The NYU Environmental Health Sciences Center

The major goal of the NYU NIEHS Center is `to study environmental factors that may impinge upon human disease and to develop methods for the detection, prevention and control of environmentally related disease.' For this multidisciplinary task, the Center has developed 6 program areas which include:
  1. Human exposure and health effects;
  2. Epidemiology;
  3. Environmental and occupational medicine;
  4. Systemic toxicology;
  5. Environmental carcinogenesis; and
  6. Genetic and molecular toxicology.
All Center investigators have a primary appointment in one program area. However, individuals may also be cross-appointed in other research programs where they are involved in collaborative research interactions. Major goals of the 6 research programs are focused on studies which include: identification of environmental risk factors which may contribute to development of adverse effects; development of chemical and biological markers of exposure to toxic chemicals; development of improved models (in vivo/in vitro) for evaluating toxic chemicals; basic research mechanisms of environmentally induced disease; reducing health risks after exposure to toxins has occurred; and development of drugs which may be protective against environmentally induced diseases.

Dr. Max Costa is Director of the Center, Dr. Seymour Garte is Deputy Director, and program leaders have been assigned to each of the 6 major areas of research. The NIEHS Center staff and faculty are located in the Sterling Forest (132) and Manhattan (54) campuses and include 46 graduate students, 47 technicians, 7 administrative personnel, 13 postdoctoral fellows, 57 faculty, and 16 clerical staff. Dr. Elizabeth Snow is director of the shared resources which include: analytical chemistry; biostatistics; computer facility; exposure assessment; flow cytometry; histopathology, EM, and cytogenetics; information services; inhalation and animal care facility; instrumentation and illustration; media prep, dishwashing, and molecular biology; molecular epidemiology.

Ongoing research programs in the 6 major areas of emphasis and their proposed research are summarized below. It should be noted that this Center has added a new research program, Environmental and Occupational Medicine (Dr. W. Rom, program leader) and new program leaders have been appointed for Genetic and Molecular Toxicology (Dr. T. Rossman) and Epidemiology (Dr. P. Toniolo).

  1. Human Exposure and Health Effects. This research program is focused on studies on the adverse health effects of environmental agents and delineating factors which modulate responses and dose-related impacts on target issues. Researchers in this program will continue their studies on the effect of airborne toxicants on selected human populations. Eighteen individual projects will be carried out by 10 full time on 1 part time investigators. Future research will continue to define new study populations and develop and refine indicators of exposure to airborne toxicants and measurement of adverse effects.

  2. Epidemiology. The major goal of this research program is to study the role of environmental factors in human disease and to identify interventions which will decrease the impact of these toxicants. The program is directed by Dr. Paolo Toniolo and consists of 12 full-time and 7 part-time investigators, all of whom are in the Department of Environmental Medicine. The program has 3 major research focal points, namely: (a) development of biomarkers of toxicant exposure; (b) determining the role of environmental factors in human disease and; (c) radiation epidemiology. Biomarkers which are being investigated include DNA-protein crosslinks, markers of oxidative stress and of DNA repair, and CYP1A1 restriction length polymorphism. Epidemiology studies are utilizing the ongoing N.Y.U. WomenÕs Health Study (16,000 women) to investigate the role of environmental agents in human disease (e.g., breast cancer). Effects of radiation in several diseases are also being investigated.

  3. Environmental and Occupational Medicine. This is a new program in which the objectives are Òto identify risk factors for occupational disease, improve diagnosis, characterize pathophysiologic mechanisms at the cellular and genetic levels, and develop new therapeutic and preventive strategies.Ó This program has a major focus on occupational lung disease and musculoskeletal mechanics.

  4. Systemic Toxicology. The systemic toxicology program is a continuing area of research within the Center which is focused on three major areas, namely: pulmonary toxicology, neurotoxicology, and immunotoxicology. The pulmonary toxicology group is primarily focused on the effects of inhaled ambient and occupational air pollutants on a number of biochemical and physiological parameters associated with lung damage by these chemicals. Immunotoxicology studies are utilizing similar inhalation models but are investigating effects of inhaled compounds on the immune response. Neurotoxicology studies are broad-based, with a focus on development of biomarkers of exposure. Within the three areas of research, studies vary from whole animal to cellular to molecular, using a number of animal and cellular models.

  5. Environmental carcinogenesis. This research program has developed and utilized a number of biomarkers/bioassays in examining development of cancer induced by diverse environmental toxicants. Research has focused on three major areas, namely: chemistry of DNA-carcinogen adducts; molecular mechanisms of carcinogen/toxicant-induced gene expression; and biological parameters associated with tumor progression and chemoprevention. Studies utilize laboratory and cell culture models to approximate environmental exposures. There are eight full-time and three part-time investigators in this program and 10 specific projects. Future studies within this research program will focus on utilizing laboratory studies and molecular biology techniques for investigating problems of environmental carcinogenesis.

  6. Molecular and Genetic Toxicology. Dr. Rossman is now director of the Molecular and Genetic Toxicology, which focuses on the effects of environmental toxicants on gene structure and function. The major emphasis of research has been development of various in vitro model systems to study effects of metals on DNA damage and gene expression. There are ten full-time and two part-time investigators associated with this program.

There are shared core facilities. All of these are available to any member of this Center. The Analytical Chemistry Resource is managed by Professor Solomon, who is a well-trained physical chemist and practicing organic chemist with a long term interest in DNA-carcinogen adducts. This laboratory possesses the capabilities of GC/MS and an environmental metals analysis laboratory to provide x-ray fluorescence analysis of various environmental and biological samples.

The Biostatistics Shared Resource provides expertise in biostatistics and analytical methodology to members of each of the programs in the Center. The Computer Facility provides networking capacity and computational data analysis for research applications. The Exposure Assessment Resource provides equipment and expertise for assessment of human exposure to toxicants and for generation and characterization of controlled test atmospheres for human and animal exposure studies. The new Flow Cytometry Resource would be used by several program areas in the Center. The Histopathology, Electron Microscopy, and Cytogenetics Resource provides classical histopathology and electron microscopy expertise and also gene mapping and chromosomal analysis. The Information Services Resource provides computerized access to an extensive network of information services, hard copy publications, and monographs relevant to environmental health sciences.

The Inhalation and Animal Care Resource provides a needed service. The Instrument and Illustration Resource provides a machine shop, instrument maintenance, repair and calibration, and a computerized graphic arts and illustration service. The Media Preparation, Glassware Washing, and Molecular Biology Reagents Resource allows the Center to negotiate in bulk for reagents and provides a large store of these reagents on-site for ready availability. Finally, the Molecular Epidemiology Resource provides a large human sample repository.

Overall management of the Center is directed by Dr. Max Costa, Dr. Seymour Garte (Deputy Director), and the six research program directors. These individuals, along with Drs. Snow and Penn, are members of the Internal Advisory Committee, which plays an important role in directing Center programs. An external advisory committee (Drs. Gallo, Greenlee, Groopman, Mauderly, Schuff, and Stolwijk) also meets yearly to advise the Center on its progress and recommend future changes in policy and scientific direction.