A National Institutes of Health (NIH) study led by SOT members took the science media by storm this week, as the researchers uncovered some alarming connections between arsenic exposure and cancer.
SOT Member Research
“This is the first study to show tumor development in animals exposed to very low levels of arsenic, levels similar to which humans might be exposed. The results are unexpected and certainly give cause for concern,” says Michael Waalkes in a NIH press release on new research from the National Toxicology Program Laboratory. Fellow SOT members Wei Qu, Eric J. Tokar, and Darlene Dixon also worked on the study, which found that male mice who consumed arsenic in doses similar to human exposures over the course of their lives had a higher likelihood of developing lung tumors.
SOT Members in the News
FDA Consumer Reports featured the work of Weida Tong, who heads the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) Division of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics. Dr. Tong and his team use computer and mathematical models to analyze research data from across the globe. “We collect a lot of data—a broad range of data. And the question we ask is: How do these data reflect the biological complexities of the human body? How can we extract these data and convert them to information that can be used in the decisions that US FDA has to make in evaluating new medical products?” says Dr. Tong.
As reported by Environmental Factor, many SOT members were honored with NIH Director’s Awards in a ceremony last month. Winners included Raymond Tice, Jui-Hua Hsieh, Rebecca Boyles, Richard Woychik, Linda Birnbaum, John Bucher, Michael DeVito, and Suramya Waidyanatha.
Science News
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