Andrew Binder

The vision of the Center for Human Health and the Environment (CHHE) is to become a global leader in environmental health sciences (EHS) along the continuum from genes to populations by building on NC State’s unique research strengths and resources in quantitative biology, -omics and analytical technologies, and diverse model organisms, as well as its emerging strength in human population science. Through the purposeful interfacing of different disciplines and a systems biology framework integrating all levels of biological organization - biomolecule, pathway, cell, tissue, organ, model organism, human, and human population - CHHE will elucidate fundamental mechanisms through which environmental stressors interface with pathways, the genome, and epigenome to influence human health outcomes. CHHE has made outstanding progress in the first funding cycle. CHHE has significantly: (1) advanced innovative multi-disciplinary EHS team research; (2) expanded its NIEHS grant base; (3) increased EHS capacity at its partner institutions, East Carolina University and North Carolina Central University; (4) cultivated the next generation of EHS leaders; and (5) developed multi-directional engagement with communities affected by exposure to toxic metals and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. During our first funding cycle, four Research Interest Groups (RIGs) evolved organically and the Emerging Contaminants, Environmental Epigenetics and Genetics, Pulmonary Health, and Behavior and Neuroscience RIGs now represent CHHE thematic areas. In the coming cycle, we have enhanced our three facility cores to increase the impact and the basic science and translational capacity of our membership. The Systems Technologies Core provides cutting-edge technologies involving genomics, metabolomics, metallomics, and proteomics. The Comparative Pathology Core provides pathologic phenotypic assessment of the many model organisms used by members and imaging support with links back to omics technologies. The Integrative Health Science Facility Core facilitates bidirectional translation between basic science and public health outcomes by providing data science analysis and visualization support for analysis of human population and multi-omic studies as well as population-based study expertise. As a land-grant university, NC State has a dedicated community engagement philosophy that augments CHHE’s Community Engagement Core and fosters relationships between CHHE and affected communities in NC which leads to collaborative interaction among researchers, educators, and citizens to enhance EHS knowledge, literacy, and health. A strong Career Development Program for early- and mid-career investigators is coordinated with a robust Pilot Project Program that supports collaborative and multidisciplinary EHS projects to enhance the research success of our members. Our CHHE mission is to continue to evolve as a premier NIEHS EHS Core Center and serve as the nexus of EHS research at NC State by providing focus, resources, and leadership for interdisciplinary research that will improve human health locally, nationally, and globally.

This project will leverage existing food safety networks to rapidly address SARS-CoV-2 concerns within the food industry by evaluating practices and confirming efficacy through laboratory research on spread, inactivation and transfer to aid in future risk management decisions. The goal is to reduce the risk of COVID-19 impacts within the food supply chain through laboratory-informed risk-based decision making.

Despite sharing similar scientific foundations, genetically modified (GM) trees have lagged far behind GM crops in terms of development and commercialization. Proponents lament the failure to realize more quickly the potential of a powerful technology, but the delay has also created space for strategic consideration of how to navigate public perceptions and regulatory oversight. This proposal focuses on the GM American chestnut (GMAC) as a case study for three reasons: a narrative of ecological restoration may disrupt anti-GMO sentiments motivated by environmental values; GMAC scientists have explicitly engaged public audiences and stakeholder across multiple institutional contexts; and the GMAC is designed to spread into the environment, raising new governance questions at the same time that the White House has called for reviewing the U.S. regulatory framework on plant biotechnologies.Research will focus on four sets of "Core" GMAC stakeholders. 1) Biotechnologists: Building on a 2014 pilot study, key GMAC scientists will be interviewed. 2) Indigenous Stakeholders: Given the overlap between Haudenosaunee (or Iroquois) tribal lands and proposed release sites for the GMAC, project personnel will collaborate with SUNY-ESF’s Center for Native Peoples and the Environment (CNPE). 3) Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs): First, the Institute of Forest Bioscience (IFB), which is dedicated to the "responsible use" of forest biotechnology and the principles of "science, dialogue, and stewardship," will be the site of an institutional ethnography. Second, emergent coalitions of NGOs surrounding the GMAC will undergo a narrative policy framework analysis. 4) Public Audiences: Collaborating with IFB and the Genetic Engineering and Society Center at North Carolina State University, the project team will host a workshop that brings together GMAC stakeholders to plan the next iteration of public engagement following soon-to-be published results of a national survey of public attitudes on the GMAC

The mission of the Center for Human Health and the Environment (CHHE) is to advance understanding of environmental impacts on human health. Through a systems biology framework integrating all levels of biological organization, CHHE aims to elucidate the fundamental mechanisms through which environmental exposures/stressors interface with biomolecules, pathways, the genome, and epigenome to influence human disease. CHHE will develop three interdisciplinary research teams that represent NC State’s distinctive strengths. CHHE will implement specific mechanisms to promote intra- and inter-team interactions and build interdisciplinary bridges to advance basic science discovery and translational research in environmental health science along the continuum from genes to population. These teams are; - The Molecular/Cellular-Based Systems and Model Organisms Team will utilize cutting edge molecular/cellular-based systems and powerful vertebrate and invertebrate model organisms to define mechanisms, pathways, GxE interactions, and individual susceptibility to environmental agents. - The Human Population Science Team will integrate expertise on environmental exposures, epidemiology, genomics and epigenomics to identify key human pathways and link exposure and disease across populations. - Bioinformatics Team will develop novel analytics and computational tools to translate Big Data generated across high-throughput and multiscale experiments into systems-level discoveries To further increase the impact and translational capacity of these teams, CHHE will develop three new facility cores that will provide instrumentation, expertise, and training to facilitate basic mechanism- to population-based research. - The Integrative Health Sciences Facility Core will expand the ability of CHHE members to translate basic science discoveries across species and provide mechanistic insights into epidemiological studies by partnering with: a) NC State’s Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD); b) East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine and c) NC Dept. of Health and Human Services. - The Comparative Pathobiology Core will be located at NC State’s top-ranked College of Veterinary Medicine and its nationally recognized veterinary pathology group to facilitate assessment of the effects of environmental stressors in the many model organisms utilized by CHHE members. - The Systems Technologies Core will introduce state-of-the-art proteomics capabilities and dedicated bioinformatics support to expand the ability of CHHE members to analyze the Next Generation Sequencing data involving the genome, transcriptome and epigenome. As a land-grant university, NC State has an extensive and active Cooperative Extension Service network throughout North Carolina. CHHE will utilize this unique network to develop a highly effective, multi-directional Community Outreach and Engagement Core to disseminate findings that will contribute to addressing disparity in exposures and health outcomes and to educate communities about environmental influences on health. A strong Career Development Core for early stage scientists that is coordinated with a robust Pilot Project Program will support cutting-edge, collaborative and multidisciplinary environmental health projects to enhance the research success and impact of our membership. Through these activities and the purposeful interfacing of different disciplines CHHE will build on NC State’s unique research and community outreach strengths to become a premier transformative and synergistic EHS Core Center.

To reduce foodborne illness and to protect public health, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) helps ensure that consumers are provided with the information needed to safely handle and prepare meat and poultry when cooking at home. Product labels, such as the Safe Handling Instructions (SHI), are one approach for providing consumers with information on food safety practices. FSIS is considering revising the SHI label and needs to conduct consumer behavior research to ensure that the final SHI label revision empirically shows an improve¬ment in consumers’ food safety knowledge and behaviors following exposure to the revised SHI label. FSIS would also like to collect information on consumers’ use and understanding of labeling for ready-to-eat (RTE) and not-ready-to-eat (NRTE) meat and poultry products to assess whether improvements are needed in the labeling of these products.