NIEHS Grant Center

NIEHS Grant Center is directed by Dr James Halpert. The mission of this Center is to integrate, coordinate and foster interactions and collaborations among a group of established investigators pursuing research pertinent to the effects of environmental factors on human health. Our proximity to sources of many significant environmental problems, such as ozone pollution, emissions of fine particulates, hazardous chemical releases, hazardous waste sites, and pediatric lead exposure, makes UTMB a compelling site for a multidisciplinary environmental health sciences center. During the ten years of its existence, this Center has emerged as a national leader in elucidating cellular response mechanisms to environmental challenge and in working with the community to enhance awareness of environmental health issues and to elaborate prevention and intervention strategies. The overarching theme of the UTMB NIEHS Center is the role of oxidative stress in mediating the health effects of exposure to environmental factors. Investigators in the four Research Cores are studying the mechanisms by which reactive oxygen species are produced and detoxified (Biotransformation Research Core), modulate signaling pathways (Oxidative Stress and Signaling Research Core), damage DNA (DNA Repair and Mutagenesis Research Core), and are involved in the etiology of Asthma (Asthma Pathogenesis Research Core). Scientific findings from the Center are communicated to the public through a vibrant Community Outreach and Education Program (COEP) with advice from a Community Outreach Board. The NIEHS Center supports Pilot Projects, seminars, and workshops.

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Sealy Center for Environmental Health and Medicine (SCEHM)

Sealy Center for Environmental Health and Medicine (SCEHM) was established in 2000 in response to a faculty task force representing 12 UTMB departments and centers and recently renewed for five years under the direction of Dr James Halpert. This center seeks to promote campus-wide strengths and allow UTMB to address statewide environmental health needs. Envisioned as a “center without walls,” the Center coordinates UTMB’s multidisciplinary strengths in environmental science and medicine. Research activities of the 40 full-time faculty encompass approximately $37 million in current grants in such divergent specialties as Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Pathology, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Structural Biology and Molecular Science. At the same time, the SCEHM makes a concerted effort to educate the public on several educational levels about how environmental pollutants and toxicants in the air and water affect quality of life and health.

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Proteomics Facility

The UTMB NHLBI Proteomic Center is one of 10 highly interactive, multidisciplinary Proteomic Centers in the US. The NHLBI took the initiative to establish these centers to enhance and develop innovative proteomic technologies and apply them to relevant biological questions that will advance our knowledge of heart, lung, blood and sleep, health and disease. This initiative is intended to complement and enhance the NHLBI's ongoing research programs, which include a substantial investment in clinical research, genomic research, basic biology, technologies, and training and education programs.

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Sealy Center for Molecular Sciences (SCMS)

Sealy Center for Molecular Sciences (SCMS) was established in 1992 to develop a collaborative environment for a group of outstanding scientists conducting research in basic eukaryotic molecular genetics. Investigations of the SCMS primarily emphasize the discovery of basic principles governing the repair and replication of the cellular genetic material, the regulation of gene transcription, and the mechanisms of cellular signal transduction.

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Sealy Center for Structural Biology (SCSB)

Sealy Center for Structural Biology (SCSB), established in 1995, provides state-of-the-art resources for structural studies of biological macromolecules. The 16 members of the SCSB apply and develop X-ray crystallographic, nuclear magnetic resonance, solution thermodynamics and computational methods to explain the biological function of constituent molecules of the human cell through knowledge of their three-dimensional structures and their mutual interactions. The research at the SCSB, besides improving current techniques to determine high resolution structures of biomolecules, is focused on studies of the chemistry of molecular recognition, signal transduction, allosteric regulation, protein folding and drug design. Thermodynamic and kinetic data complement the structural view in understanding these biological processes. The SCSB educates graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and UTMB faculty in formal courses and workshops on using NMR and X-ray techniques and molecular modeling tools.

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Sealy Center for Cancer Cell Biology (SCCCB)

Sealy Center for Cancer Cell Biology (SCCCB) was established to promote original scientific research in the molecular and cellular biology of cancer on the UTMB campus and to facilitate translation of novel research findings into clinical applications for the improved treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A broader mission is to coalesce all ongoing efforts in cancer research, clinical care, education, and prevention into a larger cancer center effort with multidisciplinary, multi-departmental and multi-institutional components to provide the most up-to-date and compassionate care for the cancer patient.

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Sealy Center on Aging

Sealy Center on Aging is an independent, multidisciplinary component that provides a wide range of expertise and resources in clinical care, research, and education related to aging studies and aging populations. Dr. James Goodwin directs the Center on Aging which has 23 Senior Fellows and 41 Fellows who represent all four schools and two institutes at UTMB. Among the collaborative research projects spearheaded by the center are a $3.9 million program-project grant on the cell biology of stress response in aging, the Health of the Public Needs Assessment Survey sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trust and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, $3.9 million study of Mexican American Elderly Health, and the $6.5 millions Claude Pepper Older Americans Independence Center. The Volunteer Registry of the Sealy Center on Aging contains information on people age 55 and older who are interested in participating in medical and social research studies. Sociodemographic and health information obtained by questionnaire is stored in a database managed and analyzed by the General Clinical Research Center. The registry is available to all UTMB researchers, and it facilitates research on aging by helping to recruit subjects and disseminate information about research projects through mailing lists, newsletters, and presentations. There are approximately 600 volunteers currently in the registry.

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Center for Biomedical Engineering (CBME)

Center for Biomedical Engineering (CBME) directed by Masood Motamedi, PhD, was developed with significant funding from the NIH, NSF, DOD, NASA and industry. The mission of the CBME is to provide an effective organization for research and training in a strong multi-disciplinary environment. Thus, the CBME combines engineering, imaging and computer sciences with molecular and cellular biology and clinical sciences in order to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches and to foster research in the rapidly growing discipline of Biomedical Engineering. To accomplish its mission, the CBME has developed state-of-the-art core facilities that foster a broad range of multidisciplinary research with emphasis in biomedical imaging, laser and spectroscopy, optical sensing and monitoring, neuroengineering and sensing, biomedical applications of nanotechnology, confocal and multi-photon imaging, biomechanics, an artificial lung program, and molecular cytometry. Research projects within the Center involves collaboration with most of the clinical departments in the School of Medicine including Anesthesiology, Dermatology, ENT, Internal Medicine, Ophthalmology, Pathology, Radiology, Surgery as well as the Departments of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, and Pharmacology and Toxicology. Much of the research in humans is carried out on the GCRC.

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Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health (CIRWH)

Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health (CIRWH) was inaugurated in February 2002. The mission of the CIRWH is to promote, stimulate and support interdisciplinary research related to the health of women across the life span. Thus, this Center: 1) designs and seeks funding for collaborative grants, 2) partners with existing programs to encourage investigations of sex/gender differences in health and disease, and 3) provides structured mentoring to motivated junior investigators who are committed to women's health. The CIRWH seeks solutions to health problems that are more common in women, have different manifestations in women than men, or require different treatment in women than men. Furthermore, the CIRWH promotes interactions between investigators from different backgrounds who can contribute different perspectives, training, and expertise to collaborative efforts. The CIRWH interfaces with other centers including the GCRC, and 25 of the 76 members have been GCRC investigators.

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