative Invests
In Genetic Studies, Environmental Monitoring Technologies
Studies Focus on Common Conditions, Personal Environmental Exposures
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has selected the first
projects to be funded as part of the Genes, Environment and Health
Initiative (GEI), a unique collaboration between geneticists and
environmental scientists.
"This is ground-breaking research in understanding the complex
factors that contribute to health and disease," said Department
of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt. "Researchers
have long known that our genes, our environmental exposures and
our own behavioral choices all have an influence on our health.
This new initiative will use innovative genomic tools as well as
new instruments for measuring environmental factors — from
diet and physical activity to stress and substance addiction — in
order to begin sorting out how these different factors affect a
person’s risk for a number of health conditions."
Secretary Leavitt first launched the GEI initiative in February
2006 as a proposal in the President's budget for fiscal year 2007.
The funding announced today is for the first research grants under
the new initiative. They are part of a broader effort across HHS
agencies to build on recent advances in genomic science and medicine,
including the Secretary's Initiative on Personalized Health Care.
NIH received $40 million in new funding as part of its fiscal year
(FY) 2007 budget to support GEI. NIH institutes already planned
to spend some $28 million in FY 2007 on the kinds of studies GEI
will conduct. And finally, two institutes chose to add a total
of $9 million in additional funding for targeted studies under
the Genes, Environment and Health Initiative.
To identify the genetic risks, researchers will use the rapidly
evolving technologies used in genome-wide association studies to
focus on common conditions, such as tooth decay, heart disease,
cancer and diabetes. This genetic component of GEI uses a strategy
which relies on the newfound ability to swiftly identify genetic
differences throughout the genome between people with an illness
and those who are healthy, leading to an understanding of the underlying
genetic contribution to the disease. The environmental component
will begin by developing new technologies that accurately measure
personal exposures with small, wearable sensors that can be used
to assess environmental agents. The final component of the research
strategy is to determine whether the effect of genetic variants
that increase disease risk is different in the presence of environmental
exposures. In the first year, NIH will fund eight genome-wide association
studies, two genotyping centers, a coordinating center and more
than 30 environmental technology projects.
"Genome-wide association studies have proven themselves to be
powerful tools for discovering the genetic contributions to common
diseases," said Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., director of the NIH, which
is part of HHS. "Early findings from such studies have identified
new genetic variants associated with a higher risk of common diseases
such as prostate cancer, diabetes and heart disease, but researchers
have only scratched the surface. The genetic studies being funded
today will identify many novel genetic variants associated with
an increased risk for these health conditions."
The genome-wide association studies will be led by the National
Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of NIH. First-year
funding for the studies was contributed by all NIH institutes and
centers, including an extra investment by NIH’s National Institute
of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR).
The principal investigators, approximate funding levels and health
condition to be focused on are:
Terri Beaty, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore
International Consortium to Identify Genes and Interactions Controlling
Oral Clefts,
$622,000
Laura Bierut, M.D., Washington University School
of Medicine, St. Louis
Study of Addiction: Genetics and Environment,
$561,000
Eric Boerwinkle, Ph.D., The University of Texas
Health Science Center at Houston
Genome-wide Association for Gene-environment Interaction Effects
Influencing Coronary Heart Disease
$257,000
Neil Caporaso, M.D., National Cancer Institute,
Bethesda, Md.
A Genome-wide Association in a Population-based Lung Cancer Study
$349,000
Frank Hu, M.D., Ph.D., Harvard School of Public
Health, Boston.
Genes and Environment Initiatives in Type 2 Diabetes
$622,000
William Lowe, M.D., Northwestern University,
Chicago
Genome-wide Association Mapping: Maternal Metabolism-birth Weight
Interactions
$572,000
Mary Marazita, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh,
Pittsburgh
Dental Caries (Tooth Decay): Whole Genome Association and Gene
x Environment Studies
$492,000
Jeffrey Murray, M.D., University of Iowa, Iowa
City
Genome-wide Association Studies of Prematurity and Its Complications
$488,000
"In the past, hunting for the genes causing any disease has been
a long and arduous task, but the biomedical tools and technologies
now available to researchers are breathtaking," said Francis S.
Collins, M.D., Ph.D., NHGRI director and co-chair of the NIH coordinating
committee for GEI. "These tools will enhance how we predict, diagnose
and ultimately design personalized prevention and treatments for
our patients."
In addition to the genome-wide association studies, two genotyping
facilities and a coordinating center have also received funding
for GEI. An additional estimated $9 million of GEI funds will be
committed to the genotyping centers in September once late-breaking
scientific opportunities are identified and prioritized, to process
additional samples which will provide even greater power and accuracy
to the genome-wide association studies. All genome-wide association
elements of GEI are being awarded as cooperative agreements.
