Upcoming Recent Environmental Events At UNC 6 CEP Events

diseased as well as healthy volunteers. This is essentialbecause, although you can obtaindata from animal studies or frommolecular and cellular research, andcan find associations in studies oflarge populations or of selected panels of subjects, you need that middlezone of translational research tounderstand the risk to individuals. This Center is one of the topresearch groups in the world for thiskind of work.”One of CEMALB’s most notablecontributions to environmentalpolicy has been its role in providing the scientific basisfor the EPA’s current eight-hour National Ambient AirQuality Standard for ozone. CEMALB scientists collaborated with the EPA on studies that showed that exposureto low levels of ozone for six to eight hours can causeadverse health effects in normal, healthy volunteers. Thisknowledge drove the decision to move from a one-hourto an eight-hour sampling timeframe during whichmeasurements of ozone levels are taken, and to lower theacceptable level of ozone during that time period.CEMALB researchers are currently conducting studies that could implicate coarse airborne particulate matter as a significant source of disease, particularly in asthmatics, and are looking at other potentially susceptiblepopulations, such as those at-risk because of obesity, diabetes or age. In collaboration with environmental scientists and epidemiologists in the School of Public Health,they are studying the links between environmental airquality and markers of health effects in larger populations. In addition, UNC scientists across the campus arelinking human health studies with modeling approaches“This Center isone of the topresearch groupsin the worldfor this kind ofwork.”to air pollution.In addition to extensive collaborations with theEPA, CEMALB investigators are funded by the NationalInstitutes of Health to study the effect of inhalation ofcertain bacterial pollutants on asthmatics and to investigate whether medications such as inhaled steroidscan decrease the effects of these pollutants. The NIH’sNational Center for Complementary and AlternativeMedicine has designated the CEMALB as a center ofexcellence and is funding a study to determine whetherantioxidants, vitamins and other less conventional therapies or nutritional supplements may also be protectivefor asthmatics. The National Institute of EnvironmentalHealth Sciences (NIEHS) is funding a study of specificgenetic factors that make some people more susceptibleto the effects of certain pollutants. Another NIEHS grantsupports a study of the effect of diesel particles on influenza virus infection of human airway epithelial cells.UNC’s goal is not simply to understand these relationships between environment and health, but totranslate that knowledge into measures that will improvepublic health and help physicians identify and treat susceptible individuals.“I am pleased to celebrate the very important workdone at UNC in environmental medicine,” said Dr.William L. Roper, dean of the UNC School of Medicineand CEO of the UNC Health Care System. “The Centerfor Environmental Medicine, Asthma and Lung Biologyis a vibrant part of the UNC School of Medicine andthe UNC Health Care System. It informs what we do inmany areas, including health care, environmental andpublic policy, and in furthering our understanding ofbasic disease mechanisms.”For more information about the Center forEnvironmental Medicine, Asthma and Lung Biologyand its research, visit www.med.unc.edu/envlung/welcome1.htm.

4 The CEP PostR E S E A R C HFederal grants fuel environmental research at UNCSeveral environmental researchprojects underway at Carolina arebeing funded by federal grants,including these major initiatives:The U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency has awardedUNC’s Carolina EnvironmentalProgram 1.4 million over five yearsto continue to lead the agency’sCommunity Modeling and AnalysisSystem Center (CMAS). The CMASCenter was established by the EPAin 2001 to leverage the modelingcommunity’s knowledge of air quality modeling and analyses in order tosupport policy maker decisions on airpollution control and regulation. TheCenter oversees the development,maintenance and support of a publicly available and scientifically soundair quality modeling system used tosimulate the occurrence of ozone,particulate matter and other toxicpollutants in our air. It also is used tosimulate visibility problems such asthose occurring in North Carolina’smountains.Scientists use the data generatedby the air quality modeling systemto study how pollutants may affecthuman health, visibility in nationalparks and other air quality challenges,and to search for ways to reduce theseimpacts. Policy makers also use thesesimulations to make the best possibleregulatory decisions about air qualityissues such as allowable ozone andparticulate matter levels.CMAS (www.cmascenter.org)sponsors an annual conference thatbrings about 200 worldwide attendees to North Carolina’s ResearchTriangle to discuss using air qualitymodels to find solutions to criticalenvironmental issues. CMAS alsoserves as an education hub for thosewho want to learn about air qualityand emissions models and their uses.The EPA has also awarded 4.5million over five years to UNC tocreate the Carolina EnvironmentalBioinformatics Research Center. Thenew UNC Center is one of only twosuch centers funded by the agency inthe nation. It was initiated throughefforts of the Carolina EnvironmentalProgram and will be led by the university’s Carolina Center for GenomeFred Wright, in Biostatistics at UNC,directs the new Carolina EnvironmentalBioinformatics Research Center.Sciences.Bioinformatics is the use ofcomputers in biological research toanalyze or predict molecular composition and evaluate changes to genesand proteins in an organism. Theresearch conducted by the Center willfocus on how chemicals can adverselyaffect health and the environmentand provide predictive models toscreen and test chemicals, as well asimprove human health and ecologicalrisk assessments.The new Center will work closelywith the EPA’s National Center forComputational Toxicology, locatednearby in Research Triangle Park, andincludes members from the UNCSchools of Public Health, Medicine,Pharmacy, and Information andLibrary Science, and the College ofArts and Sciences.“UNC has an incredible breadthof expertise in genomics, bioinformatics, statistics and toxicology,”explained Fred Wright, PhD, associate professor in UNC’s Departmentof Biostatistics, who will direct theCenter. “This interdisciplinary Centerwill harness that combined expertiseand direct it toward issues of interestto the EPA.”Dean of the School of PublicHealth Barbara K. Rimer, DrPHstated: “I am so pleased that our teamcompeted successfully for this award.Understanding and improving environmental health is central to ourpublic health mission. Increasingly,bioinformatics is the key to makingsense of the huge amounts of dataproduced in research projects, especially in environmental research. I amconfident that this research activitywill lead to new insights about theenvironment and environmentalhealth.”The U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency has awarded UNC’s Carolinacontinued next pageCarbon Reduction (CRed) – continued from page 1voted to become the first U.S. site to sign on to theCarbon Reduction Project and formally commit to the60 percent goal by 2050. In December, the Council convinced the university to also sign onto CRed.“The Town of Chapel Hillis eager to collaborate withthe Carolina EnvironmentalProgram on carbon reductionefforts because we realize thatcarbon emissions are a threatto the environment both nowand in the future,” said ChapelHill Mayor Kevin Foy. “OurChapel Hill Mayorsociety is organized aroundKevin Foycarbon fuels, and it will not beeasy to move away from them.That’s why we think it’s good to start now, even thoughwe recognize that this is a relatively small-scale effort.Changi

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Campus Box 1105 Chapel Hill, NC 27599-1105 . Miller Hall Lawn, UNC-Chapel Hill. Speaker: Jane Preyer, Regional Director, Environmental Defense Upcoming . The Honorable Mary Price Taylor Harrison Mary Lamberton Hill Olivia Holding William D. Johnson Henry Lancaster R. Michael Leonard