{"64785":{"#nid":"64785","#data":{"type":"news","title":"EPA Awards Clean Air Research Center Grant to Georgia Tech, Emory","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Environmental Protection\nAgency (EPA) has awarded a five-year grant of $8 million to the Georgia\nInstitute of Technology and Emory to create one of four national Clean Air\nResearch Centers addressing the public health impacts of air pollution. The new\ncenters were announced today at the Society of Toxicology meeting in Washington,\nD.C.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Tech\/Emory\ncenter, named the Southeastern Center for Air Pollution and Epidemiology (SCAPE),\nwill characterize ambient air pollution mixtures and determine their specific role\nin human health risks, using new measurement and modeling approaches. The\noverall goal of the center is to contribute to improved management of air\nquality for the benefit of human health in the United States.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAir quality engineers and\nscientists from Georgia Tech will develop and apply detailed measurements and\nnew modeling techniques to identify and track atmospheric contaminants and\nmixtures of these contaminants suspected of having adverse health effects.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EResearchers at Emory\u2019s\nRollins School of Public Health will analyze data linking air quality with\nhealth endpoints in children and adults, including birth outcomes, asthma and\ncardiac illness.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ETogether, researchers will\ncharacterize pollution mixtures based on mechanism of action and sources of\npollutants in studies ranging from micro-scale assessments to comparisons of\ncities across the nation. A particular focus will be\nstudying the health effects of mixtures of pollutants in the atmosphere to\nwhich people are realistically exposed.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe center will be co-directed\nby Armistead (Ted) Russell, Georgia Power Distinguished Professor in the School of Civil\nand Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech, and\u003Cstrong\u003E \u003C\/strong\u003EPaige Tolbert, professor\nand chair of environmental health at Emory\u2019s Rollins School of Public Health.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis center is the\nculmination of a ten-year collaboration between Emory and Georgia Tech on air\npollution research,\u201d says Russell. \u201cBy coalescing into a center, we can take\nthis work to a new level \u2013 the integrated and trans-disciplinary research will\nlead to more effective methods for protecting the public from the harmful\neffects of air pollution.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EResearchers\nin the new center will work on four interrelated projects.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EProject 1:\u003C\/em\u003E\nThe SCAPE team will develop and deploy new instrumentation to measure oxidants\nand other pollutants suspected of causing adverse health effects. The project\nwill focus on how these pollutants are generated, transformed and distributed,\nand will characterize ambient air pollution for the three health studies.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EProject 2:\u003C\/em\u003E\nAs commuting times and congestion increase, there is growing concern about the health\neffects of traffic emissions. Emory and Georgia Tech researchers will conduct\nan intensive study of commuters in the metro Atlanta area to examine exposure\nto complex particulate mixtures during auto commuting and mechanisms of acute\ncardiorespiratory outcomes. The study will be among the first to measure\nseveral highly sensitive, non-invasive biomarkers of oxidative stress in\nrelation to air pollution exposure.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EProject 3:\u003C\/em\u003E\nThis project will focus on consequences of early-life exposures on the health\nof children. Researchers will study two birth cohorts to assess whether air\npollution mixtures during pregnancy increase risk for preterm delivery or\nreduced birth weight, whether children born prematurely are more sensitive to\nambient air pollution, and whether air pollution exposures in the first year of\nlife put children at greater risk of developing asthma.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EProject 4:\u003C\/em\u003E\nResearchers will study air quality and acute health outcomes in five U.S.\ncities. The goal is to understand how differences in the mix of air pollutants,\nweather, population susceptibility and other factors explain differences in the\nassociation between air pollution and cardiac and respiratory illness across\nthe cities. The results will clarify the combined impact of these factors on\nacute cardiorespiratory morbidity across the United States.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cUsing novel approaches to characterize air\nquality and exciting new ways to assess health endpoints, we hope to make major\nbreakthroughs in understanding health effects of ambient air pollution,\u201d says\nTolbert. \u201cSpecifically, we anticipate that we\u2019ll achieve insights into what aspects\nof the air pollution mixture are most harmful and how the pollutants act\ntogether, information that can be directly used to target control measures to\nmost effectively protect the public\u2019s health.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe center will focus on important scientific questions remaining in air research, says Paul Anastas, assistant administrator for EPA\u2019s Office of Research and Development.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThese centers are\ncritical to understanding how to improve air quality and protect Americans\u2019\nhealth from complex mixtures of air pollutants,\u201d Anastas says.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFive-year, $8 million grant creates new\njoint center studying air pollution and health impacts.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Five-year, $8 million grant creates new joint center studying air pollution and health impacts."}],"uid":"27462","created_gmt":"2011-03-07 11:09:45","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:08:18","author":"Liz Klipp","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-03-07T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2011-03-07T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"62801":{"id":"62801","type":"image","title":"Tech Tower Web Feature","body":null,"created":"1449176394","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:59:54","changed":"1475894547","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:27","alt":"Tech Tower Web Feature","file":{"fid":"191672","name":"Tech_Tower_WebFeature.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Tech_Tower_WebFeature_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Tech_Tower_WebFeature_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":149983,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Tech_Tower_WebFeature_0.jpg?itok=HdhpewUZ"}}},"media_ids":["62801"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/emoryhealthsciences.org\/","title":"The Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center of Emory University"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.ce.gatech.edu\/","title":"School of Civil and Environmental Engineering"}],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"12256","name":"Armistead Russell"},{"id":"12255","name":"Clean Air Research Center Grant"},{"id":"594","name":"college of engineering"},{"id":"472","name":"epa"},{"id":"479","name":"Green Buzz"},{"id":"11044","name":"greenbuzz"},{"id":"167864","name":"School of Civil and Environmental Engineering"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech Media Relations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nLaura Diamond\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:laura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elaura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n404-894-6016\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n404-660-2926\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EHolly\nKorschun, Emory Health Science News,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:hkorsch@emory.edu\u0022\u003Ehkorsch@emory.edu\u003C\/a\u003E,\n404-727-3990\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["klipp@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}