Using epigenetic science to improve environmental health literacy

项目总结/摘要 NIEHS将环境健康定义为"研究环境如何影响 人类健康和疾病”。这个定义中的环境包括自然环境、人为 化学品和结构，往往污染自然环境，我们的社会交往和生活方式 选择.由于有毒环境与人类健康和疾病直接相关，因此迫切需要 教育美国人民了解这种关系，使我们能够对这种关系的数量做出明智的选择。 我们愿意承担的风险。换句话说，为了改善公共卫生，我们需要改善环境卫生 扫盲（EHL），这是RFA-ES-19 - 005（改善环境的创新方法）的目标 卫生知识）。RFA要求小企业和环境科学家之间的合作， 开发新的工具、活动或材料来建立EHL "。作为回应，Nzumbe Inc.（波特兰，OR） 与俄勒冈州健康与科学大学（OHSU）的环境和教育科学家合作 （波特兰，OR）和当地本科院校提交此提案。我们将利用表观遗传学 作为提高EHL的教育桥梁，因为这门科学的基础知识相对容易理解， 表观基因组（所有表观遗传修饰的总和）对环境暴露的反应方式 可以改善或恶化健康。为第一阶段提出了两个互补的具体目标 申请，这将侧重于本科教育。一是打造互动化、游戏化 基于表观遗传学的软件，本科教育工作者可以用它来教学生 环境卫生。这款移动的应用程序原型将允许学生们创造这样的场景： 在子宫内接受不健康的暴露，已知会改变表观遗传模式，并被怀疑会导致疾病 在以后的生活中学生们将选择不同的饮食组合，运动，和生活方式的选择， 双胞胎也被称为改变表观遗传模式，试图在虚拟的一生中抵消负面影响， 早期生活暴露。学生将根据他们的选择进行评分，并能够将结果与 同学和其他机构的学生。第二个目标将创建一个原型实验室套件，重点是 表观遗传学将提供有关环境表观遗传学的基本信息。该套件将使用 简单的表观遗传模型系统，真菌粗糙脉孢菌。我们将设计一种脉孢菌菌株， 通过DNA甲基化表观遗传学沉默并对激活敏感的报告基因。学生将 选择不同的暴露，然后测量报告基因的激活和DNA甲基化。结果 将被报告到一个附带的软件应用程序模块，学生可以比较他们的结果 与同学和其他学校合作，以确定具有表观遗传活动的暴露。成功完成 拟议的工作将导致第二阶段的资金，以完成这些模块，并修改和扩大他们的公众 学校的学生和互动软件，以奠定公众和公共卫生专业人员。

Project Summary/Abstract NIEHS defines environmental health as “the field of science that studies how the environment influences human health and disease”. The environment in this definition includes the natural environment, man-made chemicals and structures that often pollute the natural environment, and our social interactions and lifestyle choices. Because toxic environments are linked directly to human health and disease, a critical need exists to educate the American population on this relationship to allow us to make informed choices about the amount of risk we are willing to take. Stated differently, to improve public health we need to improve environmental health literacy (EHL), which is the goal of RFA-ES-19-005 (Innovative Approaches for Improving Environmental Health Literacy). The RFA requests collaborations between small businesses and environmental scientists “to develop novel tools, activities, or materials to build EHL”. In response, Nzumbe Inc. (Portland, OR) has partnered with environmental and education scientists at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) (Portland, OR) and local undergraduate institutions to submit this proposal. We will use epigenetic science as an education bridge to improve EHL because the basics of this science are relatively easy to understand and the epigenome (the sum total of all epigenetic modifications) responds to environmental exposures in ways that can improve or worsen health. Two complementary specific aims are proposed for this Phase 1 application, which will focus on undergraduate education. The first is to create interactive and gamified software based on epigenetic science that undergraduate educators can use to teach students about environmental health. The prototype mobile app will allow students to create scenarios in which identical twins receive an unhealthy exposure in utero known to change epigenetic patterns and suspected to cause disease later in life. The students will then choose different combinations of diet, exercise, and lifestyle choices for each twin that are also known to change epigenetic patterns to attempt to counter over a virtual lifetime the negative early life exposure. The students will be scored based on their choices with the ability to compare results with classmates and students at other institutions. The second Aim will create a prototype laboratory kit focused on epigenetic science that will provide fundamental information about environmental epigenetics. The kit will use a simple epigenetic model system, the fungus Neurospora crassa. We will engineer a Neurospora strain with a reporter gene that is epigenetically silenced by DNA methylation and sensitive to activation. Students will choose different exposures and then measure activation and DNA methylation of the reporter gene. Results will be reported to an accompanying software application module where students can compare their results with classmates and other schools to identify exposures with epigenetic activity. Successful completion of the proposed work will lead to Phase II funding to complete these modules and modify and extend them to public school students and the interactive software to the lay public and public health professionals.