Vanderbilt Environmental Health Science Scholars Program

描述（由申请人提供） 环境暴露在许多常见的复杂疾病的发病机制中起着至关重要的作用。拟议的范德比尔特环境健康科学学者（VEHSS）计划的目的是培养以患者为导向的研究人员，致力于环境健康研究的职业生涯，并配备功能和领导多学科的研究人员团队，以提高对环境疾病的理解，并改善健康。VEHSS将专注于两个特定的科学主题：1）氧化应激在环境损伤/暴露中的作用和2）环境神经毒性的机制。范德比尔特大学的研究人员已经开发并验证了氧化应激的独特生物标志物，这一过程与许多常见疾病的发病机制有关。同样，范德比尔特的研究人员阐明了金属转运和氧化应激的机制，以更好地了解环境暴露对发育和神经退行性疾病的不良影响。在以患者为导向的环境健康科学研究的每个重点领域，学者将接受以下方面的培训：1）多学科方法，利用人类遗传学的专业知识来确定基因与环境的相互作用，2）蛋白质组学，脂质组学和最先进的质谱技术，以发现环境暴露和疾病状态的生物标志物，3）尖端成像技术，用于分析金属离子和毒素的组织摄取以及局部代谢后果，以及4）信息学和生物统计学，用于分析大型复杂数据。当前的提案提供了一个独特的机会，可以将范德比尔特在基础环境健康科学研究和以患者为导向的研究方面的优势结合起来，创建一个可以对美国环境健康产生重大影响的培训计划。因此，VEHSS计划的目标是：1）整合范德比尔特在毒理学和环境健康科学方面的完善，强大的基础科学计划，以及在以患者为导向的研究方面同样重要的成就，以增加环境健康科学研究的影响，改善人类健康。2)在研究方法中开发一个独特的教学核心，用于在环境健康中进行假设驱动的研究，并利用现有的职业发展资源，在环境健康科学中以多学科患者为导向的研究中培养一批领导者。3)利用Vanderbilt-Meharry联盟的共享资源，增加代表性不足的少数民族作为学者和导师以及环境健康科学研究领导者的数量。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant) Environmental exposures play a critical role in the pathogenesis of many common complex diseases. The purpose of the proposed Vanderbilt Environmental Health Science Scholars (VEHSS) program is to develop patient-oriented researchers committed to a career in environmental health research and equipped to function within and lead multidisciplinary teams of researchers to enhance understanding of environmental disease and to improve health. The VEHSS will focus on two specific scientific themes: 1) the role of oxidative stress in environmental injury/exposure and 2) mechanisms of environmental neurotoxicity. Vanderbilt investigators have developed and validated unique biomarkers of oxidative stress, a process implicated in the pathogenesis of many common diseases. Likewise, Vanderbilt investigators have elucidated mechanisms of metal transport and oxidative stress to better understand adverse developmental and neurodegenerative effects of environmental exposures. In each focus area of patient-oriented environmental health sciences research, Scholars will be trained in 1) a multidisciplinary approach, drawing on expertise in human genetics to identify gene-environment interactions, 2) proteomics, lipidomics, and state-of-the-art mass spectrometry techniques to discover biomarkers of environmental exposure and disease states, 3) cutting-edge imaging techniques to analyze tissue uptake of metal ions and toxins and local metabolic consequences, and 4) informatics and biostatistics to analyze large and complex data. The current proposal provides a unique opportunity to merge Vanderbilt's strengths in basic environmental health sciences research and patient oriented research to create a training program that can have a major impact on environmental health in the United States. Thus the goals of the VEHSS program are to: 1) Integrate Vanderbilt's well-established, strong basic science programs in toxicology and environmental health sciences with its equally significant accomplishments in patient-oriented research to increase the impact of environmental health sciences research to improve human health. 2) Develop a unique didactic core in research methodology for conducting hypothesis-driven research in environmental health and capitalize on existing career development resources to develop a cadre of leaders in multidisciplinary patient-oriented research in environmental health sciences. 3) Leverage the shared resources of the Vanderbilt-Meharry Alliance to increase the number of underrepresented minorities serving as Scholars and Mentors and leaders in environmental health sciences research.