Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility
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Contact Info
  • 135 Dauer Drive
  • 253 Rosenau Hall
  • CB # 7432
  • Chapel Hill 27599-7432
Facilitating Environmental Exposure Research
We are a National Institute of Health Environmental Health Sciences Core Center.

The UNC Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility (CEHS) facilitates collaborations by funding university infrastructure to support scientific equipment, facilities, and other resources that can be shared among environmental health researchers. By pursuing shared research questions, CEHS can identify emerging issues that advance understanding about how pollutants and other environmental factors affect human biology and may lead to disease. The Center is funded through a P-30 grant from the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences.

Message from the Director

Melissa Troester, PhD
Director and Professor
"The Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility (CEHS) is part of one of the most critical public health efforts in history, investigating environmental exposures and their effects on human health."
Read more from Dr. Troester.
Melissa Troester

COVID-19 Research Funding Opportunities:

The CEHS encourages proposals from researchers pursuing environmental susceptibility to COVID-19 through the Rapid Response mechanism.  Responsive applications will address susceptible populations, including patients with environmental asthma or with exposure to ambient, occupational or environmental chemicals. In addition, the CEHS is a partner for the COVID-19 Gillings Innovation Labs (GILs).

CEHS EXPLORING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN COVID-19 AND ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES
With CEHS Rapid Response Pilot Project funding, Dr. Subhashini Sellers, Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, is hoping to identify associations between dysregulated URT immune response and observed risk factors for severe COVID-19 disease, including age, sex, and potential cigarette smoke exposures, that could impact other severe viral infections such as influenza.
Aims Review and Consultation
CEHS Members seeking feedback from senior investigators may submit their specific aims, which will be reviewed within 30 days (possibly sooner). This service is available for CEHS pilot grant applications or external grant applications.
Funding Opportunity: Scientific Method Development
CEHS has funds available to support method development activities that utilize our Molecular Analysis Facility Core labs. Examples might include the development of novel assays & biomarkers. Multiple awards will be given, and applications are accepted on a rolling basis with funds distributed in the same calendar year.

Explore CEHS

About

The theme of the UNC Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility (CEHS) is translating interdisciplinary research on environmental health threats to improve public health in North Carolina.
CEHS logo

Member Resources

The Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility (CEHS) provides valuable services to CEHS members including assistance with study design, project management, IRB, sample analysis, and use of equipment for projects.
Windmills pictured in an open field.

Member Interests

CEHS members share common interests in how the environment affects people in order to promote healthier lives.
Pictured is the outside of the MHRC building.

Outreach and Engagement

The UNC-CEHS Community Engagement Core (CEC) enhances the environmental health literacy of public health professionals, community health workers and vulnerable populations, by increasing their understanding of the Center’s environmental health sciences research and empowering them to make informed decisions to reduce harmful environmental exposures in homes and communities.
Lead paint peels off of an old house.

Pilot Projects

Closed for Applications


The mission of the Pilot Projects Program is to provide funds to support preliminary data collection or feasibility studies.
A student holds a basket of oysters.

Publications

View recent CEHS member research highlighted in publications.
A faculty member discusses nutrition with library patrons.

Staff and Collaborators

View all CEHS staff and collaborators.
Doctoral students train a new researcher.

Research Focus Areas

Through work on three specific Research Focus Areas, the Center fosters interdisciplinary collaboration, bringing together diverse combinations of basic, clinical and epidemiologic scientists to address emerging environmental health science issues.
A researcher works with lab equipment.

NC Disaster Response and Recovery Resources

The UNC Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility has compiled a list of environmental health resources as part of the UNC community’s effort to provide relief and recovery to impacted communities.
Hurricane survivors survey damage.

Genetics and Environmental Mutagenesis Society of NC

CEHS Member Ilona Jaspers recently shared her research on the potential hazards of vaping and e-cigarettes with the Genetics and Environmental Mutagenesis Society of NC
Dr. Jaspers talks about her research.

UNC panel releases report on thyroid cancer trends in NC

In Iredell County from 1995 to 2016, the rate of thyroid cancer was more than double the expected rate for the entire state. Now, a new report released by the NC Thyroid Panel offers recommendations for the top-priority research needed to understand the alarming patterns and potential causes of thyroid cancer in the state.

NC Lead and Health Homes Task Force

The task force is a collaboration of local, state and federal health and housing agencies, organized by the CEHS Community Engagement Core (CEC), that looks for innovative ways protect vulnerable populations in the state.
Dr. Engel discusses perinatal exposure.