NIEHS Spotlight

Wilson Updates Council on NIEHS Developments and Challenges

As he began his report at the 123rd regular meeting of the National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council February 19 in Rodbell Auditorium, NIEHS Acting Director Sam Wilson, M.D., greeted members with his characteristic low key humor....read more

Trans-Agency Agreement to Transform Environmental Health Protection

Recent advances in science and technology now make it possible to improve how scientists evaluate the health risks posed by chemicals found in the environment....read more

NCCU Chancellor Speaks at Black History Month Celebration

Most Americans know that February is Black History Month, but many don’t realize the origins of the observance. That’s why the employees of the Research Triangle Park (RTP) campus....read more

Plan Expedites Alternatives to Animal Testing

A new plan to further reduce, refine and replace the use of animals in research and regulatory testing, commonly referred to as the 3Rs, was unveiled at a symposium February 5 in Bethesda, Md. marking the....read more

Bioethicist Addresses Issues of Responsibility for Health

NIEHS Bioethicist David Resnik, J.D., Ph.D., presented his latest contribution to the on-going discourse about health policy and spending priorities in the United States with his January 31 talk in Rodbell Auditorium....read more

Theologian Challenges Audience at MLK Observation

Theologian and ethicist James Seymour, D.Min., addressed a capacity audience in Rodbell Auditorium during the NIEHS Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Observation January 30....read more

NIEHS To Celebrate Women in Science with March Events

As part of its observance of Women’s History Month, NIEHS plans a series of talks featuring women scientists during March. Events will include the seventh annual Spirit Lecture, jointly sponsored by the NIEHS Frontiers of Environmental Sciences (FES) Lecture Series, three additional FES Lectures by women scientists, talks....read more

Inside the Institute

Institute Celebrates China Day

By the time the China Day celebration on February 12 got underway, the NIEHS Cafeteria was packed with employees, contractors and relatives drawn to the event by the promise of good food and entertainment....read more

Family Health Seminar on Loss and Grieving

Clinical associate Edna Ballard has had ample opportunity to see the various ways that individuals face loss and express their grief....read more

Schwartz Accepts Research Position in Denver

Former NIEHS Director David Schwartz, M.D., will end his three-year tenure with the Institute in May to assume a research position with the National Jewish Medical and Research Center (NJMRC) in Denver, Colo....read more

Science Notebook

Researcher Warns about Gestational Weight Gain

Nutritional epidemiologist Anna Maria Siega-Riz, Ph.D., had good reason to sound alarmed when she talked about pregnancy and weight gain during her February 1 Frontiers of Environmental Sciences lecture in Rodbell Auditorium....read more

Increased Allergen Levels in Homes Linked to Asthma

Not all asthma sufferers have respiratory allergies, but the ones who do must be wary of certain "triggers" that initiate asthma attacks. The results of new research may help the millions of Americans who fall into this category....read more

Methods Determine Estrogenization Effects in Infants

Some studies suggest that adults who consume foods rich in soy protein receive several health benefits such as healthy bones and a decreased risk of breast or prostate cancer, although research investigating diets rich in soy are in progress....read more

Superfund Program Helps Train Mexico’s Environmental Scientists

Thanks to Hugo Alonso Zúñiga Hernández — and other young scientists like him — what now looks like a moonscape in the Mexican state of Sonora may one day again live up to the meaning of its name in the Opata language, the “Place of Corn.”....read more

UC-San Diego Superfund Researcher Honored with Gillette Award

Former Superfund Basic Research Program (SBRP) scientist Kathy Senekeo-Effenberger, who worked in the laboratory of Pharmacologist Robert Tukey, Ph.D., at the University of California-San Diego (UC-San Diego), was awarded the James R. Gillette Drug Metabolism Best Paper of 2007....read more

Upcoming Distinguished Lecture Features Kathryn Horwitz

The 2007-2008 NIEHS Distinguished Lecture Series continues at 11:00 a.m. March 11 with a talk by Kathryn Horwitz, Ph.D., on “Hormonal Regulation of Breast Cancer: Stem Cells and Metastasis.”....read more

