Funded Projects

Funded Projects

ROUND 5 FULL PILOT PROJECT – 04/01/2023-03/31/2024

  • Cheryl Walker, Professor, Baylor College of Medicine, and Georgios Karras, Assistant Professor, The University of Texas Medical MD Anderson Cancer Center  “Protein folding as a vulnerability to environmental exposures regulating GxE interactions”
  • Kian Peng Koh, Associate Professor, Baylor College of Medicine,  “A TET1-vitamin C interaction in developmental programming” 
  • Fernanda Laezza, Professor, The University of Texas Medical Branch,  “Bipartite network analysis of multi-omics signatures of the neurodevelopmental exposome” 
  • Corsello Gorgun, Assistant Professor, The University of Texas Medical Branch, “Structure and molecular content of extracellular vesicles (EVs) released by upper airway epithelial cells exposed to cigarette smoke and electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) aerosols”
  • Sadaf Milani, Assistant Professor, The University of Texas Medical Branch,  “Environmental Exposures and Health Outcomes among Older Mexican Americans” 
  • Elise Smith, Assistant Professor, The University of Texas Medical Branch,  “Environmental Justice and Social Responsibility of Environmental Health Scientists Conducting Studies on Environmental Exposures” 
  • Hui Wang, Instructor, The University of Texas Medical Branch,   “Delineating the effects of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances exposure on SARS-CoV-2 infection and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccine” 

STRATEGIC PILOT PROJECT: Veterans Environmental Health – 09/01/2021-08/31/2022

  • Howard Kipen, Professor, Rutgers University, CEED Member, “Carbon Dioxide: Testing a Hypothesized Mechanism to Explain Cognitive Impairment in Veterans” 
  • Richard Street, Professor, Baylor College of Medicine, “Exploring Benefits for Veterans of Using (vs. Not Using) Social Networking Sites and Smartphone Applications (EBV-SNApp)” 
  • Bill Ameredes, Professor and Casey Wright, Associate Professor, The University of Texas Medical Branch, “Therapeutic Use of SSOs to Counter Acrolein Toxicity in the Lung” 
  • Vlad Sandulache, Associate Professor, Baylor College of Medicine, VA Medical Center Houston, “Measuring the impact of Agent Orange exposure on the tumor immune microenvironment of oropharyngeal cancer in Veterans” 
  • Robert Sargis, Associate Professor, University of Illinois Chicago, CACHET Member, Chicago/Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center, “Hexavalent Chromium Neurotoxicity; Metabolic Origins and Therapeutic Interventions” 
  • Wen-Yang Hu, Research Assistant Professor, University of Illinois Chicago, CACHET Member, “PFOS and PFOA-reprogrammed human prostate stem cells and prostate cancer risk” 

ROUND 4 FULL PILOT PROJECT – 08/01/2021-07/31/2022

  • Fernanda Laezza, Professor, The University of Texas Medical Branch
    “Characterization of the deltamethrin neurodevelopmental exposome” 
  • Lance Hallberg, Associate Professor, The University of Texas Medical Branch, “A Community Engagement Project: To Determine the Extent of Migration of a Tetrachloroethylene Contaminated Water Plume in a Houston Community” 
  • Thomas Northrup, Associate Professor, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, “The Impact of Thirdhand Tobacco Smoke Exposure on Infant Gut Microbiome Development and Human Milk in Hospitalized Preterm Infants” 
  • Shelly Buffington, Assistant Professor, The University of Texas Medical Branch, “Microbially-derived metabolites mediating metabolic and cognitive dysfunction in maternal high-fat diet offspring” 
  • Wei-Chung Su, Assistant Professor, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, “Estimation of Health Risks Caused by Secondary Exposure to E-Cigarette Aerosol” 
  • Krishnan, Vaishnav, Assistant Professor, Baylor College of Medicine, “Interactions between Pon1 Dysfunction and Gestational Organophosphate Exposure: A Potentially Preventable Cause of Autism Spectrum Disorder” 

