New Directions: Finally the Metals Core has begun to incorporate new biomarkers into its research portfolio. Epigenetic marks such as DNA methylation, are now being actively studied by core members including Dr. Joel Schwartz (‘Epigenetic Effects of Particles and Metals on Cardiac Health of an Aging Cohort" PI: Schwartz, R01ES015172) who is studying DNA methylation and metal exposure in an elderly cohort. Other investigators are investigating similar epigenetics marks secondary to metals in birth cohorts of mother infant pairs ("Epigenetic Changes and Environmental Markers of Exposure" PI: Wright, Leaves of Grass Foundation). Such work is critical to understanding the role of epigenetics in response to environmental exposures and whether changes measured in DNA from peripheral blood correlate with health effects which arise in specific target organs less accessible to sample collection.
    Also with respect to metals research we report that our Pilot Project Program has been extremely successful. Like seeds and plants, pilot projects may not yield "product" for several years, but we note that many of our pilot projects in Metals research have yielded not just published studies, but larger projects which address the questions raised in the pilot study in greater detail. For example, work by Dr. Marianne Wessling-Resnick's Laboratory ("Iron Deficiency and Olfactory Uptake of Manganese" PI: Wessling-Resnick, Center Pilot Project 2005) led to a new RO1 ("Influence of Iron Status on the Neurotoxicity of Inhaled Manganese" PI: Wessling-Resnick, R01ES014638). Similarly, a pilot led by Dr. Emily Oken("Maternal Fish Consumption, Mercury, and Infant Cognition", Pilot Project 2003) produced a manuscript (Oken, Wright et al. 2005) and a new larger project to address issues of Hg toxicity and benefits of fish consumption("Effects of Prenatal Diet and Mercury Exposure on Child Behavior and Development" PI: Oken, R01ES016314). A pilot study of Mn toxicity ("Manganese Biomarkers of Exposure and Infant Development" PI: Bellinger, co-PI: RO Wright, Center Pilot 2004) led to a new RO1 "Metal Mixtures and Neurodevelopment" (PI: RO Wright, ES014930 NIEHS), while Dr. Marc Weisskopf recently published a study examining Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy as a method for estimating neurochemical changes in the brain as a correlate of cumulative lifetime lead exposure (Weisskopf, Proctor et al. 2007) using data collected from a pilot study ("Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in the Evaluation of Lead Neurotoxicity: The Normative Aging Study" PIs: RO Wright/Weisskopf, Center Pilot 2001). Dr. Weisskopf, a new assistant professor, has recently submitted a new investigator RO1 to further expand on this exciting neuroimaging work in the same cohort. More recent Pilot Projects such as "Proteomic Profiling of Serum from Subjects Highly Exposed to Methylmercury and/or Polychlorinated Biphenyls" (PIs: Grandjean and Skaalum Petersen), are taking our Center into exciting new fields, such as proteomics. All in all, our Pilot Program has been extraordinarily successful in supporting new research, and we note that many Pilot Project recipients/co-PIs have been junior faculty (Wright and Oken for example) who have gone on to receive their first RO1 based on data generated by the Center Pilots.