The University's initiative in genomics is getting a major boost with the announcement of a $7.5 million grant to study the relationship between genetics and the environment.
Part of a $37 million allocation that will be split with four other institutions, the grant is intended to increase understanding about why disease affects some people and not others when they are exposed to the same environmental pollutants. Duke's share of the money will go to the Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy to help fund researchers in the Medical Center and the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences.
"What we hope to accomplish with this funding is to identify new genes that are important in modulating the toxic response to very common pollutants in the environment," said Dr. David Schwartz, chair of pulmonary medicine and the study's principal investigator.
The grant comes from the National Institute of Environmental Health and Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health. The four other institutions working on the project with Duke are the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and the Oregon Health and Science University.
Once new genes are identified as factors in whether people are affected by certain environmental toxins--including certain metals and waste materials--researchers hope to use the information in predicting the disposition for certain diseases, such as asthma and pulmonary fibrosis, and in developing treatments for them.
After a person is found to have a disposition for a disease, measures can be taken to prevent the disease from developing, Schwartz said.
Duke researchers already use methods, mostly on mice and some types of fish and worms, to determine the genes that are most immune to environmental factors. Jonathan Freedman, associate professor in the Nicholas School, said that researchers can apply the processes of how certain animal genes react to environmental factors to humans.
"What's killing fish may be relevant to what's killing humans," Freedman said. "It's a pretty big step in that it ties firmly the relationship between the Nicholas School and the Medical Center."
Schwartz stressed that the grant would not have been possible without the support provided through IGSP, the University's $200 million investment in genomics.
"Not only do we have an outstanding group of investigators trying to tackle this problem, but we have an incredibly supportive administration in the School of Medicine, Nicholas and in the University that has been very supportive in developing this line of investigating," Schwartz said.
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