The Genes, Environment and Health Initiative, Exposure Biology Program, 2nd Annual Grantees Meeting

January 13 - 15, 2009

Purpose

The NIH Genes, Environment, and Health Initiative (GEI) was launched in 2006 to support efforts to identify major genetic susceptibility factors for diseases of substantial public health impact and to develop technologies for reliable and reproducible measurement of potentially causative environmental exposures. GEI encompasses both basic research on genetics and exposure biology and translational research that will attempt to relate the research findings to clinical settings.

The Exposure Biology Program focuses on the development of innovative technologies to measure environmental exposures, diet, physical activity, psychosocial stress, and addictive substances that contribute to the development of disease. The program funds 32 cooperative agreements and a SBIR program to: develop environmental sensors for measurement of chemicals, dietary intake, physical activity, and psychosocial stressors and addictive substances; and develop and verify markers of biological response that are indicative of activation of common pathogenic mechanisms. The long range goal is to apply these tools to genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of gene-environment interaction.

This Second Annual Grantees Meeting will host a series of presentations and discussions on developing and validating new tools and biomarkers for evaluating exposure and response to environmental and lifestyle stressors. Investigators in the Exposure Biology Program will share their research progress.

Organizers

• David Balshaw, Ph.D. (NIEHS)
• Carol Boushey, Ph.D. (Purdue University)
• Gwen Collman, Ph.D. (NIEHS)
• Santosh Kumar, Ph.D. (University of Memphis)
• Catherine Loria, Ph.D. (NHLBI)
• Joel Pounds, Ph.D. (Pacific Northwest Laboratories)
• Jill Reedy, Ph.D. (NCI)
• Charles Rodes, Ph.D. (Research Triangle Institute)
• Daniel Shaughnessy, Ph.D. (NIEHS)
• Jeffrey Schulden, M.D. (NIDA)
• Vivek Shetty, D.D.S. (University of California, Los Angeles)
• Kay Wanke, Ph.D. (NIDA)

Contacts

David Balshaw
Phone: 919.541.2448
balshaw@niehs.nih.gov

Jennifer Collins
Phone: 919.541.0117
collins6@niehs.nih.gov

Daniel Shaughnessy
Phone: 919.541.2506
shaughn1@niehs.nih.gov