Diseases & Conditions Blog

Funding to Research Carcinogens Awarded - Monday, September 10, 2007

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a group of UC Berkeley scientists a $4.7 million grant yesterday to develop new methods for detecting lymphoma and other diseases caused by environmental exposure to contaminants.

Researchers from several departments are teaming up to form the Center for Exposure Biology and work on three interdisciplinary projects developing sensors that could detect blood cancer risks on a large, cost-efficient scale.

The grant is part of the institutes' Genes, Environment and Health Initiative, whose aim it is to understand interactions between environmental exposure to contaminants and genetic variations on human disease.

One project from the center focuses on mapping out adducts, compounds produced by the body when proteins react with chemical carcinogens, to determine what chemicals cause cancer and how the disease can better be diagnosed.

According to Stephen Rappaport, adjunct professor of environmental health sciences and director of the program, the researchers will examine adducts produced by exposure to chemicals such as benzene, found in gasoline and cigarettes. An additional part of the project focuses on using microchips to process fluid samples in small volumes, possibly allowing the detection of early signs of leukemia and lymphoma based on a single cell rather than thousands or even millions.