The principal investigators and approximate total funding levels
are:
Genotyping Facilities
Stacey Gabriel, Ph.D., Broad Institute of MIT
and Harvard, Cambridge, Mass.
A Center for GEI Association Studies
$3.8 million
David Valle, M.D., Center for Inherited Disease
Research, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University/Center
for Inherited Disease Research
Genotyping for Genome-wide Association Studies
$3.5 million
Coordinating Center
Bruce Weir, Ph.D., University of Washington, Seattle
$1.2 million
Data from the genome-wide association studies will be deposited
in the database of Genotypes and Phenotypes (dbGaP), http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=gap,
at the National Center for Biotechnology Information, a part of
the National Library of Medicine at NIH, which will manage the
vast amount of genetic, medical and environmental information that
emerges from GEI. To encourage rapid research advances, and in
keeping with the principles pioneered by the Human Genome Project,
all data generated through these initiatives will be made available
to researchers, consistent with NIH’s data-sharing policy for NIH-supported,
genome-wide association studies, which is available on NIH’s Office
of Extramural Research Genome-Wide Association Studies Web page
at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/gwas/.
For researchers who want to view genome-wide association data
produced by GEI, dbGaP offers two levels of access. The first is
open-access, which means the information will be available without
restriction on the Internet, and the second is controlled-access,
which requires preauthorization for the individual researcher seeking
to view it. The open-access section will allow users to view study
documents, such as protocols, questionnaires and summaries of genotype
and phenotype data. The second is the controlled-access portion
of the database, which allows approved researchers to download
individual-level genotype and phenotype data from which the study
participants’ personal identifiers, such as names, have been removed.
The Exposure Biology Program, which makes up the other component
of GEI, is being coordinated primarily by the National Institute
of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), in partnership with the
National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Heart, Lung and Blood
Institute (NHLBI), and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA),
all of which are part of NIH. This program will support interdisciplinary
teams of basic scientists, bioengineers, physician-scientists and
others working to: 1) develop environmental sensors for measuring
toxins, dietary intake, physical activity, psychosocial stress
and addictive substances; 2) identify biomarkers in the human body
that indicate activation of disease mechanisms such as oxidative
stress, inflammation and DNA damage; and 3) integrate sensor and
biomarker technologies so that they can be applied to genome-wide
association studies to better understand gene-environment interactions.
"Common human diseases such as cancer and diabetes result from
a complex interplay between genes and environmental risk factors," said
Brenda Weis, Ph.D., NIEHS senior science advisor. "The goal of
this program is to develop the technology to better understand
how environmental exposures affect disease risk."
Cooperative agreements totaling approximately $19 million, including
an additional commitment of $5.6 million from NIEHS, have been
awarded to 34 investigators to develop these exciting new technologies.
The principal investigators, project titles and approximate total
funding levels are listed below in five areas of emphasis:
Environmental Sensors for Personal Exposure Assessment
Ginger Chew, Sc.D., Columbia University, New
York
Rapid Allergenic Particle Identification (RAPID)
$529,000
Steven Chillrud, Ph.D., Columbia University,
New York
Smart Miniaturized Personal Monitors for Black Carbon and Multiple
Air Pollutants
$441,000
Markus Erbeldinger, Ph.D., ICx Agentase, Pittsburgh
Enzyme Based Wearable Environmental Sensor Badge for Personal Exposure
Assessment
$331,000
Ashok Mulchandani, Ph.D., University of California
at Riverside, Riverside
Wearable Nanosensor Array for Real-time Monitoring of Diesel and
Gasoline Exhaust
$567,000
Charles Rodes, Ph.D., Research Triangle Institute,
Research Triangle Park, N.C.
Personal Aerosol Sensor Platform to Link Children's Exposures to
Asthma Severity
$481,000
Sang Young Son, Ph.D., University of Cincinnati,
Cincinnati
Development and Field Test of a Positional Tagging Miniature Personal
Sensor for PM 1.0
$552,000
Ken Suslick, Ph.D., University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, Urbana-Champaign
A VOC Dosimeter Based on a Colorimetric Sensor Array
$589,000
Nongjian Tao, Ph.D., Arizona State University,
Tempe
A Wearable Wireless System for Real-Time Monitoring of Chemical
Toxicants
$525,000
Tools to Measure Exposure to Psychosocial Stress and Addictive
Substances
Thomas W. Kamarck, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh,
Pittsburgh
Computer-assisted Technologies for Tracking Exposure to Psychosocial
Stress
$426,000
Gregory D. Kirk, M.D., Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore
Real-time Assessment of Individual and Neighborhood Exposure to
Drugs and Stress Using Hand-held Electronic Diaries and Position
Technology
$492,000
Santosh Kumar, Ph.D., University of Memphis,
Memphis, Tenn.
