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November 4, 2002 Volume 27, Issue 14 |
Mississippi State will use nearly $9 million recently received from the National Institutes of Health to establish a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence.
To be awarded over five years, the NIH grant will help expand research on pesticides and their potential human health interactions already under way at the Center for Environmental Health Sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Of four future research projects, two will use laboratory rats to examine the biochemical effects pesticides may have on human nervous systems. A third study will focus on the human endocrine system and a fourth will investigate the relationship between pesticide exposure levels and human health status.
In addition to the direct research benefits, project director Janice E. Chambers said the new center will allow established researchers to mentor junior faculty members in some specific research areas. Emphasis will be given to organizing teams from across various academic disciplines to expand research, and the grant also will contribute to improved research facilities within the College of Veterinary Medicine.
"During the first year, MSU will receive approximately $500,000 to renovate and equip laboratories," said Chambers, a Giles Distinguished Professor who heads the veterinary college's interdisciplinary Center for Environmental Health Sciences.
"In an agricultural state such as Mississippi, we are acutely aware of the benefits, as well as the potential dangers, of pesticides," Chambers added. "This new research will provide data that will help define their safe use in relation to human health."
Chambers said the veterinary college's environmental health sciences center will continue earlier NIH-sponsored research into pesticides and their potential impact on children's health, as well as an Environmental Protection Agency-funded study of the potential hazards to children of flea collar chemical exposure.
Dr. Jerald Ainsworth, associate dean for veterinary research and head of the college's basic sciences department, will serve as co-director of the new biomedical research center. Other veterinary faculty members include Drs. Scott Boone, Russell Carr, Nikolay Filipov, Michele Wilkinson, and Robert Wills. Drs. Peter Ryan and Scott Willard of the department of animal and dairy science complete the new research team.
"This latest NIH grant will further strengthen our capabilities to serve the state and its people," Ainsworth said. "Also, by expanding collaborative research opportunities for junior faculty members, we will be able to build stronger teams and better position the university to compete for future projects."