The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health a $3.4 million grant to boost its computer modeling of drug and chemical interactions with people and the environment.
The four-year grant is to help UNC create the Carolina Center for Computational Toxicology. Computational toxicology is a branch of environmental health science that applies powerful mathematical and computer models to predict adverse effects of drugs and environmental chemicals, and better understand the ways they might harm people's health and the environment. This relatively young discipline offers the possibility that scientists might better understand risks posed by environmental chemicals, and uncover genetic clues as to why individuals respond differently to chemicals.
The principle investigator of the program is Ivan Rusyn, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of environmental sciences and engineering in the School of Public Health and associate director of the curriculum in toxicology in the School of Medicine.