Harvard Chan NIEHS Center for Environmental Health
The Harvard Chan National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Center for Environmental Health is a coordinated set of resources and facilities supporting environmental health research and training activities throughout the greater Boston area. The center promotes integration between basic and applied environmental science, and fosters collaborations that cross departmental and institutional boundaries.
Building 1-1402
News
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‘Descendant’ Unearths Painful Legacy; New Opportunities
BOSTON – On Thursday, our Center hosted a film screening of ‘Descendant’, a Netflix documentary film that follows the descendants of the survivors of the last known slave ship to…
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New tool links air pollution with increased risk of dementia
A study published in the BMJ in April 2023 led by Center Director Marc Weisskopf, in partnership with Biogen, found that exposure to fine particulate air pollutants (PM2.5) may increase the risk of developing dementia. This study is the first systematic review and meta-analysis to use the new Risk of Bias In Non-Randomized Studies of Exposure (ROBINS-E) tool, which addresses bias in environmental studies in greater detail than other assessment approaches. It also is the first to include newer studies that used “active case ascertainment,” a method that involved screening of entire study populations followed by in-person evaluation for dementia among individuals who did not have dementia at baseline.
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New study: Traffic-related air pollution and fetal growth in Eastern Massachusetts
A new study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology applied distributed lag models to fetal growth ultrasound data and identified critical exposure windows to traffic-related air pollution. Listed authors included Michael Leung, Stefania Papatheodorou and others. Published in American Journal of Epidemiology, 24 March 2023.
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New study on air pollution and mortality featured in NY Times
The new research, published Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that tightening the limit on fine particulate matter by 4 micrograms per cubic meter of air would result in a 4 percent reduction in the mortality rate for higher-income white adults. The same change would result in a reduction of 6 percent to 7 percent for higher-income Black adults, lower-income white adults and lower-income Black adults. The new research could inform a crucial Environmental Protection Agency decision to tighten limits on fine particulate matter.
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New study: Occupational lead exposure and survival with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
The study, published in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Degeneration, found results that suggest that lead exposure prior to onset of ALS is associated with shorter survival following onset of ALS, and this association is independent of other prognostic factors.
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New study: Hormone receptor activities of complex mixtures of known and suspect chemicals in personal silicone wristband samplers worn in office buildings
A new study found that office workers who wore silicone wristbands in their office buildings for 4 workdays as a way to collect the chemical ‘cocktail’ they were each exposed to showed the average person was exposed to at least 800 different chemical signatures. Additionally, the study found that many of the chemical mixtures disrupted estrogen, androgen, and thyroid hormone receptors. Exposures were influenced by personal care products, buildings, and gender disparities. Published in Chemosphere, February 2023.
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Maitreyi Mazumdar receives ViCTER R01 award from NIEHS
The ViCTER (Virtual Consortium for Translational/Transdisciplinary Environmental Research) program brings together diverse research teams that may include scientists who develop technologies, conduct basic mechanistic or population-based studies, and those that…
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New study: Prenatal exposure to ambient particle radioactivity associated with fetal growth
A new study from found that gestational exposure to particle radioactivity was associated with fetal growth in Eastern Massachusetts. Published in Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health, January 2023.
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Meet Our Members: Lidia Mínguez Alarcón, PhD
This month, we chat with Dr. Lidia Mínguez Alarcón, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Mínguez Alarcón’s research focuses on identifying…
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A push to remove gas stoves from public housing
Our Center’s CEC Director Gary Adamkiewicz, an associate professor of environmental health and exposure disparities who has studied potential health harms in public housing for almost 11 years, was quoted in…
