Greater than the sum of its parts: focusing SRP research through a systems approach lens

AbstractThe National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Superfund Research Program (SRP) funds diverse transdisciplinary research to understand how hazardous substances contribute to disease. SRP research focuses on how to prevent these exposures by promoting problem-based, solution-oriented research. SRP's mandate areas encompasses broad biomedical and environmental science and engineering research efforts and, when combined with research translation, community engagement, training, and data science, offers broad expertise and unique perspectives directed at a specific big picture question. The purpose of this commentary is to adapt a systems approach concept to SRP research to accommodate the complexity of a scientific problem. The SRP believes a systems approach offers a framework to understand how scientists can work together to integrate diverse fields of research to prevent or understand environmentally-influenced human disease by addressing specific questions that are part of a larger perspective. Specifically, within the context of the SRP, a systems approach can elucidate the complex interactions between factors that contribute to or protect against environmental insults. Leveraging a systems approach can continue to advance SRP science while building the foundation for researchers to address difficult emerging environmental health problems.

Download Full-text

The Importance of Community Engagement and Research Translation within the NIEHS Superfund Research Program

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph16173067 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 16 (17) ◽

pp. 3067 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Brittany A. Trottier ◽

Danielle J. Carlin ◽

Michelle L. Heacock ◽

Heather F. Henry ◽

William A. Suk

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Community Engagement ◽

Research Program ◽

Hazardous Substances ◽

Research Translation ◽

Engineering Research ◽

Environmental Health Sciences ◽

History Of ◽

Research Findings ◽

Use Of Research

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Superfund Research Program (SRP) funds university-based, solution-oriented research to understand how hazardous substances contribute to disease and how to prevent exposures to these hazardous substances. A unique aspect of the SRP is that, beyond the biomedical, environmental sciences, and engineering research projects, SRP-funded centers are required to include community engagement to build partnerships with affected communities and research translation to communicate and facilitate the use of research findings. The SRP views both as effective ways to inform and advance science for protection of public health. The purpose of community engagement within the centers is to ensure bidirectional communication between the researchers and the community, identify best practices and activities in community engagement for prevention and intervention activities, enhance knowledge, and support the needs of the communities impacted by hazardous waste sites. The SRP views research translation as communicating and facilitating the use of research findings emanating from the center in a manner most appropriate for their application and for the advancement of a center’s research objectives. The SRP has a strong history of seeking opportunities to work with communities and stakeholders, by translating and sharing research findings in an impactful and informative manner with long-lasting benefits to improve public health.

Download Full-text

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Superfund Research Program: a model for multidisciplinary training of the next generation of environmental health scientists

Reviews on Environmental Health ◽

10.1515/reveh-2017-0024 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 33 (1) ◽

pp. 53-62 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Danielle J. Carlin ◽

Heather Henry ◽

Michelle Heacock ◽

Brittany Trottier ◽

Christina H. Drew ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Environmental Health ◽

Research Program ◽

Health Sciences ◽

Environmental Chemicals ◽

Early Career ◽

Hazardous Substances ◽

Research Translation ◽

Next Generation ◽

Training Experience ◽

Environmental Health Sciences

AbstractThe National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Superfund Research Program (SRP) funds university-based, multidisciplinary research on human health and environmental science and engineering with the central goals to understand how hazardous substances contribute to disease and how to prevent exposures to these environmental chemicals. This multi-disciplinary approach allows early career scientists (e.g. graduate students and postdoctoral researchers) to gain experience in problem-based, solution-oriented research and to conduct research in a highly collaborative environment. Training the next generation of environmental health scientists has been an important part of the SRP since its inception. In addition to basic research, the SRP has grown to include support of broader training experiences such as those in research translation and community engagement activities that provide opportunities to give new scientists many of the skills they will need to be successful in their field of research. Looking to the future, the SRP will continue to evolve its training component by tracking and analyzing outcomes from its trainees by using tools such as the NIEHS CareerTrac database system, by increasing opportunities for trainees interested in research that goes beyond US boundaries, and in the areas of bioinformatics and data integration. These opportunities will give them the skills needed to be competitive and successful no matter which employment sector they choose to enter after they have completed their training experience.

Download Full-text

Sharing SRP data to reduce environmentally associated disease and promote transdisciplinary research

Reviews on Environmental Health ◽

10.1515/reveh-2019-0089 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 35 (2) ◽

pp. 111-122

Author(s):

Michelle L. Heacock ◽

Sara M. Amolegbe ◽

Lesley A. Skalla ◽

Brittany A. Trottier ◽

Danielle J. Carlin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Environmental Health ◽

Data Sharing ◽

Data Streams ◽

Basic Research ◽

Research Projects ◽

Engineering Research ◽

Environmental Health Sciences ◽

Wide Range ◽

Comprehensive Picture ◽

Research Questions

AbstractThe National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Superfund Basic Research and Training Program (SRP) funds a wide range of projects that span biomedical, environmental sciences, and engineering research and generate a wealth of data resulting from hypothesis-driven research projects. Combining or integrating these diverse data offers an opportunity to uncover new scientific connections that can be used to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the interplay between exposures and health. Integrating and reusing data generated from individual research projects within the program requires harmonization of data workflows, ensuring consistent and robust practices in data stewardship, and embracing data sharing from the onset of data collection and analysis. We describe opportunities to leverage data within the SRP and current SRP efforts to advance data sharing and reuse, including by developing an SRP dataset library and fostering data integration through Data Management and Analysis Cores. We also discuss opportunities to improve public health by identifying parallels in the data captured from health and engineering research, layering data streams for a more comprehensive picture of exposures and disease, and using existing SRP research infrastructure to facilitate and foster data sharing. Importantly, we point out that while the SRP is in a unique position to exploit these opportunities, they can be employed across environmental health research. SRP research teams, which comprise cross-disciplinary scientists focused on similar research questions, are well positioned to use data to leverage previous findings and accelerate the pace of research. Incorporating data streams from different disciplines addressing similar questions can provide a broader understanding and uncover the answers to complex and discrete research questions.

