Environmental Factor, May 2008, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
NIEHS Spotlight
Arizona Superfund Student Receives Prestigious SOT Award
Kylee Eblin, a Ph.D. candidate from the University of Arizona (UA) School of Pharmacy, received the “2008 Women in Toxicology, Student Achievement Award” from the Society of Toxicology (SOT) at the 47th Annual Meeting and ToxExpo™ in Seattle, Wash., March 16-20....read more
Gene, Environment and Disease Panel Meets in San Francisco
At an NIEHS-sponsored international meeting held March 27 – 28 in San Francisco, a panel of American and Japanese environmental health experts explored gene-environment-disease interactions with a workshop titled “Oxidative Injury as a Central Mechanism of Disease.”....read more
Meeting Explores NIEHS Climate Change Agenda
A former convent known fondly as the Cloisters, now known as Building 60 on the NIH Campus in Bethesda, Md., was the setting for an April 16 meeting on “Framing the NIEHS Agenda on Climate Change.”....read more
NTP Seeks Public Input on BPA Draft Report
A request for public comment by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) on its much anticipated Draft NTP Brief on Bisphenol A (BPA) on April 15 sparked interest in the national and environmental media. Web commentary showed up almost immediately, and reports appeared the next day in newspapers and on wire services across the United States and Canada....read more
Superfund and Worker Training Hold Technical Workshop
The NIEHS Superfund Basic Research Program (SBRP) and the Worker Education and Training Program (WETP) met at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) campus in Bethesda, Md. April 3-4.....read more
Graziano Chosen NIEHS Liaison to Council of Councils
When the NIH Council of Councils held its first meeting March 31 – April 1 on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Md., NIEHS was represented by long-time extramural grantee and Council member Joseph Graziano, Ph.D. Graziano is one of 27 liaisons representing advisory councils at NIH institutes and centers....read more
NIEHS Hosts Annual NC Environmental Stewardship Initiative Meeting
Not everyone who attended the annual North Carolina Environmental Stewardship Initiative (ESI) Members Meeting on March 25 in Rodbell Auditorium was a North Carolina native — or even an environmental manager or engineer.....read more
NIH Holds First Annual Career Symposium
The NIH held its first annual Career Symposium April 9 in the Natcher Conference Center on the NIH Bethesda Campus. The event provided an opportunity for NIH graduate students and postdocs, including a group of 11 from NIEHS, to learn about the variety of career options in science and how to develop the skills necessary to be successful in their future careers....read more
Science Teachers Attend NIEHS Workshop on Toxicology
NIEHS held its second 2008 continuing education “Rx for Science Literacy” workshop for science teachers in Rodbell Auditorium March 27. The attendees experienced a full day of participant-involvement exercises, presentations and facility tours introducing them to new developments in the field and giving them credit for re-certification....read more
Former Postdoc Awarded Hartwell Fellowship at Duke
A decision by former NIEHS Postdoctoral Fellow Terri Ellis, Ph.D., to accept a position at Duke University in 2006 set in motion a series of research accomplishments that culminated this year in an award any young scientist would be proud to receive — a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Duke funded at $50,000 per year by the Hartwell Foundation, headquartered in Memphis, Tenn....read more
Inside the Institute
"Radio In Vivo" Highlights NIH Nanomaterials Research
On April 9, NIEHS scientist Sally Tinkle, Ph.D., was the featured guest on “Radio In Vivo,” a show aired live each Wednesday on WCOM-FM 103.5, Community Radio of Carrboro, N.C. She responded to questions about the use and safety of nanomaterials during the hour-long interview with host Ernie Hood....read more
NIEHS Welcomes New Chief Information Officer
Heather Nicholas began work April 28 as NIEHS chief information officer (CIO), following her selection by committee made up of staff from the Intramural and Extramural divisions, as well as a senior information technology (IT) professional from Brown University....read more
NIEHS Represented at Communication Workshop
NIEHS employees were among more than 50 participants at a communications skill-building workshop held April 3 at North Carolina State University (NCSU). The day-long event, “Communicating Science: Tools for Scientists and Engineers,” attracted researchers, students, and communicators from universities and other organizations in and near the Triangle....read more
Science Notebook
