October 2021 | Center for Human Health and the Environment
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Upcoming Events
Oct. 1: Find out Fridays-Hannah Atkins, An Update on Pathology Services Available through UNC 12:00pm zoom link
Oct. 1: Behavior and Neuroscience Research Interest Group Meeting-Kurt Marsden, "Forward and Reverse Genetic Approaches to Understanding Neural Development and Disease" 12:00pm zoom link
Oct. 8: Find out Fridays-Yihui Zhou, "Modern Statistical Analysis in Biology" 12:00pm zoom link
Oct. 12: Toxicology/CHHE Seminar-Carla Ng,"PFAS Toxicokinetics: Navigating the Ins and Outs of Cells and Organisms" 4:00pm. zoom link
Oct. 15: Find out Fridays-Robert Smart, State of the Center 12:00pm zoom link
Oct. 19: Pulmonary Research Interest Group Mini-Retreat Meeting 12:00-3:00pm
Oct. 22: Find out Fridays-Jane Hoppin, CHHE Research Interest Groups 12:00pm zoom link
Add the CHHE Google Calendar to your calendar to make sure you never miss an event or opportunity!
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Please join us for Dr. Carla Ng's seminar, "PFAS Toxicokinetics: Navigating the Ins and Outs of Cells and Organisms" on Oct. 12 at 4:00pm. zoom link
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Dr. Carla Ng (Baumel) works at the intersection of chemistry, biology and engineering to develop models for the fate of chemicals in organisms and ecosystems. Her research interests span multiple scales, from molecules to global systems. Active research areas in her group include the development of integrative modeling strategies to understand the biological fate and effects of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) focusing on a number of routes. For example, evaluating the role of the global industrial food system on the transport and fate of environmental contaminants and subsequent human exposure; developing quantitative models for structure-based chemicals assessment, including the emergence and importance of chemical transformation products in complex mixtures; harnessing biology to design innovative approaches to treat emerging contaminants; advancing systems-level understanding of the cascading ecological and water quality benefits of green infrastructure; and understanding the fundamental mechanisms that determine whether an industrial pollutant will be bioavailable and bioaccumulative. |
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Jennifer Richmond-Bryant
NCSU CNR Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources and the Center for Geospatial Analytics
Jennifer's research addresses three primary areas: 1) effects of built environments on spatial and temporal variability of air pollutants, 2) influence of variability in human exposure to air pollution on interpretation of epidemiologic study results, and 3) health impacts related to the intersection of social factors with air pollutant exposure. She currently leads an exposure assessment of hazardous waste combustion emissions in rural Louisiana with the NIEHS-funded LSU Research Center on Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals.
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New Grants
Congratulations to Cathrine Hoyo!
Researchers at NC State have been awarded a $17 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to explore a potential link between environmental contaminants and liver cancer.
Led by Cathrine Hoyo, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, the grant will fund the Southeastern Liver Health Study, a multi-institutional effort that will follow 16,000 people in North Carolina and Georgia for up to five years. The research team includes Antonio Planchart, Brian Reich, David Skaar, Jane Hoppin, and Jung-Ying Tzeng. The project aims to determine whether exposure to environmental contaminants such as cadmium, either alone or with other toxic metals and per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), increases the risk of progression from early-stage liver disease to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common type of liver cancer. Full Article
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Upcoming CHHE speakers
The Toxicology Seminar Series began on August 17, 2021 at 4:00pm. Some seminars will be in person and all seminars will be available via zoom. zoom link
CHHE is sponsoring four speakers throughout the semester:
Oct. 12: Carla Ng, PFAS Toxicokinetics: Navigating the Ins and Outs of Cells and Organisms *Sponsored by Emerging Contaminants RIG 4:00pm
Nov. 9: Yvonne Fondufe-Mitlendorf, Epigenetic Reprogramming in Response to an Environmental Toxicant 4:00pm
Nov. 16: Suzanne Martos, Single-Cell Approaches Reveal altered CD8+ T Cells in Smokers Indicating Immune Dysfunction and Premature Aging 4:00pm
*Sponsored by Environmental Epigenetics and Genetics RIG
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Oct. 1: Hannah Atkins, new Associate Director of CHHE's Comparative Pathology Core. Hannah, a PhD and Board Certified Veterinary Pathologist, is a Research Assistant Professor at UNC-CH and is the new Associate Director of CHHE's Comparative Pathology Core. Hannah's time is shared with UNC-CH Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and the CHHE. Hannah will provide an overview of the UNC-CH pathology related services that are available to CHHE members.
