Center for Integrative Environmental Health Sciences - Similar companies

Chronic exposure to environmental toxicants, either man-made or natural, plays a major role in the etiology of a spectrum of ... human chronic diseases, ranging from psychological disorders to cancer. Likewise, lifestyle factors including diet, exposure to tobacco smoke, consumption of alcohol, complications of addiction, and the built environment also are major etiologic environmental factors for chronic diseases. It has become clear that neither toxicant exposures nor lifestyle factors are sole actors, and that individual susceptibility to disease governed by genetics, as well as developmental windows of susceptibility, are major determinants of disease outcome. Even in individuals with genetic susceptibility exposed at susceptible stages of development, fulminant disease may require ‘two hits’, e.g. toxicant exposure plus life style factor. Thus, the etiology of chronic disease is quite complex and there is a great need for developing transdisciplinary research to reveal the mechanisms of these interacting factors in pathogenesis. The University of Louisville (UofL) Center for Integrated Environmental Health Sciences (CIEHS) focuses on this need. The CIEHS will provide leadership in environmental health research, promote investigation of the interactions of chronic exposure to environmental toxicants and lifestyle factors in pathogenesis, and develop the next generation of environmental health researchers. Our studies utilize model systems in the laboratory, the larger ecosystem by investigation of pollution effects on wildlife, and the human laboratory provided by the Kentuckiana region and environs (Louisville Regional Community) in collaboration with community partners. read more