The Society of Toxicology (SOT) is pleased to announce that the Center for Scientific Review (CSR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has chartered a new study section that will review NIH grant applications focused on environmental health and toxicology (SOT statement and press release). SOT members have been involved in encouraging the establishment of this study section for a number of years and that history was summarized in a June 6, 2012 Communiqué Blog. The new Systemic Injury from Environmental Exposure (SIEE) study section represents the culmination of a decade of effort by SOT to more closely align the scientific background and expertise of NIH's research proposal reviewers to the science they are being asked to review.
SOT 2014–2015 President Norbert E. Kaminski stated that “Since 2004, the Society has been actively working with CSR to make a standing toxicological study section a reality, and we are thrilled that the SIEE study section is now in place to recognize and fund important toxicological research....The recommendations by this peer review committee will have significant impact on the direction and specific areas of research in toxicology and environmental health sciences that will be funded by NIH in the future."
CSR Director Richard Nakamura stated, “We are pleased to have created an appropriate home for this dynamic and important group of applications,” noting “that the SIEE special emphasis panel has performed very well for the last five rounds, reviewing about 70‒80 applications each time.”
The first meeting of the SIEE as an official CSR study section will be held in fall 2014. This study section is in the Digestive, Kidney, and Urological Systems Integrated Review Group. CSR states that this SIEE “covers environmental health science; molecular toxicology; and the interactions of environmental factors with genes, enzymes, and other biomolecules.” A full description is available on the CSR website.