Project Summary (2008-2014)

The Integrative Biology Core is an integral part of the overall objective of this program, which is to understand the adverse effects of arsenic and mercury on human health. The overall goals of this Core are to provide expert collaboration and technical support for each of the environmental health and toxicology research projects.  The Integrative Biology Core assembled a team of experts in bioinformatics and biostatistics, genomics, and molecular biology and proteomics, along with a talented team of support staff and Superfund investigators; the Core's objective is to help understand the role of toxic metals as they determine human health and disease.

This Core is central to the overall Superfund program, as it plays an important role in supporting each of the proposed research projects. The goal of the Integrative Biology Core is to facilitate and enhance environmental health and toxicology research by providing integrated professional collaboration and technical support in quantitative and molecular sciences, specifically bringing together genomic and proteomic technologies with biostatistics, bioinformatics, and modeling expertise.

The Core's specific goals are:

1. To facilitate communication, coordination, development, and implementation of resources, methodologies, tools, and training that collectively integrate individual bioinformatics, biostatistics, genomic and proteomic groups at Dartmouth for more effective scientific research support of interdisciplinary projects with multiple levels of biological information;
2. To facilitate environmental health and toxicology research by providing integrated professional collaboration and technical support in bioinformatics, biostatistics, genomics, and proteomics for experimental design, molecular profiling, quality control, data management, data analysis, data mining, statistical modeling and results interpretation;
3. To develop, implement, and support software, databases, and other resources that foster collaborations among, and assist in, complex data interpretation of environmental health and toxicology investigators within and between Superfund programs; and
4. To facilitate the education and training of Superfund students, postdocs, and investigators in the application of Integrative Biology approaches to their research; modes and means of education and training can include weekly meetings, quarterly workshops, and an annual symposium.