Scientific collaboration and cutting-edge technologies can advance environmental health sciences. The NIEHS Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) Core Centers Program facilitates these collaborations by funding institutional infrastructure to support scientific equipment, facilities, and other resources that can be shared among environmental health researchers. By pursuing shared research questions, the EHS Core Centers identify emerging issues that advance understanding about how pollutants and other environmental factors affect human biology and may lead to disease.
Currently, there are more than 20 centers across the country. Each center has its own strategic vision and scientific focus, but all share four common goals: advancing scientific research; promoting community engagement; advancing translational research; and training new researchers.
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Iowa Core Center Develops Climate Change Podcast and Teaching Resources
The NIEHS-funded Environmental Health Sciences Core Center at the University of Iowa developed a podcast series and accompanying teaching resources around the topic of climate change. The series features researchers and government officials who discuss a range of climate topics relevant to communities in Iowa and beyond.
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Mount Sinai Core Center Marks 10 Years of Pilot Projects Program, Career Development
The Pilot Projects Program of the NIEHS-funded Environmental Health Sciences Core Center at Mount Sinai reached a 10-year milestone in 2023. Over the past decade, the program has funded 94 pilot studies led by Mount Sinai postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty, many of which have gone on to receive larger grant awards.
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Edwards Recognized for Research Examining Disparities in Beauty Product Use
Lariah Edwards, Ph.D., won the 2023 Rosalind Franklin Society Award in Science for the best research paper by a woman or underrepresented minority in science across more than 100 peer-reviewed journals. Funded by the NIEHS Environmental Health Sciences Core Center at Columbia University, the featured paper used a community-based participatory research approach to examine how beauty norms affected beauty product use among women and femme-identifying individuals in New York City.
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PFAS Exposure in Males Altered Sperm Methylation, Triggered Downstream Effects on Offspring Health
PFAS exposure in adult male mice resulted in abnormal sperm methylation and altered gene expression in offspring tissues important for metabolic health, according to researchers from the NIEHS-funded Environmental Health Sciences Core Center at Wayne State University. Study results suggest that PFAS exposure in males prior to offspring conception can negatively affect the health of the next generation, the scientists wrote.
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UNM Core Center Researchers Find Microplastics in Testicular Tissue
Researchers from the NIEHS-funded Environmental Health Sciences Core Center at the University of New Mexico (UNM) detected significant levels of microplastics in the testicular tissue of both humans and canines. In dogs, higher levels of certain plastics were associated with poor reproductive health, highlighting a potential link between exposure to microplastics and reduced fertility in males.
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HERCULES Center Members: Exposing the Exposome
The NIEHS-funded HERCULES Center at Emory University was featured in a Rollins Magazine cover story for its role in advancing exposome research.
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Disease Rates Rise With Growing Petrochemical Production
Increased production of petrochemicals is linked to rising rates of cancer, diabetes, infertility, and other chronic health conditions, according to a review article authored by Tracey Woodruff, Ph.D., director of the NIEHS-funded Environmental Research and Translation for Health Center at the University of California, San Francisco.
About Core Centers
About the EHS Core Centers Program
Community Engagement Cores
Environmental Health Sciences Core Centers Grantees
Center Spotlight
Iowa Core Center Develops Climate Change Podcast and Teaching Resources
The NIEHS-funded Environmental Health Sciences Core Center at the University of Iowa developed a podcast series and accompanying teaching resources around the topic of climate change. The series features researchers and government officials who discuss a range of climate topics relevant to communities in Iowa and beyond.
Mount Sinai Core Center Marks 10 Years of Pilot Projects Program, Career Development
The Pilot Projects Program of the NIEHS-funded Environmental Health Sciences Core Center at Mount Sinai reached a 10-year milestone in 2023. Over the past decade, the program has funded 94 pilot studies led by Mount Sinai postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty, many of which have gone on to receive larger grant awards.
Edwards Recognized for Research Examining Disparities in Beauty Product Use
Lariah Edwards, Ph.D., won the 2023 Rosalind Franklin Society Award in Science for the best research paper by a woman or underrepresented minority in science across more than 100 peer-reviewed journals. Funded by the NIEHS Environmental Health Sciences Core Center at Columbia University, the featured paper used a community-based participatory research approach to examine how beauty norms affected beauty product use among women and femme-identifying individuals in New York City.
“The success of this paper is owed to so many wonderful collaborators, with a special thanks to the community members who disseminated and completed this survey. I’m so pleased that everyone’s hard work is being recognized,” Edwards said.
PFAS Exposure in Males Altered Sperm Methylation, Triggered Downstream Effects on Offspring Health
PFAS exposure in adult male mice resulted in abnormal sperm methylation and altered gene expression in offspring tissues important for metabolic health, according to researchers from the NIEHS-funded Environmental Health Sciences Core Center at Wayne State University. Study results suggest that PFAS exposure in males prior to offspring conception can negatively affect the health of the next generation, the scientists wrote.
UNM Core Center Researchers Find Microplastics in Testicular Tissue
HERCULES Center Members: Exposing the Exposome
The NIEHS-funded HERCULES Center at Emory University was featured in a Rollins Magazine cover story for its role in advancing exposome research. The exposome is the sum of all environmental exposures and our body’s response to those exposures across the lifespan.
Disease Rates Rise With Growing Petrochemical Production