ROUND 3 FULL PILOT PROJECT – 03/01/2021-02/28/2022

  • Cornelis Elferink, Professor, The University of Texas Medical Branch, “Novel Role for the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Nuclear Translocator 2 (ARNT2) in Liver Repair Following Exposure to Chemical Toxicants” 
  • Drew A. Helmer, Professor, Baylor College of Medicine, “Engaging Veterans in the Gulf Coast Community to advance Understanding of Military Exposure Research and Action Priorities (U-MERP)” 
  • John D. Prochaska, Associate Professor, The University of Texas Medical Branch, “Machine Learning to Identify Environmental Justice Communities” 
  • Casey Wright, Associate Professor, The University of Texas Medical Branch, “Macrophage responses to toxic electronic cigarette by-products” 
  • Bert W O’Malley, Professor and Huan Meng, Instructor, Baylor College of Medicine, “Effects of arsenic exposure on mammalian 12-hour clock and NAFLD” 
  • Jahnavi Gollamudi, Instructor, Baylor College of Medicine, “The Impact of Fine Particulate Matter in Sickle Cell Disease” 

ROUND 2 FULL PILOT PROJECT – 04/01/2020-03/31/2021

  • Lawrence Sowers, Professor,The University of Texas Medical Branch, “Measuring Inflammation Mediated Upper Airway Halogenation Resulting from Environmental Toxin Exposure”
  • Rachel Arey, Assistant Professor, Baylor College of Medicine, “Identifying behavioral and molecular effects of perfluorinated compounds on cognitive aging”
  • Inkyu Han, Assistant Professor, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston , “Characterization of flavored e-cigarette liquids and aerosols”
  • Aditya Joshi, Assistant Professor, The University of Texas Medical Branch, “Characterization of stanniocalcin 2 in liver injury”
  • Ergun Sahin, Assistant Professor, Baylor College of Medicine, “Role of the microbiome in fructose-induced colitis in the context of short telomeres”
  • Margot Williams, Assistant Professor, Baylor College of Medicine, “Identifying environmental NTD risk factors in zebrafish”

ROUND 1 FULL PILOT PROJECT – 09/01/2019-08/31/2020

  • Robert Garofalo, Professor, The University of Texas Medical Branch, “Developmental maturation of the endogenous H2S pathway and susceptibility to second-hand tobacco smoke”
  • Fernanda Laezza, Professor, The University of Texas Medical Branch, “Adverse effects of pyrethroids in the brain”
  • Mirjana Maletic-Savatic, Associate Professor, Baylor College of Medicine, “The effect of microplastics on the mammalian brain transcriptome”
  • Maya Balakrishnan, Assistant Professor, Baylor College of Medicine, “The effect of environmental exposures on NAFLD progression”
  • Charles Foulds, Assistant Professor, Baylor College of Medicine, “Mechanisms of epigenetic reprogramming by an environmental “obesogen” in human liver cells”
  • Daniel Gorelick, Assistant Professor, Baylor College of Medicine, “A chemical screen to identify gene-environment interactions that cause congenital heart defects”
  • Kristina Walker Whitworth, Assistant Professor, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, “Personal VOC exposures and biomarkers of early effect among Hispanic domestic house cleaners.”

RAPID RESPONSE PROJECT

  • 2022, Nagireddy Putluri, Associate Professor, Baylor College of Medicine, “ Method Development for Analysis of Phthalates and Related Metabolites in Serum and Urine  ” 
  • 2022, Kyle P. Eagen, Assistant Professor, Baylor College of Medicine, “Chromatin Conformation Biomarkers for Early Life Environmental Exposures ” 
  • 2021, Bhagavatula Moorthy, Professor, Baylor College of Medicine, “Role of microbial AHR ligands in the attenuation of hyperoxic neonatal lung injury in mice exposed maternally to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons” 
  • 2020, Yashoda Hosakote, Assistant Professor, The University of Texas Medical Branch, “HMGB1-mediated proinflammatory signaling in the lung following RSV and secondhand tobacco smoke co-exposure” 
  • 2020, Ergun Sahin, Assistant Professor, Baylor College of Medicine, “Telomere shortening as a basis for age-related SARS-CoV2 infectivity”  
  • 2019, Abiodun Oluyomi, Assistant Professor, Baylor College of Medicine,  “Targeted need for NIH application: Integration of Individual Residential Histories into Cancer Research” 

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“Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number P30ES030285. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.”