Wireless Skin Patch Sensors to Detect and Transmit Addiction and
Psychosocial Stress Data
$429,000
Kenzie L. Preston, Ph.D., National Institute
on Drug Abuse, Baltimore
Real-time Assessment of Individual and Neighborhood Exposure to
Drugs and Stress Using Hand-held Electronic Diaries and Position
Technology
$157,000
Mark S. Rea, Ph.D., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
Troy, N.Y.
A Personal Light-monitoring Device for Reducing Psychosocial Stress
$482,000
Vivek Shetty, D.D.S., Dr. Med.Dent., University
of California, Los Angeles
Handheld Salivary Biosensor of Psychosocial Stress
$357,000
Improved Measures of Diet and Physical Activity
Tom Baranowski, Ph.D., Baylor College of Medicine,
Houston
Food Intake Recording Software System: Version 4
$571,000
Carol Boushey, Ph.D., Purdue University, West
Lafayette, Ind.
Improving Dietary Assessment Methods Using the Cell Phone and Digital
Imaging
$452,000
Patty Freedson, Ph.D., University of Massachusetts,
Amherst
Development of an Integrated Measurement System to Assess Physical
Activity
$411,000
Stephen Intille, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, Cambridge
Enabling Population-scale Physical Activity Measurement on Common
Mobile Phones
$681,000
Kevin Patrick, M.D., University of California,
San Diego
A Tool for Geospatial Analysis of Physical Activity
$666,000
Mingui Sun, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh,
Pittsburgh
A Unified Sensor System for Ubiquitous Assessment of Diet and Physical
Activity
$587,000
Rick Weiss, M.S., Princeton Multimedia Technologies
Corporation, Princeton, N.J.
Mobile Food Intake Visualization and Voice Recognizer (FIVR)
$1,040,000
Biological Response Indicators of Environmental Stress
Ian Blair, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia
Exposure and Biological Response Biomarkers of Cigarette Smoke
$557,000
Sisir Dutta, Ph.D., Howard University, Washington,
D.C.
Early Disease Biomarkers of PCB-exposed Human Populations
$485,000
Bevin Engelward, Ph.D., Sc.D., Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Cambridge
Comet-chip High-throughput DNA Damage Sensor
$429,000
Albert Fornace, M.D., Georgetown University,
Washington, D.C.
Genomic and Metabolomic Signatures of Alcohol-induced Liver Damage
$288,000
Frank Gonzalez, Ph.D., National Cancer Institute,
Bethesda, Md.
Genomic and Metabolomic Signatures of Alcohol-induced Liver Damage
$136,000
Tim Huang, Ph.D., The Ohio State University,
Columbus
Epigenetic Signatures of Xenoestrogens to Assess Breast Cancer
Risk
$365,000
Bruce Kristal, Ph.D., Brigham and Women’s Hospital,
Boston
Mitochondrial, Metabolite and Protein Biomarkers of Effects of
Diet
$454,000
Coral Lamartiniere, Ph.D., University of Alabama
at Birmingham
Biomarkers of Biological Response to Endocrine Disruptors
$579,000
David Lawrence, Ph.D., Wadsworth Center, Albany,
N.Y.
Biomarker Signatures of Biological, Chemical and Psychological
Stress
$446,000
Avrum Spira, M.D., Boston University, Boston
A Non-invasive Gene Expression Biomarker of Airway Response to
Tobacco Smoke
$643,000
Charles Thompson, Ph.D., University of Montana,
Missoula
Protein Biomarkers of Organophosphate Pesticides
$502,000
Biological Response Indicators of Environmental Stress
Centers
Joel Pounds, Ph.D., Battelle Pacific Northwest
Laboratory, Richland, Wash.
Protein Biomarkers of Oxidative Stress and Inflammation Associated
with Tobacco Smoke and Obesity
$1,428,000
Stephen Rappaport, Ph.D., University of California,
Berkeley
Biomarkers and Biosensors for Studies of Blood Cancer Risks
$1,184,000
Background information on genome-wide association studies can
be found at www.genome.gov/17516714.
Background information on environmental impacts on health can be
found at www.genome.gov/17516715.
NIEHS, a component of the National Institutes of Health, supports
research to understand the effects of the environment on human
health. For more information on environmental health topics, visit http://www.niehs.nih.gov/.
NHGRI is one of 27 institutes and centers at the NIH, an agency
of the Department of Health and Human Services. The NHGRI Division
of Extramural Research supports grants for research and for training
and career development at sites nationwide. Additional information
about NHGRI can be found at its Web site, www.genome.gov.
The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research is
the nation’s leading funder of research on oral, dental and craniofacial
health. Additional information about NIDCR can be found at its
Web site, http://www.nidcr.nih.gov/.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's
Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and
Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting
and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research,
and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both
common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and
its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
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