Public & International Affairs

Grant Detail

This is a chronological listing of grants held by this department, with the most recent listed first. New grants appear in this list weekly and contribute related to the department's Research Profile. The source of grants for this application comes directly from your institution.

UNC-CH Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility

James Swenberg; Marilie Gammon; Kathleen Gray; Amy Herring; William Kaufmann; Robert Millikan; Thomas O'Connell; Melissa Troester

The theme of this NIEHS Core Center is to promote interdisciplinary research that improves our understanding and ability to probe gene-environment interactions that shape an individual’s susceptibility to disease. We have created a vibrant research environment, utilizing Flexible Interdisciplinary Research Groups (FIRG) that will be customized to identify critical research issues and assemble basic, clinical and population scientists with the necessary interest and expertise to strategically attack these problems. The FIRG is based on three main factors: the advancement of knowledge that better elucidates the complex interactions between environmental factors and the pathogenesis of human disease, improvements in scientific expertise and technical resources, and availability of new funding. We will utilize an experienced Director of Interdisciplinary Research to assist new and experienced researchers in identifying interested collaborators, generating hypotheses and utilizing state-of-the-art CEHS and university facilities in order to sustain cutting-edge research on environmental health. Our facility cores have been designed to meet the broad and exacting needs of our researchers. These consist of an Integrated Health Sciences Facility Core (IHSFC), a Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Facility Core (BBFC) and a Systems Biology Facility Core (SBFC). These cores are highly interactive, providing the broad range of services needed to conduct high impact research. They are tightly associated with the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Studies Institute (NC TraCS Institute), the University's currently funded CTSA grant, to promote clinical and translational research. We will disseminate our results to the scientific community, the citizens of North Carolina, the United States and the world through publication in peer-reviewed literature, presentations at scientific meetings and strong interactions with our Community Outreach and Engagement Core (COEC). Furthermore, the CEHS will utilize these facility cores to support a highly competitive Pilot Projects Program that gives priority to either young investigators or experienced investigators who have not previously worked in environmental health. Through targeted Pilot Projects, we will also stimulate research in new areas that we identify as fertile for study. The Pilot Projects Program will expand interest in environmental health at UNC and provide one of several approaches that we use to enhance career development. The Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility has Administrative Core that is responsible for fiscal management and, communication, as well as an External and Internal Advisory Committee.