EHSC Research Overview
What is environmental health?
Environmental health is the field of science that studies how the environment influences human health and disease.
The National Institute of Environmental Health (NIEHS) has information on:
- common diseases and conditions that evidence shows may be strongly linked to environmental exposures, and
- chemicals or factors to which humans are exposed that may cause adverse health effects.
View the Environmental Health Glossary and Resources for more information.
What do environmental health scientists study?
The field of environmental health science is very broad. Some environmental health scientists perform "basic" research to understand the fundamental mechanisms of living organisms while others study patterns of disease in people exposed to certain environmental agents.
Basic research may involve learning how DNA repairs itself or how cells signal each other. Only by understanding how an organism functions normally can we begin to learn how environmental agents can disrupt those functions causing disease and even aging.
Toxicologists perform research to understand the mechanisms by which environmental agents cause damage to an organism. For example, a toxicologist may study exactly how dioxin enters a cell, how UV light causes gene mutations and thus skin cancer, or how antioxidants provide cancer protection.
Once the fundamental mechanism of a process is understood and the toxicity of an environmental agent is known, the information can be used to evaluate potential human health effects and develop prevention or treatment strategies, if necessary.
What type of research is taking place at EHSC?
EHSC investigators come from various departments and programs at Oregon State University. The research focus follows the specific goals of the Center:
1) reducing individual susceptibility
2) assessing health risks at low exposures, and
3) investigating macromolecular interactions in the context of environmental agents, oxidative stress, and signaling.
View the Public Health Impact of EHSC Investigators to read about the specific research of each investigator.
