Directors: E. Wm. Spannhake, PhD and Timothy Buckley, PhD Overview
The Core is comprised of two primary and complementary components: Exposure and Health Effects Assessment Laboratories. The purpose of this core is to provide Center Investigators with a sophisticated and comprehensive state-of-the-art infrastructure focused on urban environmental health research that: 1) stimulates the development of new lines of research;
2) encourages interaction across diverse environmental health disciplines; and
3) enhances the quality of research conducted by Center Investigators.
These goals of enhancing the quality, quantity, and breadth of urban environmental health research are achieved by providing: 1) research planning; 2) instrumentation; 3) equipment maintenance and calibration; 4) laboratory analysis; and 5) field support.
The Core is structured with expertise and capability in both exposure and health effects assessment in order to achieve this goal. These complementary foci support Center Investigator activities related to exposure, health effects assessment, epidemiology, lung disease, the development and validation of biomarkers, and risk assessment, employing human, animal and cell culture approaches. The core supports a range of research that extends from the laboratory, where exposure and effect assessment can be carried out under precisely controlled conditions, to the field, where exposures and effects research is real world, but challenged by its complexity and subtlety. Understanding the link between well-defined environmental and occupational exposures and their health consequences in exposed individuals is critical to our ability to evaluate health risk. In addition to serving the Research Cores, an important objective of the E&HEA Core is to serve and support the Center's Community Outreach and Education Program. Core Director and Members
Dr. Timothy Buckley
Co-Director and Associate Professor
Department of Environmental Health Sciences
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Dr. Ernst Wm. Spannhake
Co-Director and Professor
Department of Environmental Health Sciences
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Mr. Christopher Beck
Exposure Assessment Field and Laboratory Technician
Department of Environmental Health Sciences
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Ms. Kristen Macri
Exposure Assessment Field and Laboratory Technician
Department of Environmental Health Sciences
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Dr. Clifford Mitchell
Associate Public Health Professor
Department of Environmental Health Sciences
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Equipment and Facilities
There are a number of resources that provide Research Core Investigators with unique and extraordinary capability. - Weigh Room: Temperature/humidity controlled with a Mettler MT-5 Microbalance for sensitive and precise measurement of airborne particulate matter mass.
- Laboratory Analysis: Liquid and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry for trace analysis of environmental contaminants and/or xenobiotics.
- Air Monitoring Instrumentation: A wide range of sampling systems are available for integrated and direct reading measurement of particles (by aerodynamic size) and gas species in support laboratory and/or field studies.
- Human Exposure Chamber: A 504 ft3 human exposure chamber is available to generate precise environments of air pollution (gaseous agents such as ozone or volatile organic compounds) or filtered air under conditions of carefully controlled airflow, humidity and temperature. The chamber is equipped with a treadmill and instruments to monitor cardiac and respiratory function while exercising.
Usage and Benefits
The Core has been used extensively and across all four of the Research Cores as well as the Community Outreach and Education Program (COEP). The majority of projects currently utilizing Core facilities benefit from the availability of readily accessible calibrated instrumentation for use in field studies and analytical capabilities for chemical analysis. The irregular timing and/or variable magnitude of these research needs would make it impractical and prohibitively costly for individual investigators to underwrite the cost of equipment and staff to meet these needs. Examples of research projects that have expanded and/or enhanced exposure and/or health effects assessment capability through Core resources include Dr. Silbergeld's project on Health Risks of Agriculture Antibiotic Use in the Poultry Industry where both exposure and pulmonary function testing support was provided. Dr. Ford's Baltimore Asthma Severity Study is being facilitated through the use of the HEAL facility and staff. Core exposure assessment resources have provided the means for Center investigator response to community environmental health concerns including noise and air pollution from the MTA Kirk Bus Depot on adjacent Bartlett Ave. residents. By design, the Core stimulates and supports interactions in exposure and health effects research, often times bridging research areas not previously linked. The combination of exposure assessment and health effects assessment within the Core facilitates the integration of these areas of research that otherwise are often treated disparately. It is often through doctoral research committees that faculty expand, integrate and broaden their research endeavors. In the short time of the Core's new structure, we have found that several thesis projects are already addressing problems that incorporate integrated approaches. Several of these are listed below. In addition to the role that students are playing, the Environmental Exposure and Health Effects Assessment Facility Core Directors continue to call to the attention of Center Investigators the many resources and capabilities available through the Core that can be used to expand research directions and facilitate scientific interactions across Research Cores. | 
