P2CES033415

Breathe - Bridging Research, Lung Health, and the Environment - Children's Center

The Children's Environmental Health Research Centers have made significant contributions to defining environmental risk factors and developing interventions to reduce risk. Successful translation of this work has the potential to amplify discovery to improve the lives of millions of infants and children.

The Center for Childhood Asthma in the Urban Environment was established in 1998 as one of the original centers and has focused on childhood asthma and respiratory disease for over twenty years. The Breathe (Bridging Research, Lung Health, and the Environment) Children's Center will translate findings, based on our own work and work from other centers, regarding environmental exposures that impact children's respiratory health and interventions to reduce risk.

The NIEHS translational framework will be applied to put science into practice with novel, evidence-based communication strategies that inform and engage students, community members, health professionals, and policymakers to reduce harmful exposures and promote children's respiratory health.

The program will be overseen by the Administrative Core (Director: Dr. McCormack, Deputy Director: Dr. Burke), which will provide resources, oversight, and support to successfully translate findings regarding children's environmental respiratory health from science to practice and policy.

The goal of the Translation Core (led by Drs. Burke, Galiatsatos, and Surkan) will be to develop novel communication tools that build on local, state, and national partnerships. The Kids Breathe Lung Health Dashboard will display relevant, actionable information with map-based visualization strategies and storyboard techniques to engage the general public. The dashboard will synthesize decades of children's environmental health research findings to communicate knowledge about hazardous exposures, associated health risks, and the potential benefits of interventions.

The Lung Health Ambassadors Program (LHAP) curriculum will serve as the foundation upon which we will build a curriculum focused on children's respiratory environmental health. LHAP is a school-based health education program with a goal to educate and empower youth to be advocates for lung health that was established in 2018 in partnership with the Baltimore community. The LHAP curriculum will be tailored to reach students, community members, and healthcare professionals, and LHAP graduates will be channeled into a new Lung Health Corps, a volunteer network developed to engage key partners at the local, state, and national level in a coordinated advocacy program.

Finally, the Breathe Children's Center's mission includes a deep commitment to training the next generation of scientists engaged in children's environmental health research. The Development Core (led by Drs. Hansel and Koehler) will expand and diversify the engagement of early career investigators conducting children's environmental health research through pilot projects and development activities. Complementary pilot programs will provide a mechanism to engage early investigators, to promote agility in responding to emerging environmental hazards, and to adapt new approaches to translating scientific discovery into action and policy.

