NIEHS Spotlight

Director's Honor Awards

Director David Schwartz presented NIH Merit Awards to NIEHS' best during the annual Director's Annual Honor Awards Ceremony on Dec. 15 in the Rodbell Auditorium. Fellows Award for Research Excellence, Unsung Hero and Peer Awards were also presented. NIH Director's Award recipients were recognized at the ceremony as well.

International Day Celebration

After the conclusion of the annual Honor Awards ceremony, Director David Schwartz invited everyone to adjourn to the cafeteria for the International Day celebration.

Comments on Strategic Plan Reflect Wide Range of Interests:Draft Plan Now on Web

The request for input on the NIEHS Strategic Plan drew nearly 400 responses representing a spectrum of interests from academia, advocacy groups and the general public.

Community Outreach: Breast Cancer and the Environment

NIEHS, along with NCI, sponsored the Breast Cancer and the Environment Resource Centers conference Nov. 9-11 in East Lansing, Mich. The conference is an annual event, and the 2005 conference focused on early environmental exposure.

Director's Holiday Reception

Cheers!

Inside The Institute

Astrid Haugen: Wife, Mother, Black Belt

When Astrid Haugen graduated from eighth grade and was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, she quickly said, "I want to be a Master one day and own my own school." Since she was so impressed with martial arts and Bruce Lee, her parents thought it was a logical answer.

Holiday Craft Fair 2005

Vendors lined the mall areas from the C building through the F building for the NIEHS Holiday Craft Fair on Dec. 8. The fair, and annual event, started in 1992 as a creative project initiated by the local chapter of the Federal Women's Program.

eOPF files are Here

Personnel files are now just a click away. Well, almost.

New Resources in the NIEHS Work/Life Center

There are a number of new books and CDs available for checkout in the NIEHS Work/Life Center just outside the library.

Tom Goehl Retires

Tom Goehl, editor-in-chief of Environmental Health Perspectives, retired at the end of 2005. Jim Burkhart, science editor, is now acting editor-in-chief.

Blood Drive Results

A total of 51 people signed up to donate blood at the December blood drive. Of that number, 46 units of blood were collected for the American Red Cross. None of the donors were first-time donors. Blood drives are held quarterly at NIEHS.

Up and Coming

 

 Back to top

Science Notebook

NTP: High Throughput Screening

The National Toxicology Program continually seeks new ways to test for the toxicity of more compounds that make up potentially live-saving drugs each year. High Throughput Screening promises to alleviate the bottleneck effect in the discovery process because it allows a researcher to effectively conduct hundreds of experiments at once through a combination of modern robotics and other specialized laboratory hardware.

Sigma Xi Student Research Conference

NIEHS got a little local publicity on Elon University's web-based campus news service, which cited NIEHS as a major sponsor of the Sigma Xi annual conference held Nov. 4-6 in Seattle.

Artificial Light Stimulates Breast Cancer

NIH-funded research shows nighttime exposure to artificial light stimulates the growth of human bcreast tumors by suppressing melatonin, a key hormone that regulates sleep.

High-Fat Diet and Pollution Linked to Atherosclerosis

New research shows a clear link between the combination of high-fat diet and fine particulate exposure in the development of atherosclerosis in lab mice.

Gene May Suppress Lung Inflammation

A gene that plays an important role in immune function may also play a critical role in suppressing chronic lung inflammation, NIEHS researchers discovered. That conclusion comes from a study published in the Dec. 7 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Society.

Papers of the Month

 

The Environmental Factor is produced monthly by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/), Office of Communications and Public Liaison. The content is not copyrighted, and it can be reprinted without permission. If you use parts of Environmental Factor in your publication, we ask that you provide us with a copy for our records. We welcome your comments and suggestions. (bruskec@niehs.nih.gov)