Contact Rose Branstrom with any items that should be included in next month's M-LEEaD newsletter.
M-LEEaD Traditional Pilot Project Grants- now accepting applications!
M-LEEaD’s Pilot Project Program provides limited, short-term funding to encourage innovation, creativity, and multidisciplinary collaborations, to attract new scientists to our center, and to address gaps in our knowledge about lifestage vulnerability to environmental exposures. Proposed projects should foster research related to the M-LEEaD Center’s mission and/or the Strategic Plan of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).
Applications are being accepted through March 20th, 2023. Proposals should address one or more of the following objectives:
Provide initial support in environmental health sciences for early investigators;
Allow exploration of innovative directions representing a significant departure from ongoing funded research for established investigators in environmental health sciences;
Stimulate investigators from other areas of endeavor to apply their expertise to environmental health research and environmental medicine;
Work with the Center’s Community Engagement Core (CEC) to establish new collaborations with community partners for projects on environmental exposures and disease, especially projects responsive to priorities identified by the CEC and the SAB;
Accelerate translation of novel laboratory discoveries to clinical applications, e.g., by identifying novel therapeutic targets, improving clinical diagnosis, or improving management of human disease linked to environmental exposures;
Expand the concept of translational research within Environmental Health Sciences.
Applicants should prepare proposals based on the criteria in the RFA, found here.
Questions? Contact Pilot Program Director Dr. John Meeker, meekerj@umich.edu and M-LEEaD Administrator Rose Branstrom, rbranstr@umich.edu.
The U-M Biomedical Research Core Facilities (BRCF) are campuswide laboratories that develop and provide advanced scientific resources to enable biomedical research. The BRCF and the Department of Pathology have come together to transition the Proteomics Resource Facility (PRF), led by Alexey Nesvizhskii, Ph.D., into the BRCF where it will continue to offer resources and services through the BRCF. Read more here.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has selected eight established scientists with expertise in climate and health to work on the NIH Climate Change and Health Initiative. This inaugural class will become part of the cross-cutting NIH effort to reduce health threats from climate change across the lifespan and build health resilience in individuals, communities, and nations around the world, especially among those at highest risk. M-LEEaD's Carina Gronlund, Ph.D., is one of these scholars. Read more here: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Ypsilanti resident Jordan Weston lost the ability to make music with his hands due to a progressive neurodegenerative condition he was diagnosed with in 2018. But the music now flows from his brain to his eyes thanks to no-touch computer technology. Weston has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as ALS, which prevents him from moving his muscles. “It’s really frustrating for people to lose their functioning,” said Dr. Stephen Goutman, a neurologist and director at the Pranger ALS Clinic. “If you’re somebody who uses their hands a lot, whether it’s playing video games, cooking, artwork, (ALS is) frustrating.” Read more here.
Six Fall River firefighters took part in a unique pilot study on the island of Nantucket, testing how much of the cancer-causing “forever chemicals” in their gear rubbed off on their skin and entered their bloodstream. As part of the study, 18 firefighters from Fall River, Hyannis and Nantucket had blood samples drawn to measure the level of PFAS in their system. Out of all the PFAS groups tested for, the firefighters’ average is “all above the national average," The scientific study is being funded by a grant from the Toxics Use Reduction Institute at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, performed by Dr. Courtney Carignan of Michigan State University. Read more here.
Black women are more likely to have worse symptoms when experiencing menopause, such as hot flashes, depression, and sleep disturbances, according to a new study. However, they are less likely to receive hormone therapy, as well as medical and mental health services. “Our analysis suggests that the enduring influence of structural racism—differential access to the goods, services and opportunities of society by race—is a major contributor to the health disparities between Black and white women in the midlife,” lead author Siobán Harlow, professor emeritus at U-M’s School of Public Health, said. Read more here.
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in plastics may contribute to diabetes risk in women, according to a new study. Phthalates are chemicals widely used in plastics such as personal care products, children’s toys, and food and beverage packaging. "Our research found phthalates may contribute to a higher incidence of diabetes in women, especially White women, over a six-year period,” said Sung Kyun Park, Sc.D., M.P.H., of the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor, Mich. “People are exposed to phthalates daily increasing their risk of several metabolic diseases. It’s important that we address EDCs now as they are harmful to human health.” Read more on EurekAlert, Medpage Today, The Hill, and the New York Post.
Friday, March 10, 2023 • 9:00 AM — 4:00 PM 28th Annual Environmental Health Sciences Research Symposium - Tackling Industrial Contamination: The Role of Science, Policy, and Activism
Registration required here.
Tuesday, March 21, 2023 • 5:00 PM "Picture a Scientist” Documentary Screening - Sponsored by SEAS
Registration required here.
Join Mary Robinson, first woman President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as she shares her passion for climate justice, human dignity, gender equality and women's participation in peace-building on March 13. She will highlight the urgent need for climate change action and how local, community-based action can grow into a global effort to build a sustainable future. Date: Monday, March 13, 2023 from 6:00 PM – 7:00 pm
Location: Rackham Auditorium
Info and registration here
Taking place in Nashville, Tennessee, the Society of Toxicology 62nd Annual Meeting and ToxExpo from March 19–23, 2023, brings together 5,000+ toxicologists and those working in areas related to toxicology to share the latest science and technology in the field, as well as to make new connections, gather with friends, and engage in mentoring and professional development. It will feature more than 70 Featured and Scientific Sessions, 2,000 presentations, and 250 exhibitors.
