Oregon State University has received a grant that it says will help researchers across the Pacific Northwest to study how environmental exposure to chemicals affects human health.
The $6.9 million grant is from the National Institutes For Environmental Health Sciences. The work will include research into the impact of chemicals on human health, how airborne pollutants impact communities, and how personal lifestyle choices can mitigate environmental health hazards.
Emily Ho is the deputy director of the Environmental Health Sciences Center at OSU. She said the grant will bring together the work of scientists at several universities across the Northwest, "and really help connect researchers that may not be connected in the past, and allow us to work together and solve some big problems.”
The five-year grant will help fund the work of 50 researchers in more than 20 fields.
"The center, although it's based at OSU, is really meant to serve not only our state, but the Pacific Northwest," said Ho.