Extramural Research

Extramural Update

The NIEHS appropriation for fiscal year 2008 provides for an overall budget for grants amounting to one percent more than 2007 funding....read more

Extramural Papers of the Month

• New In Vitro Test May Replace Some Animal Testing
• Early-life Exposure to Lead Causes Alzheimer’s Like Changes in Older Monkeys
• Oxidative Stress Marker Identified in Stroke Victims
• Lipoic Acid Supplementation Inhibits Lesion Development in Mice

Intramural Research

Intramural Papers of the Month

• Atopic Asthma Risks to Women in the Agricultural Health Study
• Nicotinamide Involvement in Hormone-Mediated Transcription
• Crystallization of the Type II Dihydrofolate Reductase Complex
• The Roles of XRCC1 and Pol β in Repair of SSBs

Calendar of Upcoming Events

• March 3 in Rodbell Auditorium, 2:00 – 3:00 — Frontiers in Environmental Sciences Lecture Series, featuring Devra Davis, Ph.D., speaking on “The Need to Revitalize Toxicology: Lessons from the Secret History of the War on Cancer”
• March 4 in Rodbell Auditorium A, 1:30 – 2:30 — Seminar on "Disability and Social Justice" with David Resnik, J.D., Ph.D.
• March 4 - 6 (Offsite Event) at the U.S. Geological Survey National Center in Reston, Va., 8:00 – 5:00 — GeoHealth I: Building Bridges Across the Geological and Health Sciences
• March 6 in Rodbell Auditorium AB, 8:00 – 4:00 — Science Teachers Workshop
• March 6 in Rodbell Auditorium C, 11:00 – 12:00 — Seminar on “Procreative Responsibility and the Ethics of Stem Cell Research” with Anne Drapkin Lyerly, MD
• March 7 in Rodbell Auditorium, 9:00 – 10:00 — Spirit Lecture/Frontiers in Environmental Sciences Lecture Series on "Application of Omics-Based Tools and Microarrays to Optimize Bioremediation," featuring Lisa Alvarez-Cohen, Ph.D., Topic TBA
• March 10 in Rodbell Auditorium, 10:00 – 11:00 — Women’s History Month Presentations by RAISE Project Directors Stephanie Pincus, M.D., and Florence Haseltine, M.D., Ph.D.
• March 10 in Rodbell Auditorium, 2:00 – 4:00 — International Women’s Day Panel Discussion with NIEHS Scientists Maria Kadiiska, M.D., Ph.D.; Harriet Kinyamu, Ph.D.; Xiaoling Li, Ph.D.; and Ivana Yang, Ph.D.
• March 11 in Rodbell Auditorium, 11:00 – 12:00 — Distinguished Lecture Series with Kathryn Horwitz, Ph.D., speaking on “Hormonal Regulation of Breast Cancer: Stem Cells and Metastasis ”
• March 14 -18 (Offsite Event) in Philadelphia, Penn., 8:00 – 5:00 — American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Meeting
• March 14 in Rodbell Auditorium, 9:00 – 10:00 — Frontiers in Environmental Sciences Lecture Series, featuring a talk by Deborah A. Cory-Slechta, Ph.D., “Multiple Hit Models of Neurotoxicity: Clarifying the Contribution of Neurotoxicants to Human Diseases and Disorders”
• March 25 in Rodbell Auditorium, 8:00 – 4:00 — NC Environmental Stewardship Initiative Participants Meeting
• March 27 - 30 (Offsite Event) in Istanbul, Turkey 8:00 – 5:00 — 3rd Euro-Asian Conference on Hazardous Waste & Human Health
• March 27 in Rodbell Auditorium AB, 8:00 – 4:00 — Science Teachers Workshop
• March 28 in Rodbell Auditorium, 9:00 – 10:00 — Frontiers in Environmental Sciences Lecture Series talk on "Environmental Science and Social Responsibility" by JoAnn Burkholder, Ph.D

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)