Environmental Toxicology and Epidemiology Training Grant

Supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH

Research Training Guidelines

The Environmental Toxicology Training Program is supported by an Institutional Training Grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Support is available for research training seeking to understand how environmental exposures either:

  1. alter biologic processes
  2. affect the risk of either disease development or distribution in populations

Further detail is listed below and can be read in NOT-ES-06-007.

Examples of supported research can be found through PubMed.gov.

The NIEHS is very specific in the types of research supported by their training grants, as outlined below.

Environmental Exposures

Examples of environmental exposures supported by this program and the mission of the NIEHS include:

  • metals
  • pesticides
  • herbicides
  • air pollutants
  • inhaled toxicants
  • particulates or fibers
  • industrial chemicals or manufacturing by-products
  • fungal or bacterially derived toxins due to ambient exposures

Agents considered outside the mission of the NIEHS and thereforenot supported by this program include:

  • alcohol
  • chemotherapeutic agents
  • ionizing radiation
  • drugs of abuse
  • pharmaceuticals
  • smoking (except second-hand smoke)
  • infectious or parasitic agents*

*Infection or parasitic agents are supported by this program when these are disease co-factors with an environmental toxicant exposure to produce the biological effect.

Exposure Assessment

Training in exposure assessment is supported by this program if the research focus is:

  • exposure biology at the interface of exposures and human health
  • biomarkers as indicators of body burden, pathophysiological changes, or inception/progression of disease*

*Biomarkers as environmental measurement of ambient contact or point of exposure is not supported by this program.

Ecological Toxicology

Research training in ecological toxicology is NOT supported by this program. Some examples include:

  • ecology
  • ecologic or microbial biotransformation
  • ecologic biodegradation and remediation
  • ecological monitoring
  • wildlife and fisheries biology or studies of sentinel species
  • geochemistry and other ecologically based environmental studies.

Veterinary Medicine

Training in veterinary medicine where the endpoint is animal health is not supported by this program.

Food Science/Safety

Training in food science is not supported by this program.

For More Information:

Saskia Berrios-Thomas
Environmental Toxicology and Epidemiology Program
Department of Environmental Health Sciences
1415 Washington Heights
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029
Phone: 734-936-0749
saskiabt@umich.edu