Integrated Health Sciences Facility Core

SUMMARY – INTEGRATED HEALTH SCIENCES FACILITY CORE The Integrated Health Sciences Facility Core (IHSFC) promotes the goals of the Center for Environmental Health and Justice in Northern Manhattan (CEHJNM) by supporting our members, community partners, and existing research projects and by fostering new interdisciplinary research focusing on environmental health and justice. For this competitive renewal, the CEHJNM restructured and fine-tuned its Facility Cores to better serve Center members’ needs, increase efficiency, and enhance interdisciplinary research. Our previous Exposure Assessment Facility Core is merged into the IHSFC, now co-directed by Drs. Steven Chillrud and Regina Santella. In addition, as a result of Dr. Gary Miller’s arrival at Columbia University, the IHSFC now includes his Untargeted Analysis Lab, which supports untargeted analysis for metabolomic and exposomic research. The IHSFC now brings together the expertise of six established labs: Environmental Exposure Assessment Lab, led by Dr. Chillrud [Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO)]; Allergens and Bioaerosols Lab, led by Dr. Matt Perzanowski [Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC)]; Trace Organics Lab, led by Dr. Beizhan Yan (LDEO); Biorepository and Bioanalysis Lab, led by Dr. Santella (CUIMC); Untargeted Analysis Lab, led by Dr. Miller (CUIMC); and Multi-element Trace Analysis Lab, led by Dr. Kathrin Schilling (CUIMC). This integration augments our ability to provide comprehensive approaches with an array of state-of-the-art analyses for both environmental and biological samples, ranging from toxicology and mechanistic studies to clinical, population-based, and community-based participatory studies. The IHSFC enables investigators to take their studies from hypothesis-generating untargeted scanning to detailed, highly precise analysis of specific markers of exposures or effects. The IHSFC works seamlessly with the Study Design and Data Science Facility Core that provides invaluable conceptual input in study design and power calculations, data collection, and database support in a study’s first stages and implementation. IHSFC services include consults on sample collection methods and exposure study design, processing and archiving samples (environmental and biological), supporting environmental justice projects and Community Engagement Core activities, developing and validating new sampling equipment, maintenance and loaning of field equipment, and responding to exposure emergencies and community needs. Further, beyond delivering services to CEHJNM members, including pro-bono or low-cost services for CEHJNM pilot projects, the IHSFC also provides training for students, postdocs, fellows, junior faculty, and staff to foster career development and independence. Our considerable expertise links Center members and junior faculty to other resources around LDEO and CUIMC. Our range of expertise empowers Center’s members to identify and characterize the impacts of environmental determinants of health, ultimately catalyzing the CEHJNM’s goal to advance environmental health and equity through research, training, and partnerships.