Biological Response Indicators

The Biological Response Indicator program consists of two separate initiatives, a U01 initiative solicited through RFA-ES-06-013 and a U54 Centers program solicited through RFA- ES-06-012. Traditional approaches used to characterize the exposure of individuals to environmental and lifestyle stressors have relied on methods that quantify the intake, contact, or internal dose of agents using questionnaires or analytic assays to quantify body burden or extrapolations from external sources.  These methods have many known limitations: misclassification error, individual variability, temporal uncertainty, and temporal relevance to the natural history of disease.  These limitations in exposure assessment methodologies have produced conflicting data and hampered our ability to prevent, predict, and treat disease.  The two initiatives within the Biological Response Indicators program focus on the development and verification of biomarkers and biosensors that reflect alterations in key physiological pathways after exposure to environmental stressors. These programs adopt a product-driven approach to the development, confirmation, and application of innovative biosensors and panels of biomarkers, especially those with potential for scale-up for use in large population studies as part of the Genes and Environment Initiative.

The Biological Response Indicators of Environmental Stress Centers (U54 initiative) have undertaken comprehensive programs to develop and refine panels of biomarkers and biosensors of biological response to environmental stressors. By measuring the cellular, molecular and physiologic responses to environmental stressors in key physiologic pathways also involved in disease pathogenesis, it is hoped the relationships between genetic and non-genetic factors that contribute to disease will be better defined.  
Ten Awards were made through the U01 RFA solicitation:

1. Ian Blair, University of Pennsylvania (PDF Document, 2 Pages)
2. Sisir Dutta, Howard University (PDF Document, 3 Pages)
3. Bevin Engelward, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PDF Document 2 Pages)
4. Albert Fornace, Georgetown University/Frank Gonzalez, US National Cancer Institute (PDF Document, 1 Page)
5. Tim H.-M. Huang, Ohio State University (PDF Document, 1 Page)
6. Bruce Kristal, Brigham and Women’s Hospital (PDF Document, 2 Pages)
7. Coral Lamartiniere, University of Alabama at Birmingham (PDF Document, 2 Pages)
8. David Lawrence, Wadsworth Center (PDF Document, 2 Pages)
9. Avrum Spira, Boston University (PDF Document, 2 Pages)
10. Charles Thompson, University of Montana (PDF Document, 2 Pages)

Two Center Awards were made through the U54 RFA solicitation:

1. Joel Pounds, Pacific Northwest Laboratories (PDF Document, 2 Pages)
2. Steve Rappaport, University of California at Berkeley (PDF Document, 8 Pages)

For additional information, please contact:

Daniel Shaughnessy, PhD
Program Director
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
(919) 541-2506
Shaughn1@niehs.nih.gov

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