The Johns Hopkins University

TO FOSTER UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN HEALTH EFFECTS OF EXPOSURE TO ENVIRONMENTAL AGENTS IN THE HOPE THAT THESE STUDIES WILL LEAD TO: THE IDENTIFICATION OF AGENTS THAT POSE A HAZARD AND THREAT OF DISEASE, DISORDERS AND DEFECTS IN HUMANS, THE DEVELOPMENT OF EFFECTIVE PUBLIC HEALTH OR DISEASE PREVENTION STRATEGIES, THE OVERALL IMPROVEMENT OF HUMAN HEALTH EFFECTS DUE TO ENVIRONMENTAL AGENTS, THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRODUCTS AND TECHNOLOGIES DESIGNED TO BETTER STUDY OR AMELIORATE THE EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL AGENTS, AND THE SUCCESSFUL TRAINING OF RESEARCH SCIENTISTS IN ALL AREAS OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH RESEARCH. SUPPORTED GRANT PROGRAMS FOCUS ON THE FOLLOWING AREAS: (1) UNDERSTANDING BIOLOGICAL RESPONSES TO ENVIRONMENTAL AGENTS BY DETERMINING HOW CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL AGENTS CAUSE PATHOLOGICAL CHANGES IN MOLECULES, CELLS, TISSUES, AND ORGANS, AND BECOME MANIFESTED AS RESPIRATORY DISEASE, NEUROLOGICAL, BEHAVIORAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL ABNORMALITIES, CANCER, AND OTHER DISORDERS, (2) DETERMINING THE MECHANISMS OF TOXICITY OF UBIQUITOUS AGENTS LIKE METALS, NATURAL AND SYNTHETIC CHEMICALS, PESTICIDES, AND MATERIALS SUCH AS NANOPARTICLES, AND NATURAL TOXIC SUBSTANCES, AND THEIR EFFECTS OF ON VARIOUS HUMAN ORGAN SYSTEMS, ON METABOLISM, ON THE ENDOCRINE AND IMMUNE SYSTEMS, AND ON OTHER BIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS, (3) DEVELOPING AND INTEGRATING SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE ABOUT POTENTIALLY TOXIC AND HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS BY CONCENTRATING ON TOXICOLOGICAL RESEARCH, TESTING, TEST DEVELOPMENT, VALIDATION AND RISK ESTIMATION, (4) IDENTIFYING INTERACTIONS BETWEEN ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSORS AND GENETIC SUSCEPTIBILITY AND UNDERSTANDING BIOLOGIC MECHANISMS UNDERLYING THESE INTERACTIONS, INCLUDING THE STUDY OF ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES ON EPIGENOMICS AND TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATION, (5) CONDUCTING ENVIRONMENTAL PUBLIC HEALTH RESEARCH, INCLUDING IN AREAS OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND HEALTH DISPARITIES, THAT REQUIRES COMMUNITIES AS ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS IN ALL STAGES OF RESEARCH, DISSEMINATION, AND EVALUATION TO ADVANCE BOTH THE SCIENCE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRACTICAL MATERIALS FOR USE IN COMMUNITIES, WITH A FOCUS ON TRANSLATING RESEARCH FINDINGS INTO TOOLS, MATERIALS, AND RESOURCES THAT CAN BE USED TO PREVENT, REDUCE, OR ELIMINATE ADVERSE HEALTH OUTCOMES CAUSED BY ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES, (6) EXPANDING AND IMPROVING THE SBIR PROGRAM, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, TO INCREASE SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION, (7) EXPANDING AND IMPROVING THE STTR PROGRAM TO STIMULATE AND FOSTER SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CARRIED OUT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO FOSTER TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION, (8) PROVIDING SUPPORT FOR BROADLY BASED MULTI-DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AND TRAINING PROGRAMS IN ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH .THESE PROGRAMS INCLUDE THE ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES CORE CENTERS , WHICH SERVE AS NATIONAL FOCAL POINTS AND RESOURCES FOR RESEARCH AND MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT. THROUGH THESE PROGRAMS, NIEHS EXPECTS TO ACHIEVE THE LONG-RANGE GOAL OF DEVELOPING NEW CLINICAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH APPLICATIONS TO IMPROVE DISEASE PREVENTION, DIAGNOSIS, AND THERAPY. ADDITIONAL CENTERS PROGRAMS DEVELOPED IN RECENT YEARS, INCLUDE THE CENTERS FOR OCEANS AND HUMAN HEALTH (CO-FUNDED WITH NSF), CHILDREN'S ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH CENTERS (CO-FUNDED WITH US EPA) AND THE AUTISM CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE (CO-FUNDED WITH OTHER NIH INSTITUTES), AND THE HUMAN HEALTH EXPOSURE ANALYSIS RESOURCE (HHEAR) PROGRAM, (9) SUPPORTING RESEARCH TRAINING PROGRAMS WHICH SERVE TO INCREASE THE POOL OF TRAINED RESEARCH MANPOWER WITH NEEDED EXPERTISE IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES THROUGH SUPPORT OF INDIVIDUAL AND INSTITUTIONAL NATIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE AWARDS (NRSAS), (10) THE OUTSTANDING NEW ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTIST PROGRAM WHICH PROVIDES FIRST TIME RESEARCH GRANT FUNDING TO OUTSTANDING JUNIOR SCIENTISTS IN THE FORMATIVE STAGES OF THEIR CAREER WHO ARE PROPOSING TO MAKE A LONG TERM COMMITMENT TO ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES RESEARCH AND TO ADDRESS THE ADVERSE EFFECTS ON ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES ON HUMAN BIOLOGY, HUMAN PATHOPHYSIOLOGY AND HUMAN DISEASE.

93.113 - Environmental Health

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) [HHS - NIH]

Baltimore, Maryland 212051832 United States

Single Zip Code

Collaborative Centers in Children's Environmental Health Research and Translation Centers (P2C Clinical Trial Optional) (RFA-ES-20-001)

Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 295% from $818,739 to $3,230,290.