Spring 2009 Update

Since 2004, the Center’s highly successful Pilot Projects Program awarded 26 pilot projects totaling $930,436. Research conducted through the Pilot Project Program resulted in 30 journal articles to date. In addition, 41 research proposals have been submitted, of which 22 have been funded.

Also related to the success of the PPP, the Center has been very successful in the mentoring of junior faculty interested in the environmental health sciences. This success is exemplified by the progression of Drs John Hollingsworth and Heather Stapleton from Pilot Project Program awardees to recipients of the prestigious Outstanding New Environmental Scientist (ONES) awardees, both in 2008.

Pilot Project Program Awardees who have recently received externally funded awards are:

JA Voynow ( R01-ES016836) for NQO1: Linking Oxidant Stress to Inflammation in Airway Epithelial Cell

JN Meyer (R21-NS065468) for Molecular and Physiological Responses to Persistent Mitochondrial DNA Damage

H Marshall (R01 – HL 092994) for S-nitrosothiols, NF-KappaB and inflammation in acute lung injury.

TJ McMahon (101 BX000281-01) for VA Merit Award: Mechanistic basis of lung dysfunction after RBC transfusion

M Kraft (1P01-AI081672-01) for Surfactant Protein A as an innate modulator

Development of these proposals, including preliminary data generation, was supported by the CCBVP. This included Pilot Project Program support for Meyer and Voynow, DNA Microarray Facility Core Support for Meyer, and Inhalation Toxicology Facility Core support for Kraft, McMahon, Marshall and Voynow.

August 1, 2008
2008 Pilot Projects are awarded:

Randall Kramer, Ph.D, Professor, Nicholas School of the Environment, and Department of Economics
"A Bioeconomic Approach to Managing Insecticide Resistance in Malaria Control"

Meta J. Kuehn, Ph.D, Associate Professor, Biochemistry, and Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
"Effect of Aging on Inflammation Caused by Secreted Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Endotoxin"

Kristi L. Williams, Ph.D, Assistant Research Professor, Cell Biology
"NLRP12 and Allergen Induced Pulmonary Inflammation"

September 1, 2007
2007 Pilot Projects are awarded:

Claudia K. Gunsch, Ph.D, Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
"Human Gene Expression Analysis Following a Mycotoxin Exposure Event"

Heileen Hsu-Kim, Ph.D, Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
"Demethylation of Methylmercury Complexes by Hydroxyl Radicals: Implications for Metabolic Transformation of Mercury"

Joel Meyer, Ph.D, Assistant Professor, Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences
"The Fate of Bulky Mitochondrial DNA Lesions after Environmental Genotoxic Stress in a Model Organism"

Alexander Pfaff, Ph.D, Associate Professor, Sanford Institute of Public Policy
"Which Information Most Changes Behavior & Do Households Want It? Responses to and Demand for Well-Water-Arsenic Tests in Bangladesh"

Laurie Snyder, MD, Associate in Clinical Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
"T Regulatory Cells in a Lipopolysaccharide Environmental Exposure Model of Airways Rejection"

April 1, 2007
2007 Pilot Projects are awarded:

Allison Ashley-Koch, PhD, Assistant Research Professor in Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Section of Medical Genetics, Department of Medicine
"Identification of Genetic and Environmental Factors Predisposing Children to AD/HD"

John W. Hollingsworth, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care, Department of Medicine
"Inhaled Ozone Modifies Atherogenesis in Genetically Vulnerable Populations"

Marc C. Levesque, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology and Immunology, Department of Medicine
"Systemic Effects of Inhaled Endotoxin in Humans: Microarray analysis"

Amy M. Pastva, PT, PhD, CCS, Medical Instructor, Department of Cell Biology and Division of Physical Therapy, Department of Medicine
"Surfactant Protein A Modulates Dendritic Cell Function During Allergenic Lung Disease"

April 1, 2006
2006 Pilot Projects are awarded:

Lori Bennear, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences
"The Role of Information in Environmental Health Policy: Measuring Household Responses to Information on Inorganic Contaminants in Private Well Water"

James Hamilton, Ph.D., Charles S. Sydnor Professor of Public Policy, Economics, and Political Science, Department of Political Science,
"Risk and Choice Across Domains:  How do environmental risks vary with other sources of risk in the lives of disadvantaged populations?"

Elwood Linney, Ph.D., Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology Professor, Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences
"Neurotoxicant Effects upon Epigenesis and Chromatin Remodeling"

David McClay, Ph.D. Arthur S. Pearse Professor of Biology, Professor of Neurobiology, Professor of Marine Science, Department of Biology
"Identification of the Mechanism Underlying Teratogenic Effects of Nickel"

Heather Stapleton, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences
"Investigating Deiodinase Catalyzed Biotransformation of Brominated Flame Retardants in Fish and Human Cell Lines:  Implications for Neurotoxocity in Children"

June 1, 2005
2005 Pilot Projects are awarded:

Margaret Kirby, Ph.D., Professor of Pediatrics and Cell Biology and Professor of Biology
“The Effect of Polyaromatic Hydrocarbon Exposure on Zebrafish Neural Crest Development”

Randall Kramer, Ph.D., Professor of Resource and Environmental Economics
“Evaluating the Environmental and Health Impacts of Alternative Malaria Control Strategies”

Marc Levesque, MD, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine
“Systemic Effects of Inhaled Endotoxin in Humans”

Barak Richman, J.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Law, Duke University School of Law
Laura Richman, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology
“Examining the Effect of Health Provider Race on Reductions in Home Environmental Asthma Triggers and Adherence to Asthma Medical Regimens”

David Steffens, M.D., Associate Professor, Psychiatry & Behavioral Science
“Interactions between dietary folate, folate-metabolizing genes, and late-life depression”

April 2005
Richard T. Di Giulio, Ph.D., professor of Environmental Toxicology, is named director of the Center for Comparative Biology of Vulnerable Populations.

October 25, 2004
National Institutes of Health Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., today announced the appointment of David A. Schwartz, M.D., as the new director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).

Pilot Project Awards 2004

Michael D. Gunn, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Immunology, and Pathology at Duke University Medical Center
“Introduction of Pulmonary APC Populations that Mediate Sensitization to Environmental Antigens”

John Hollingsworth, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care, Department of Medicine
“Innate Immunity and the Biological Response to Ozone”

Samuel P. Morgan, Ph.D. Chair and Professor, Sociology Department, Duke University
“The Effects of Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, and Cotinine on Children’s Cognitive Development”

Susan K. Murphy, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Gynecology Oncology, Duke University Medical Center
“Epigenetic Consequences in Newborns Resulting from Maternal Smoking”