Sealy Center for Environmental Health and Medicine Administration Executive Summary Executive Summary ExecutiveSummary Executive Summary Seminar Series Collaborative Programs Boards & Councils The UTMB-CET exists as both a force to address today's disparate and compelling human concerns about environmental health problems and the intellectual framework that drives the research towards possible solutions. From its inception, the Center has been an integral component within a much larger UTMB program in the Environmental Health Sciences that include a toxicology training program and Centers of Excellence in environmental health and medicine, molecular medicine, structural biology, aging, cancer cell biology, and the Institute for Translational Sciences. Thus, the Center has become a staunch collaborator for university, community and government entities dedicated to environmental health science problems in Southeast Texas. The Environmental Health Sciences Seminar Series The CET sponsors an Environmental Health Sciences Seminar Series that includes both external and internal speakers. The seminar calendar coincides with the Graduate School calendar and runs from September through May. Seminars take place on Mondays at lunchtime (with lunch provided) and are open to all. Seminars attract a mixed audience of CET and non-Center members, with an average attendance of 40-50 persons, and are intended to stimulate the intellectual climate of the Center and enhance the scope and quality of individual center investigators’ research. During the period 4/1/2012-3/31/2016, the CET seminar series held 75 seminars. Of these, 48 were external speakers and 27 were internal. Evidence of Success A visit by Dr. Jeffery Wickliffe (Tulane University, New Orleans, LA) in 2012 resulted in the joint publication of a commentary in the journal Enveronmental Health Perspectives (Wickliffe et al., 2014, Environmental health perspectives 122, 6-9). Dr. Cheryl Walker was invited to present a seminar in March 2014, which resulted in Dr. Walker (Director of the NIEHS P30 Center for Translational Environmental Health Research (CTEHR) and the CET director (Dr. Elferink) initiating an inter-Center collaboration under the auspices of the Texas OneGulf Center of Excellence consortium, to drive disaster research response (DR2) intiatives. In May 2014, Dr. Amanda Phillips-Savoy gave a seminar on community-based participatory research to the CET membership. As a result of her visit and her expertise, the CET invited her to become a new External Advisory Board member who would provide valuable insight into CBPR activities and a clinical perspective to the translational research conducted by CET members. In late 2014, Dr. Aubrey Miller from the NIEHS was invited to present a seminar on disaster health research as part of the DR2 initiative spearheaded by the NIEHS. Dr. Miller continues to be an advisor to the CET’s DR2-related activities and has developed a close working relationship with Dr. Sharon Croisant (COEC director and the IHSFC’s Community-Based Research program director) to promote CET DR2 program activities. From peptide library screens to pathological cell targeting Monday, May 22, 2017 - 5.521 Levin Hall - 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m Mikhail Kolonin, Ph.D. Associate Professor Director, Center for Metabolic and Degenerative Diseases Harry E. Bovay, Jr. Distinguished University Chair in Metabolic Disease Research The University of Texas Health Science Center Houston, TX Molecular Mechanisms of Coronary Flow Regulation by Adenosine Monday, May 15, 2017 - 5.521 Levin Hall - 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. S. Jamal Mustafa, Ph.D. Scientific Officer, Clinical and Translational Science Pilot Grants Program and Robert C. Byrd Professor of Physiology & Pharmacology and Basic Pharmaceutical Sciences West Virginia University Morgantown, WV Environmental Factors: Drivers of Lung Fibrotic Disease? Monday, May 1, 2017 - 5.521 Levin Hall - 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. Bill T. Ameredes, M.S., Ph.D. Professor, Internal Medicine/Pharmacology &Toxicology/Biochemistry and Molecular Biology UT Distinguished Teaching Professor & Class of ‘47 Memorial Endowed Professor for Excellence in Education Director, Inhalation Toxicology Core (ITC) / NIH/NCATS KL2 Scholars Program / NIEHS Environmental Toxicology Training Program William C. Levin Endowed Chair in Environmental Toxicology The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston Mechanisms of IkB Kinase Activation Via Canonical and Non-Canonical NF-kB Signaling Pathways Monday, April 24, 2017 - 5.521 Levin Hall - 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. Gourisankar Ghosh, Ph.D. Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry University of California San Diego San Diego, CA Neurotoxic effects of pyrethroids on neuronal ion channels Monday, April 17, 2017 - 5.521 Levin Hall - 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. Fernanda Laezza, MD, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology The University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston, TX Pathogenesis of Fungal Asthma and Sinusitis Monday, April 10, 2017 - 5.521 Levin Hall - 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. David B. Corry, M.D. Professor of Medicine and Pathology & Immunology Chief, Section of Immunology, Allergy, and Rheumatology Baylor College of Medicine Houston, Texas Epigenetic control of antiviral response in airway remodeling Monday, April 3, 2017 - 5.521 Levin Hall - 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. Jun Yang, Ph.D. Instructor, Department of Internal Medicine Division of Endocrinology The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston Lipin-1 Signaling and Its Implications in the Alcoholic Steatohepatitis Monday, March 20, 2017 - 5.521 Levin Hall - 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. Min You, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences College of Pharmacy Northeast Ohio Medical University Rootstown, OH The genetic and pathological effects of oxidation on progression of Huntington Disease Monday, March 6, 2017 - 5.521 Levin Hall - 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. Cynthia T. McMurray, Ph.D. Senior Scientist Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley, CA Mitochondrial homeostasis in lung diseases Monday, February 13, 2017 - 5.521 Levin Hall - 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. Bartosz Szczesny, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesiology The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston Staff Scientist The Shriners Hospitals for Children in Galveston Molecular Mechanisms of Aflatoxin-mediated Carcinogenesis - Implications for Human Hepatocellular Carcinogenesis Monday, January 30, 2017 - 5.521 Levin Hall - 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. R. Stephen Lloyd, Ph.D. Associate Director for Basic Research Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences, Portland, OR Professor, Department of Molecular and Medical Genetics Oregon Health & Science University, Portland , OR Chromium VI-Induced Female Reproductive Toxicity: Mechanisms & Intervention Monday, January 9, 2017 - 5.521 Levin Hall - 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. Sakhila K. Banu, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences Texas A&M University College Station, Texas Stakeholder Engagement: Strategies for Success in the Evolving NIH Funding Environment Monday, December 19, 2016 - 5.521 Levin Hall - 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. Sharon Petronella Croisant, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health The University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston, TX Marijuana Cannabinoid - Included Epigenetic Regulation of Immune Response Monday, September 12, 2016 - 5.521 Levin Hall - 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. Mitzi Nagarkatti, Ph.D. Carolina Distinguished Professor Chair, Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology University of South Carolina Medicine Columbia, SC Collaborative and Supportive Programs at UTMB NIEHS Toxicology Training Grant Program Sealy Center for Environmental Health & Medicine The Sealy Center for Molecular Medicine The Institute for Medical Humanities The Institute for Translational Sciences Advisory Boards & Councils The CET receives oversight from several advisory boards. These include the Executive Committee, the Internal Advisory Board, the External Advisory Board, and the Stakeholder Advisory Board. The purpose of the CET Executive Committee is to align and coordinate the various resources of the CET to meet the needs of its members. The Executive Committee is composed of CET leadership (director, deputy director, IHSFC director, COEC director, facility core directors, and the Collaborative Research Team coordinator), and sets the overall priorities for allocation of resources. The Internal Advisory Board is charged with oversight of the longer-term objectives including annual membership evaluation and review of the pilot projects applications. The External Advisory Board serves as an impartial expert body that advises the director regarding the future direction of the Center. The Stakeholder Advisory Board is composed of Gulf Coast regional community group representatives, that works closely with the Community Outreach and Engagement Core to identify research priorities and disseminate Center findings.