Collaborative research in environmental health sciences

在2012-2013财年期间，该项目与校内和校外研究人员就广泛的主题开展了几次合作。这些合作产生了几份手稿，目前正处于出版的不同阶段。以下是一些协作的例子。 1.婴幼儿肠道微生物群研究：除了外部(化学)环境外，内部(微生物)环境对人体健康也起着重要作用。近年来，研究人员对了解微生物群对各种健康状况和疾病的影响非常感兴趣，如肥胖、哮喘、IBD、抑郁症等。在这个项目中，我们与挪威公共卫生研究所的研究人员合作，试图了解婴儿肠道微生物群与儿童早期健康结果之间的关系。正在开发新的统计方法来绘制这种关联。 2.怀孕期间吸烟母亲的新生儿DNA甲基化研究：已知母亲怀孕期间吸烟与婴儿的各种健康结局有关。与斯蒂芬妮·伦敦博士(EB)合作，我们正在调查怀孕期间母亲吸烟对新生儿脐带血DNA甲基化的影响。在Joubert等人的文章中。(EHP，2012)我们确定了26个表观基因组范围内具有统计意义的CPG，这些CPG映射到10个基因。除了AHRR和CYP1A1外，我们还发现了几个新的基因(如GFI1、MYO1G和RUNX1)，这些基因以前并不知道与烟草烟雾有关。我们现在正在对这26个CpG位点进行进一步的调查，以了解怀孕期间持续宫内吸烟的影响以及吸烟相关修饰的表观遗传。

Several collaborations have been carried out in this project with intramural as well as extramural researchers during the FY 2012-2013 on a wide range of topics. These collaborations have led to several manuscripts that are currently at various stages of publication. Some examples of collaborations are as follows. 1. Study of infant gut microbiome: In addition to the external (chemical) environment, the internal (microbial) environment plays an important role in human health. In recent years there has been considerable interest among researchers to understand the effect of microbiome on various health conditions and diseases, such as obesity, asthma, IBD, depression etc. In collaboration with researchers at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, in this project we are trying to understand the associations between infant gut microbiome and some early childhood health outcomes. Novel statististical methods are being developed for drawing such associations. 2. Study of DNA methylation in newborns of mothers who smoked during their pregnancy: Maternal smoking during pregnancy is known to be associated with a variety health outcomes in babies. In collaboration with Dr. Stephanie London (EB), we are investigating the effect of maternal smoking during pregnancy on DNA methylation in cord blood obtained from newborns. In Joubert et al. (EHP, 2012) we identified 26 epi-genome wide statistically significant CpGs that mapped onto 10 genes. In addition to AHRR and CYP1A1, we identified several novel genes (e.g. GFI1, MYO1G and RUNX1) that were not previously known to be associated with tobacco smoke. We are now conducting further investigation of these 26 CpG sites to understand the effect of sustained in-utero exposure to smoking throughout pregnancy and epigenetic inheritance of smoking-related modifications.