Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: Hazards and Opportunities (ECHO)

项目摘要/摘要 越来越多的化学品通过在农业中的使用进入我们的日常生活， 工业和消费品现在已知具有意想不到的，在许多情况下，非常 令人惊讶的能力，干扰人类和其他人的众多内分泌调节系统 有机体。在过去的几十年里，对这些扰乱内分泌的化学物质的研究 (EDCS)已经发展成为一个跨领域的领域，从人体生物监测到 从流行病学到生殖、行为和代谢的实验研究 模型系统对预测化学、绿色化学和环境的影响 补救措施。需要广泛的专业知识来了解EDC单独和在 更复杂的环境暴露，是巨大的，并由临床和 EDC提出的监管问题。该领域的复杂性造成了巨大的障碍， 个人研究计划和在发展中的跨学科协作 在一个快速发展的领域解决重要问题所需的研究举措。多数 可以理解的是，具有EDC组成部分的机构培训方案只关注以下几个方面 这些区域。现在缺少的是让科学家们远离家乡的机会 计划，并沉浸在一个密集的短期课程，使他们在范围内 对两人的职业发展至关重要的综合问题和方法 以及整个赛场的表现。 利用伍兹海洋生物实验室(MBL)独特的设施 马萨诸塞州霍尔，我们计划提供这样一门课程，对高级研究生开放， 来自全国各地的博士后和独立科学家。这个为期两周的课程，内分泌- 《扰乱化学品：危险与机遇》(ECHO)，将使用 讲座/实验/建模/讨论方法，旨在补充和提高参与者的 研究计划，为他们提供获得基本概念和技术进步的途径 方法，以及评估EDC构成的危险的新战略 曝光。该课程还将提供关于有效沟通技能的课程，以及 关于与公众和媒体互动的指导。最后，它将增强 建立各级协作、跨学科关系的网络。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Increasing numbers of chemicals that enter our daily lives through their use in agricultural, industrial, and consumer products are now known to have unexpected and, in many cases, very surprising abilities to interfere with numerous endocrine-regulated systems in humans and other organisms. Over the past few decades, research on these endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) has developed into a field that spans areas ranging from human biomonitoring and epidemiology to experimental investigations of reproductive, behavioral and metabolic consequences in model systems to predictive chemistry, green chemistry, and environmental remediation. The breadth of expertise needed to understand what EDCs do, both alone and in more environmentally complex exposures, is enormous and compounded by the clinical and regulatory issues raised by EDCs. The complexity of the field creates significant barriers both to individual research programs and in the development of cross-disciplinary collaborative research initiatives necessary to address important questions in a rapidly developing field. Most institutional training programs with EDC components focus, understandably, on just a subset of these areas. What is lacking is the opportunity for scientists to step away from their home programs and immerse themselves in an intensive short course that grounds them in the range of integrative questions and approaches essential for both for the advancement of their careers and of the field as a whole. Taking advantage of the unique facilities at the Marine Biology Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, MA, we plan to offer such a course, one that is open to advanced graduate students, postdocs and independent scientists from across the country. This two-week course, Endocrine- Disrupting Chemicals: Hazards and Opportunities (ECHO), will use a combined lecture/lab/modeling/discussion approach intended to complement and enhance participants' research programs by providing them with access to advances in fundamental concepts and approaches, along with emerging strategies for assessing the hazards posed by EDC exposures. The course also will provide sessions on effective communication skills, and guidance on interactions with both the general public and the media. Finally, it will enhance networks for collaborative, cross-disciplinary relationships at all levels.