MIT Center for Environmental Health Sciences

 描述(由申请人提供) 这是麻省理工学院(MIT)环境健康科学中心(CEHS)的续签申请。CEHS目前的任务是研究单独和组合的环境因素的生物影响，特别强调这种暴露如何影响人类健康和生命赖以生存的生态系统的健康。展望未来，研究人员的战略愿景是利用他们的互动研究计划，以及强有力的社区参与努力，为我们环境中危险物质造成的可避免的健康风险提供创新和有效的解决方案。约翰·埃西格曼(主任)和贝文·恩格尔沃德(副主任)领导着CEHS，他们都表现出了职业生涯对环境健康研究、教学和翻译的承诺。CEHS的研究主题确定了该中心的环境健康特征，包括：1)DNA损伤、DNA修复和突变；2)微生物对环境引起疾病的易感性的影响；3)炎症与癌症和肺功能障碍等环境疾病之间的协同关系；4)尖端生物工程工具在环境健康问题上的应用；5)空气和水污染的化学和运输。研究人员研究组合的一个标志性元素是整合科学、工程和政策，以解决环境健康中的复杂问题；CEHS整合了麻省理工学院9个系和哈佛大学1个系的45名成员的活动。综合方法使研究人员能够实现以下目标：1)增强CEHS的翻译影响力；2)加强工程师对环境健康科学的参与；3)将他们的外联和参与活动与他们的基础研究计划联系起来；4)作为核心和有影响力的利益相关者融入新的麻省理工学院环境解决方案倡议；以及5)利用他们的有形资产、智力资产和互动研究基础来申请多名研究人员的资助。社区参与活动与研究任务相一致，强调与当地社区就环境问题进行双向沟通，特别是与波士顿服务不足的社区、高度工业化的神秘河流域的城镇以及缅因州的美洲原住民人口。CEHS得到了四个设施核心的支持：1)基因组学和成像，2)生物分析，3)动物模型，4)综合健康科学。一个强大的试点项目计划鼓励将新想法和早期调查人员整合到CEHS中，鼓励基础研究和翻译研究。行政核心通过与各个中心成员、麻省理工学院行政部门、设施核心以及外部和内部咨询委员会的直接互动来协调CEHS的所有活动。行政核心还管理调查人员的全球环境健康努力、研讨会计划、职业发展计划、海报会议、务虚会和其他有助于使CEHS的总数大于其部分总和的丰富活动。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant) This is a renewal application for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Environmental Health Sciences (CEHS). The present mission of CEHS is the study of the biological effects of environmental agents, individually and in combination, with specific emphasis on how such exposures affect human health and the health of the ecosystem on which life depends. Looking ahead, the investigators' strategic vision is to leverage their interactive research program, along with robust community engagement efforts, to provide innovative and effective solutions to avoidable health risks caused by hazardous agents in our environment. John Essigmann (Director) and Bevin Engelward (Deputy Director) lead the CEHS, and each has demonstrated a career-long commitment to research, teaching and translation in environmental health. The CEHS research themes, which define the Center's environmental health identity, include: 1) DNA damage, DNA repair and mutagenesis, 2) the influence of microbes in susceptibility to environmentally induced diseases, 3) synergistic relationships between inflammation and environmental diseases, such as cancer and pulmonary dysfunctions, 4) the application of cutting-edge bioengineering tools to environmental health problems, and 5) chemistry and transport of air and water pollution. A signature element of the investigators' research portfolio is the integration of science, engineering and policy to solve complex problems in environmental health; the CEHS integrates the activities of 45 members across nine departments at MIT and one at Harvard. The integrative approach enables the investigators to take on the following goals: 1) to enhance the translational impact of the CEHS; 2) to enhance the involvement of engineers in the environmental health sciences; 3) to connect their outreach and engagement activities with their basic research programs; 4) to integrate into the new MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative as a central and influential stakeholder; and 5) to leverage their physical assets, intellectual assets and interactive research base to apply for multi-investigator grant support. The community engagement activities, which are in alignment with the research mission, stress two-way communication on environmental issues with their local communities, specifically with under-served communities in Boston, with the towns of the heavily industrialized Mystic River Watershed, and with Native American populations in Maine. The CEHS is supported by four Facilities Cores: 1) Genomics and Imaging, 2) Bioanalytical, 3) Animal Models, and 4) Integrative Health Sciences. A strong Pilot Project Program stimulates integration of new ideas and early-stage investigators into the CEHS, encouraging both basic and translational research. The Administrative Core coordinates all the CEHS activities via direct interactions with individual Center members, the MIT Administration, Facilities Cores and External and Internal Advisory Committees. The Administrative Core also manages the investigators' global environmental health efforts, seminar programs, career development program, poster sessions, retreats and other enrichment activities that help make the total of the CEHS greater than the sum of its parts.