Environmental Factor, May 2005, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

NIEHS Spotlight

'Scientific Grandchild' Presents Rodbell Lecture

Roger Davis, Ph.D., delivered the Rodbell Lecture April 12. Davis is an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and is the H. Arthur Smith Chair of Cancer Research at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Take Your Child to Work Day a Big Success - Again

The kids started the day April 21 in the Rodbell Conference Room, where they received goodie bags containing donations from various NIEHS divisions: Frisbees, calculators, safety glasses, booklets and compasses. Chris Hunt, from the Health and Safety Branch, was on hand to go over some basic safety rules with the kids before they went off to their first activity.

The NIEHS Earth Day Photo Contest - You be the Judge

The polls are open for the NIEHS Earth Day Photo Contest, and you can be the judge. Photos are categorized as follows: categories: sky, earth, water, fauna, flora, and people in their environment. Dick Sloane, recycling coordinator and organizer for the contest, said there are 96 entries, with the largest category being fauna, or animal photos. The photos are on display outside the Rodbell Conference Room, but will also be available May 5, along with electronic voting ballots, at https://www-apps.niehs.nih.gov/odconfer/photocontest/.

Inside The Institute

Jamie Bell Wins $20,000 Scholarship

The daughter of Doug Bell, a senior investigator in the NIEHS Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Jamie did not want to design a project like her father would. Parents of teens know that translates to: "I am my own person, and I can make my own decisions, thank you." While the attitude might be typical for a teen, the level of success in her independent venture is not.

NIEHS Basketball Team Takes RTP Tournament Championship

All team members are NIEHS employees, past employees or immediate family members of employees. Some members of the team have played every year for the last 20 years. There were two NIEHS teams and a total of five teams in the league. The 2005 tournament was held April 2 in Durham.

Feng Shui: An Ancient Art Comes to NIEHS

According to feng shui principles, your surroundings determine you quality of life, therefore, creating an environment that is conducive to your goals is vital for success, Payne said.

Up and Coming

Valerie Barbour Retires

Valerie Barbour, personnel officer for NIEHS and other institutes as well in recent years, retired at the end of April after 37 ½ years at NIH.

New Payroll System Reminders

From the DFAS site, employees will be able to view, print or save leave and earnings statements and tax statements, change federal and state tax withholdings, update bank account and electronic fund transfer information, manage allotments, make address changes, manage savings bonds, control Thrift Savings Plan health benefit enrollment.

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Science Notebook

Insecticide Use Linked to Neurological Problems for Farmers

NIEHS researchers, as part of the ongoing, multi-agency Agricultural Health Study, looked at data collected in nearly 19,000 questionnaires that asked North Carolina and Iowa farmers about their exposure to herbicides, fungicides and fumigants. Some of those products are still on the market, while others, like DDT, have been banned or restricted.

Advancing Medical Technology: Standardized Microarrays and Personalized Medical Treatment

NIEHS funded a study by the Toxicogenomics Research Consortium that began in 2001 to find out more about why results of gene expression experiments vary among labs as well as within and among microarray platforms. Microarrays, or gene chips, allow scientists to see how differences in gene expression are linked to specific diseases. Improving and standardizing microarray experiments will allow earlier detection of diseases like cancer.