Oct 8: Yi-Hui Zhou, CHHE IHSFC Liaison in the Environmental Data Science Group. Yi-Hui will describe how statistical and machine learning methods can be used to aid biological discovery. She will provide examples drawn from toxicology and microbiome research as well as human disease mapping. If you are interested in the analysis of big biological data and are looking for a possible collaborator this Find out Fridays is for you!
Oct 15: Rob Smart, CHHE Director. Rob will provide his annual State of the Center presentation where he will provide an overview of the current Center and some highlights of the past year.
Oct 22: Jane Hoppin, CHHE Deputy Director. Jane will lead a discussion focused on the development of additional CHHE Research Interest Groups. If you have ideas for new RIGS which will advance interactions and EHS research and/or would like to participate in this discussion please attend the meeting and share your ideas!
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Research Interest Group Updates
Environmental Epigenetics and Genetics Research Interest Group
Leaders: David Aylor and Mike Cowley
Suzanne Martos, Postdoctoral Fellow at NIEHS on November 16 at 4 pm.
Dr. Martos is the 2020 recipient of the Best Postdoctoral Publication Award from the Society of Toxicology, for her manuscript published in Cell Reports Medicine on the effects of tobacco smoke on the human immune system. In this paper, Dr. Martos described the use of single cell RNA-sequencing to identify a subpopulation of natural killer-like cells that is increased in smokers. Her work also demonstrates that smoking is associated with increased epigenetic aging and immune dysfunction.
Behavior and Neuroscience Interest Group
Leader: Emilie Rissman
The Neuroscience and Behavior RIG invites anyone interested, in or out of the CHHE community, to attend their monthly get togethers. We will rotate the lab in the spotlight and that lab will present new data, old data, ideas for experiments, etc. Whatever strikes their fancy. The first meeting is Oct. 1st at noon and we will meet each first Friday thereafter.
The first meeting topic : "Forward and reverse genetic approaches to understanding neural development and disease" will be presented by Kurt C. Marsden, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, North Carolina State University Department of Biological Sciences. zoom link
Pulmonary Interest Group
Leader: Vijay Sivaraman
The pulmonary RIG will be holding a virtual mini-retreat on October 19 from 12-3 pm featuring a keynote talk focusing on environmental impacts on pulmonary function and presentations from students and post-docs working in our groups. We will discuss the future direction of the group. All CHHE members and their groups are welcome to attend. Zoom link soon to follow.
Emerging Contaminants Interest Group
Leader: Jane Hoppin
Carla Ng from the University of Pittsburgh will be joining us on October 12, 2021 for a seminar at 4:00pm. The group will be meeting with Carla from 1:30-2:30pm prior to the seminar zoom link and going to Sammy's Tap and Grill to continue the discussion after the seminar. zoom link
Dr. Ng's research focuses on developing models to understand the fate of legacy and emerging chemicals in the environment and in organisms, with a particular focus on waterborne chemicals. Her group has expertise in predicting the biological fate and potential hazards of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS). They are also involved in model development to better characterize the cascading benefits of green infrastructure networks, particularly with respect to water quality and ecosystem benefits.
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Employment Opportunities
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!
The CHHE Website posts job openings in the environmental health sciences field.
Send us your postings for new jobs, email CHHE Program Manager, Michico James. It's a great place for students and post-docs to see new available positions.
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Cleaning out your lab?
Local schools can use your old lab supplies!
Local science teachers are in need of your old lab supplies! Before you send things to university surplus (or throw them away), send Katy May an email with a description of the item(s). There's a good chance that the teachers we work with in Wake and Durham counties will be able to use them in their classrooms, summer camps, and after school programs.
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Career Development:
Want some help with your grant?
All investigators, especially Early Stage Investigators, are encouraged to work with the Career Development Core to develop and refine their grants. Email
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Reminders
Please remember to cite and acknowledge NIH award support and the CHHE’s P30 grant in future publications and presentations by including this –
“Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number P30ES025128. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.”
Publications citing the Center grant in the acknowledgements of a manuscript and in the deposit of the manuscript in NIHMS are the currency for the P30 renewal!
CHHE Resources and Facilities Page for NIH Grants is available on the CHHE website.
PINS: Remember when submitting your grants, be sure to select "Center for Human Health and the Environment" as a center in PINS. Link to Additional Resources
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CHHE Cited Publications
Click here to check them out!
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