Environmental Health Sciences at Florida International

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OVERALL DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal seeks to establish a research program in environmental health sciences at Florida International University, a minority serving institution, via the ARCH mechanism. The partner institution will be the University of Miami, which hosts an NIEHS Marine and Freshwater Biomedical Sciences Center. A twofold approach, including faculty development and infrastructure development, will be used. The UM Center revolves around two principal research themes: Marine Toxins and Dietary Risk and Marine Model Systems of Human Disease. This program will focus on the Marine Toxin component. This theme is within the scope of NIEHS-sponsored research, and scientists at the University of Miami have an established record in marine toxin research. This program will be a collaborative effort between seven faculty from two departments at Florida International University and four faculty at the University of Miami from three different departments. The Administrative and Planning Core will provide administrative and clerical support to ARCH investigators at FIU and will coordinate activities with UM. In addition to an administrative assistant who will oversee day-to-day operation, this core will be composed of three committees to direct and oversee the progress of the program: the Internal Advisory Committee, the Executive Committee, and the External Advisory Committee. Program evaluation will be provided through this core from an independent evaluator. The marine toxin theme encompasses research and pilot projects on toxin biosynthesis, pharmacology, and molecular modeling of toxins and the detection of toxic microorganisms, expression of biosynthetic pathways, and correlation with environmental conditions. To support these research and pilot projects, a facility core for the culture of toxin-producing microorganisms will be established. This core will provide source materials such as cultures, purified toxin, DNA, RNA, and labeled toxins and antibodies. The principal goal of the ARCH program is to establish externally funded, independent research programs in environmental health sciences at Florida International University and to attract minority students to careers in environmental health sciences. These will be the benchmarks by which the program will be evaluated.