The National Center for Toxicogenomics (NCT), a division of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) of the National Institutes of Health, is hosting a two-day symposium focusing on the study of gene expression and protein activity in environmental health research.

The symposium, to be held on December 3 and 4 at the Natcher Center at the NIH's Bethesda campus, is expected to attract an audience of hundreds of the country's leading experts in genomics, proteomics and environmental health.

The NCT was established in 2000 to advance the study of toxicogenomics, a new scientific field that elucidates how the entire genome is involved in biological responses of organisms exposed to environmental toxicants/stressors. Toxicogenomics applies knowledge of genetics to the field of environmental medicine by studying the effect of toxicants on gene activity and the production of specific proteins by genes in response to these toxicants. Researchers use toxicogenomic data to determine how human genes respond and interact with each other during different states of health, disease and challenges from toxicants.

"In convening this symposium, we hope to foster a discussion that not only focuses on recent scientific advances in this field, but also on the ethical, legal and social implications of the so-called 'genetic revolution' as it applies to toxicological sciences," said Kenneth Olden, director of NIEHS.

In addition to scientific presentations on toxicogenomics, environmental genomics, gene expression, proteomics and biomarkers, the symposium will feature a session focusing on the ethical, legal and social implications pertaining to toxicogenomics and genomic research. The inclusion of this session in the symposium agenda reflects the increasing importance that will be placed on these issues as more is learned about genes and their involvement in biologic responses to substances in the environment.

"The Human Genome Project has placed the study of genomics under the spotlight, yet we are only beginning to address the implications for genetic research," commented Leona Samson, Professor of Toxicology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and co-chair of the symposium. "The issues of basic mechanisms of response to environmental stressors will merit increasing attention as the study of toxicogenomics advances," added Dr. Samson, who is also an American Cancer Society Research Professor in the Division of Bioengineering and Environmental Health at MIT, and Director of the MIT Center for Environmental Health Sciences.

The NIEHS is one of 25 institutes and centers of the National Institutes of Health, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. Located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, the NIEHS conducts multidisciplinary biomedical research programs, prevention and intervention efforts and communications strategies that include training, education, technology transfer and community outreach. The mission of NIEHS is to reduce the burden of human illness and dysfunction from environmental causes through studying the interaction of environmental susceptibility, individual susceptibility and age.