Download Full-text

20 Easy Steps to Personal Environmental Health Now A health guide from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e306302004-001 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Keyword(s):

Environmental Health ◽

Health Sciences ◽

Environmental Health Sciences

Download Full-text

Communication Research in the Environmental Health Sciences

Environmental Health Literacy ◽

10.1007/978-3-319-94108-0_3 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 45-64 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Kami J. Silk ◽

Daniel Totzkay

Keyword(s):

Environmental Health ◽

Health Sciences ◽

Communication Research ◽

Environmental Health Sciences

Download Full-text

Sharing transferable methods in environmental data science: A Fuzzy changepoint approach to numerical model evaluation over Greenland.

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-8813 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Michael Hollaway ◽

Peter Henrys ◽

Rebecca Killick ◽

Amber Leeson ◽

John Watkins

Keyword(s):

Numerical Model ◽

Data Science ◽

Environmental Science ◽

Numerical Models ◽

Environmental Data ◽

Resolution Model ◽

Changepoint Analysis ◽

Temperature Records ◽

Temporal Events

<p>&#160; &#160; &#160;Numerical models are essential tools for understanding the complex and dynamic nature of the natural environment and how it will respond to a changing climate. With ever increasing volumes of environmental data and increased availability of high powered computing, these models are becoming more complex and detailed in nature. Therefore the ability of these models to represent reality is critical in their use and future development. This has presented a number of challenges, including providing research platforms for collaborating scientists to explore big data, develop and share new methods, and communicate their results to stakeholders and decision makers. This work presents an example of a cloud-based research platform known as DataLabs and how it can be used to simplify access to advanced statistical methods (in this case changepoint analysis) for environmental science applications.</p><p>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; A combination of changepoint analysis and fuzzy logic is used to assess the ability of numerical models to capture local scale temporal events seen in observations. The fuzzy union based metric factors in uncertainty of the changepoint location to calculate individual similarity scores between the numerical model and reality for each changepoint in the observed record. The application of the method is demonstrated through a case study on a high resolution model dataset which was able to pick up observed changepoints in temperature records over Greenland to varying degrees of success. The case study is presented using the DataLabs framework, demonstrating how the method can be shared with other users of the platform and the results visualised and communicated to users of different areas of expertise.</p>

Download Full-text

Insight of Proteomics and Genomics in Environmental Bioremediation

Handbook of Research on Inventive Bioremediation Techniques - Advances in Environmental Engineering and Green Technologies ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-2325-3.ch003 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 46-69 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Raghvendra Pratap Singh ◽

Geetanjali Manchanda ◽

Zhi-Feng Li ◽

Alok R. Rai

Keyword(s):

Environmental Health ◽

Genetically Modified ◽

Hazardous Substances ◽

Health Concern ◽

Crucial Step ◽

Genomics And Proteomics ◽

Pollutant Remediation ◽

A Cell

Bioremediation of hazardous substances from environment is a major human and environmental health concern but can be managed by the microorganism due to their variety of properties that can effectively change the complexity. Microorganisms convey endogenous genetic, biochemical and physiological assets that make them superlative proxies for pollutant remediation in habitat. But, the crucial step is to degrade the complex ring structured pollutants. Interestingly, the integration of genomics and proteomics technologies that allow us to use or alter the genes and proteins of interest in a given microorganism towards a cell-free bioremediation approach. Resultantly, efforts have been finished by developing the genetically modified (Gm) microbes for the remediation of ecological contaminants. Gm microorganisms mediated bioremediation can affect the solubility, bioavailability and mobility of complex hazardous.

Download Full-text

Current Environmental Health Challenges

Handbook of Research on Emerging Developments and Environmental Impacts of Ecological Chemistry - Advances in Environmental Engineering and Green Technologies ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-1241-8.ch002 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 38-67

Author(s):

Christina Marouli ◽

Paraskevi Papadopoulou ◽

Anastasia Misseyanni

Keyword(s):

Environmental Health ◽

Integrated Approach ◽

Future Research ◽

Environmental Health Sciences ◽

Attitudes And Behaviors ◽

Environment And Health ◽

Health Related ◽

Future Research Directions ◽

Sustainable Societies ◽

Political Understanding

This is part two of two overview chapters of the most important contemporary environmental health challenges. This second chapter discusses environmental health as a socio-political and ethical issue. It argues that effectively moving towards healthier and sustainable societies requires not only sound scientific knowledge but also policies, medical practices, healthcare systems, and health-related attitudes and behaviors that are informed by a deep socio-political understanding and that reflect a new integrated approach to environment and health. The need for contemporary technological societies to develop mechanisms like education, environmental and health governance, and public accountability for environmental health equity and justice is highlighted. The chapter concludes by proposing a multidimensional framework, based on both natural and social sciences, for the transition to healthy and sustainable societies and for improving the welfare of all people, as well as future research directions for environmental health sciences.

Download Full-text