From Exposure to Human Disease: Research Strategies to Address Current Challenges

Sponsored by Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine

National Academy of Sciences Auditorium

2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC                            

Thursday, 14 September 2006

8:30 a.m.         Welcome and Opening Remarks

The Honorable Paul G. Rogers, Chair, Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine, Partner, Hogan & Hartson

Session I: Overview of the Exposure-Disease Continuum

Moderator:     Paul G. Rogers, Roundtable Chair

8:45 a.m.         Statement of Workshop Objectives and Current State of the Knowledge across the Continuum

Lynn Goldman, Vice Chair, Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine, Professor, Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health

9:05 a.m.         Exposure to Health Outcomes: Using Bidirectional Linkages along the Continuum to Create a Framework for Addressing Current Problems

Larry Reiter, Director, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Environmental Protection Agency

9:30 a.m.         Chronic Disease and Exposure Linkages: The NIH Gene-Environment Initiative and the Exposure Biology Program

David Schwartz, Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health

10:00 a.m.       Break

10:20 a.m.       Gene-Environment Interaction: Understanding Exposure at the Genetic Level

David Cox, Chief Scientific Officer, Perlegen Sciences, Inc.

10:45 a.m.       Technologies to Advance Environmental Exposures: Sensors, etc. 

David R. Walt, Robinson Professor of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Tufts University

11:10 a.m.       Discussion                             

11:45 a.m.       Lunch

Session II: Exposure in the Real World: Sources, Fate, and Transport

Moderator: Linda Sheldon, Acting Director, Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division, Environmental Protection Agency

12:30 p.m.       Opening Comments

12:40 p.m.       Understanding Multiple Sources and Multiple Pathways

Thomas E. McKone, Adjunct Professor, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of California Berkeley

1:05 p.m.         Source Attribution:  Understanding a Complex Source

Lynn Hildemann, Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University

1:30 p.m.         The Human Aspects of Exposure: Culture, Lifestyle, and Behavior

Natalie Freeman, Associate Professor, College of Public Health and Health Professionals, University of Florida

1:55 p.m.         Challenges in Exposure Assessment Along the Continuum

David Blakey, Director, Science and Research Bureau, Health Canada

2:15 p.m.         Panel Discussion

What are the research gaps that will need to be answered in order to understand complex sources more fully?

What types of exposure assessments (type of assessment tools) do we need to create better linkages across the continuum?

Are there other research models or collaborations that will help to enhance research along the continuum?
How can science continue to tease apart uncertainty from variability as it relates to exposure?                    

2:30 p.m.         Audience Participation: Questions & Comments

2:50 p.m.         Break

Session III: Human Contact(Dose)/ Internal Dose (Biomarkers)

Moderator:     Dana Barr, Research Chemist, National Center for Environmental Health/ Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Center for Disease Control and Prevention

3:05 p.m.         Opening Comments

3:15 p.m.         Public Health Monitoring and Tracking:  Making Sense of Exposure

Daniel Wartenberg, Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

3:40 p.m.         Reconciling Personal Exposure Measurements and Biomarkers of Exposure

Richard Fenske, Professor, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington 

4:05 p.m.         The Use of Exposure Reconstruction to Link Exposure, Internal Dose, and Health Outcomes

Harvey Clewell, Senior Scientist, Division of Computational Biology, Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology   

4:30 p.m.         Panel Discussion

What are the research gaps that we will need to answer to better understand dose/ internal dose more fully?

What types of exposure assessments (type of assessment tools) do we need to create better linkages across the continuum?

4:45 p.m.         Audience Participation: Questions & Comments

5:10 p.m.         Adjourn for the day

Friday, 15 September 2006

Session IV: Biologic Responses as Indicators of Exposure, Pathobiology, Clinical Disease, and Genetic Susceptibility

Moderator:     Brenda Weis, Senior Science Advisor, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institute of Health

8:30 a.m.        Welcome Back and Opening Comments

8:35 a.m.         Current State of the Science

Samuel Wilson, Deputy Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health

9:00 a.m.         Using Systems Biology to Understand Gene-Environment Interactions

Leroy Hood, President, Institute for Systems Biology

9:50 a.m.         From Biomarkers to Pathobiology

John Groopman, Professor and Chair, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University

10:15 a.m.       Panel Discussion

What are the research gaps that will be needed to answer in order to understand the relationship between genetic susceptibility and pathobiology/early disease response more fully?

What are the research gaps that will be needed to answer in order to understand the biology underlying the transition from adaptive to pathogenic responses to exposure?

What types of exposure and response data, and assessment tools, do we need to create better linkages across the continuum?

How can we accelerate the transfer of practical knowledge and new technology into clinical and public health practice?

What are the policy issues surrounding the collection and utilization of personal exposure data in research and health practice?

10:35 a.m.       Audience Participation: Questions & Comments

11:00 a.m.       Break

Special Address

11:20 a.m.       The Future Needs of Exposure Science:  Implications for Policy and Research Directions        

William Farland, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Science, Environmental Protection Agency      

Session V: Moving Forward

Moderator:  John Froines, Professor and Director, Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, University of California, Los Angeles

11:50 p.m.       Molecular Links Between PAH Exposure and Disease

Frederica Perera, Professor, Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School Public Health, Columbia University   

12:15 p.m.       Longitudinal Assessments: Challenges and Future Designs to Understand Exposures and Disease

Larry Needham, Chief, Toxicology Branch, National Center for Environmental Health and Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry, Center for Disease Control and Prevention

12:40 p.m.       Discussion

12:55 p.m.       Final Summation

Larry Reiter, Roundtable Member

1:00 p.m.         Adjourn