Date: Sunday, March 19, 2023, to Thursday, March 23, 2023
Location: Nashville, Tennessee
Info and registration here
The 2023 Toxicology and Risk Assessment Conference (TRAC) will be a 4-day meeting from April 24-27, 2023, focusing on topics in toxicology and risk assessment principles and practice. The conference provides attendees with an overview of current research, methodologic, and practice issues that are the focus of toxicology and risk assessment efforts in various Federal agencies, academic institutions, industry, and other organizations.
Date: Monday, April 24 to Thursday, April 27, 2023
Location: Dayton, Ohio
Info and registration here
M-LEEaD is now accepting applications for two center scientists engaging in research that addresses the M-LEEaD goals of defining, explaining or mitigating the impacts of environmental exposures during vulnerable stages of life. This position provides a combination of special mentorship, opportunities for training in multiple areas of environmental health sciences, and a contribution to salary and benefits. Applications are due March 29, 2023. Apply here.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of approximately $100 million for projects that advance environmental justice in underserved and overburdened communities across the country. This funding, made possible through President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, marks the largest amount of environmental justice grant funding ever offered by the Agency. EPA has published two Requests for Applications for this funding through the Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving (EJCPS) Cooperative Agreement Program and the Environmental Justice Government-to-Government (EJG2G) Program. Learn more here.
The CNPRC Pilot Research Program provides an administrative mechanism by which Principal Investigators in any discipline, and particularly those that are not closely related to the Center’s categorical Research Units, may have full opportunity to use the Center’s resources. The objectives of the program are to provide resources (including Core Scientist expertise) and facilities for primate research to Principal Investigators who are not CNPRC Core Scientists, and to provide the expertise to affiliates in all facets of the on-site portion of primate research.
Pilot research projects are to be used for generating preliminary data for submission of NIH grant proposals, with the goal of supporting new, extramurally-funded research utilizing nonhuman primate models of human disease. Find more information here.
NIEHS solicits input from stakeholders in academia and industry, health care professionals, patient advocates and advocacy organizations, scientific or professional organizations, federal agencies, and other interested members of the public by reviewing the goals in the 2018-2023 Strategic Plan and proposing new goals for the 2024-2028 Strategic Plan. This RFI requests general comments on the direction of environmental health sciences as well as comments specific to the individual goals under the three themes outlined in the current Strategic Plan. Responses are due April 20, 2023. Learn more here.
Recent Publications citing M-LEEaD:
Omenn GS, Lane L, Overall CM, Pineau C, Packer NH, Cristea IM, Lindskog C, Weintraub ST, Orchard S, Roehrl MHA, Nice E, Liu S, Bandeira N, Chen YJ, Guo T, Aebersold R, Moritz RL, Deutsch EW. The 2022 Report on the Human Proteome from the HUPO Human Proteome Project. J Proteome Res. 2022 Nov 1. doi: 10.1021/acs.jproteome.2c00498. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36318223.,
Elkin ER, Su AL, Dou JF, Colacino JA, Bridges D, Padmanabhan V, Harris SM, Boldenow E, Loch-Caruso R, Bakulski KM. Sexually concordant and dimorphic transcriptional responses to maternal trichloroethylene and/or N-acetyl cysteine exposure in Wistar rat placental tissue. Toxicology. 2023 Jan 1;483:153371. doi: 10.1016/j.tox.2022.153371. Epub 2022 Nov 14. PMID: 36396003.
Dou J, Thangaraj SV, Puttabyatappa M, Elangovan VR, Bakulski K, Padmanabhan V. Developmental programming: Adipose depot-specific regulation of non-coding RNAs and their relation to coding RNA expression in prenatal testosterone and prenatal bisphenol-A -treated female sheep. Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2023 Jan 26;564:111868. doi: 10.1016/j.mce.2023.111868. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36708980.
Thangaraj SV, Kachman M, Halloran KM, Sinclair KD, Lea R, Bellingham M, Evans NP, Padmanabhan V. Developmental programming: Preconceptional and gestational exposure of sheep to a real-life environmental chemical mixture alters maternal metabolome in a fetal sex-specific manner. Sci Total Environ. 2023 Mar 15;864:161054. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.161054. Epub 2022 Dec 21. PMID: 36565874.
Nwanaji-Enwerem JC, Cardenas A, Goodrich JM, Furlong MA, Jung AM, Collender P, Caban-Martinez AJ, Grant C, Beitel S, Littau S, Urwin D, Gabriel J, Hughes J, Gulotta J, Wallentine D, Burgess JL. Occupational Years of Service and Leukocyte Epigenetic Aging: Relationships in United States Firefighters. J Occup Environ Med. 2023 Feb 24. doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000002817. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36787539.
Click here for a PDF with useful information about NIH Public Access Policy regarding citing the center grant.
Per NIH grants policy, all publications, press releases, and other documents relevant to research funded by the center must include a specific acknowledgement of support. For the EHS Core Center, this statement may read:
“Support for this research was provided by grant P30ES017885 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.”
