About

Most chronic diseases are the result of both environmental exposures and genetic factors. The majority of cancers and other chronic diseases, such as chronic obstructive lung disease, asthma, and cardiovascular diseases, are a few examples. A major challenge facing researchers in public health is to characterize the various determinants (risks) for disease so that more effective prevention strategies may be devised and implemented. Another challenge is to investigate the role of environment-gene interactions in the response to treatment and survival in diseases such as lung cancer.  

The Christiani Lab studies the interplay between environmental exposures, genetics, and disease in human populations. This area of endeavor is molecular epidemiology. Examples of ongoing studies where this approach is applied include: trans-omic markers in predicting treatment response in lung cancer and other conditions; case-control studies of gene-environmental interactions in lung cancer; studies of genetic susceptibility to severe infection, sepsis, and acute lung injury; biomarkers of exposure, response and susceptibility to arsenic and lead poisoning in the U.S. and in global studies; and a 40-year longitudinal study of organic dust and endotoxin exposure and relevant polymorphisms among a cohort of cotton textile workers in Shanghai, China. Since occupationally exposed populations afford the opportunity to assess the earliest effects of exposure, we have developed and applied biomarker methodology in epidemiologic studies of these groups. 

Lung cancer is the top cancer killer in the U.S. and, indeed, the world today. Another major thrust of the lab currently is to investigate the many factors associated with lung cancer survival, including genetic, genomic, molecular, and environmental factors that predict treatment response and survival in this devastating disease.