July 2021 | Center for Human Health and the Environment
Upcoming Events

August 1: CHHE Pilot project program announced. Applications due September 15

August 30. Qi Chen Seminar 1:30. Sponsored by the Environmental Epigenetics and Genetics Research interest Group. Details to follow.

October 6, 2021: CHHE Social ... check your email for more details.

Add the CHHE Google Calendar to your calendar to make sure you never miss an event!
Center Personnel Updates

Jackie Broughton, Center Program Manager since 2015, retired at the end of May 2021. Thanks Jackie for all your help and support of the center. We wish her all the best in her new endeavors.

Phil Sannes, CHHE and IAC member, retired from NC State after decades of service to the College of Veterinary Medicine. Phil helped write the first grant for the center. We will miss him.

Krista McCoy, CHHE member at ECU, has left ECU for University of Miami! She'll be continuing her research there.

Kym Gowdy, CHHE member at ECU, left ECU for Ohio State University in April 2020. She did a great job running the pulmonary interest group and we look forward to more amazing things from her in her new position.

Our new program manager will join us soon. Check this space for details!
CHHE Pilot Project Program

The next request for CHHE pilot project applications will be announced August 1st, 2021 for a proposal due date of September 15th and award date of November 15th. The request for applications will also be posted on the CHHE website. Put your thinking caps on now!
Kudos: People Making a Difference

Congratulations to Carolyn Mattingly for being named a Distinguished Professor at NC State. Read more about it here.

David Reif was named to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) for a four-year term by Administrator Michael Regan. The Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals provides independent scientific advice, information and recommendations to the EPA Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics on the scientific basis for risk assessments, methodologies and pollution prevention measures or approaches. Its major objectives are to provide expert advice and recommendations to the EPA on risk assessments, models, tools, guidance documents, chemical category documents and other chemical assessment and pollution prevention products as deemed appropriate.

David Reif was interviewed by ABC11 News for the story "How do vaccines impact an area's risk for COVID-19?"

Dylan Wallis, a Toxicology graduate student in Dr. Reif's lab, has been selected to serve on the College of Sciences' Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. This committee advises the dean on efforts to foster an inclusive, accessible, equitable and diverse climate within the college community.

Adrian Green, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Reif's lab, was elected as the 2021-22 postdoctoral representative to the Computational Toxicology Study Section of the Society of Toxicology (SOT).
Cleaning out your lab? Local schools can use your old lab supplies!

Local science teachers are in need of your old lab supplies! Before you send things to university surplus (or throw them away!), send Katy May an email with a description of the items. There's a good chance that the teachers we work with in Wake and Durham County will be able to use them in their classrooms, summer camps, and after school programs. 
Research Interest Group Updates

Environmental Epigenetics and Genetics Research Interest Group has two speakers scheduled for Fall Semester. Qi Chen, Assistant Professor, University of California Riverside, on August 30 at 1:30 pm and Suzanne Martos, Postdoctoral Fellow at NIEHS on November 16 at 4 pm.

Dr Chen studies non-genetic modes of inheritance and their significance for environmentally-induced disease. In 2016, Dr Chen published a landmark study in Science describing a novel mechanism of inheritance, specifically the transmission of tRNA fragments through the paternal germline. His work demonstrated that paternal environmental stress could alter tRNA fragment populations in sperm, and that these are responsible for causing metabolic disease in offspring. Dr Chen's subsequent work has provided more insights into this and other mechanisms of inheritance.

Dr. Suzanne Martos is the 2020 recipient of the Best Postdoctoral Publication Award from the Society of Toxicology, for her manuscript published in Cell Reports Medicine on the effects of tobacco smoke on the human immune system. In this paper, Dr Martos describes the use of single cell RNA-sequencing to identify a subpopulation of natural killer-like cells that is increased in smokers. Her work also demonstrates that smoking is associated with increased epigenetic aging and immune dysfunction.

Look for other RIG updates next month!
Career Development: Want some help with your grant?

All investigators, especially Early Stage Investigators, are encouraged to work with the Career Development Core to develop and refine their grants. Talk to Nanette Nascone-Yoder to set up a chalk talk to help organize ideas for your next proposal.
Reminders

Please remember to cite and acknowledge NIH award support and the CHHE’s P30 grant in future publications and presentations by including this –
“Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number P30ES025128. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.”

Publications citing the Center grant in the acknowledgements of a manuscript and in the deposit of the manuscript in NIHMS are the currency for the P30 renewal!!

CHHE Resources and Facilities Page for NIH Grants is available on the CHHE website.
PINS: Remember when submitting your grants, be sure to select "Center for Human Health and the Environment" as a center in PINS. Link to Additional Resources
CHHE Cited Publications
Click here to check them out!