Cancer Researcher Speaks at Postdoc Seminar
Several times a year, the postdoctoral fellows who make up the Genetics Training Action Committee (TAC) in the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics invite distinguished scientists to NIEHS to talk about their work. On April 7, TAC held its second seminar of 2008, which featured cancer researcher Joann Sweasy, Ph.D....read more
Laureate Cautious, Hopeful about Climate Change
Speaking as part of the NIEHS Frontiers of Environmental Sciences lecture series in Rodbell Auditorium April 18, global environmental public health expert Jonathan Patz, M.D., hit a potentially optimistic note in the face of grim predictions about the effects of climate change — even as he presented a long list of reasons for taking immediate action....read more
Grant Awarded for BPA-Epigenetics Research
The NIEHS Division of Extramural Research and Training (DERT) approved a fourth five-year renewal of a center grant to the Center for Environmental Genetics (CEG) at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine (UCCM) Department of Environmental Health....read more
Brain Study May Lead to Improved Epilepsy Treatments
Using a rodent model of epilepsy, researchers found one of the body’s own neurotransmitters released during seizures, glutamate, turns on a signaling pathway in the brain that increases production of a protein that could reduce medication entry into the brain....read more
UNC Physician Discusses Autism and Brain Development
“Brain enlargement is a real phenomenon in autism,” said Joseph Piven, M.D., a physician-researcher in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill, as he addressed NIEHS during the April 4 Frontiers in Environmental Sciences seminar....read more
Lefkowitz to Give Rodbell Lecture May 5
On May 5 from 2:00 to 3:00, Robert K. Lefkowitz, M.D., will deliver the tenth annual Rodbell Lecture on “Seven Transmembrane Receptors.”....read more
Extramural Research
Extramural Update
NIEHS Acting Director Sam Wilson, M.D., and Acting Deputy Director Bill Suk, Ph.D., have experienced more than their share of lonely late nights and airline inconveniences in the past six months as they have visited NIEHS extramural grantees throughout the United States....read more
Extramural Papers of the Month
- Is Exposure to Air Pollution a Risk Factor for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases?
- C. elegans Protect Chromosomes in Unique Way
- Manganese Caused Neurodegeneration in Non-Human Primates
- Notch: A Protein that Controls Bone Formation and Strength
Intramural Research
Intramural Papers of the Month
- More Dietary Fiber May Protect Against COPD
- A Novel Approach for Indentifying Transcription Factor Binding Sites
- 17β-estradiol Enhances Nucleosome Remodeling Independent of Estrogen Receptors
- Synaptic Elimination in Rat Hippocampal Neurons
Calendar of Upcoming Events
- May 2 in Rodbell Auditorium, 9:00 – 10:30 — Frontiers in Environmental Sciences Lecture Series, featuring Roger Glass, M.D., Ph.D., speaking on “Global Health in the 21st Century: A Fresh Perspective”
- May 5 in Rodbell Auditorium, 10:00 – 11:30 — Laboratory of Molecular Genetics Invited Lecture on “Random Mutations in Cancer and Aging” by Lawrence Loeb, Ph.D.
- May 5 in Rodbell Auditorium, 2:00 — 3:00 — Rodbell Lecture with Robert Lefkowitz, M.D., speaking on “Seven Transmembrane Receptors”
- May 6 in Executive Conference Room, 12:00 — 1:00 — Receptor Mechanism Discussion Group, featuring David Armstrong, Ph.D., speaking on “New Developments in Thyroid Hormone Signaling”
- May 12 in Rodbell Auditorium, 10:00 – 11:30 — Superfund Basic Research Program Distinguished Lecture by Ian Kennedy, Ph.D., speaking on “Nanoscale Metal Oxides: Applications as Biosensors and their Health Effects”
- May 16 in Rodbell Auditorium (C), 11:00 – 12:00 — Seminar on “Ah receptor-mediated modulation of inflammatory signaling” with Gary Perdew, Ph.D.
- May 19 in Rodbell Auditorium, 10:00 – 11:00 — Laboratory of Molecular Genetics Seminar Series, featuring Leona Samson, Ph.D., topic TBA
- May 20 in Rodbell Auditorium, 10:00 – 11:00 — Laboratory of Molecular Genetics seminar featuring Whitney Yin, Ph.D., talking on “Structural basis for DNA polymerase gamma related mitochondrial disorders”
- May 22 (Offsite Event) in the Cox Multipurpose Room at RTI International, 11:00 – 12:00 — Seminar on "Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change" by F. Sherwood Rowland, Ph.D. Pre-register by May 8 at http://tinyurl.com/5rt2uj
- May 23 in Rodbell Auditorium, 9:00 – 10:00 — Frontiers in Environmental Sciences Lecture Series, speaker and topic TBA
- May 29 in Rodbell Auditorium, 8:30 – 5:00 — National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council Meeting
View More Events: NIEHS Public Calendar