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Overview
The Maine Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health serves as the focus for environmental health research and training activities in Maine with the University of Southern Maine as its hub. The Center was established in 2002 to promote interactions among scientists, regulators, and commercial enterprise working on environmental problems that may affect human health.
The Center draws its faculty from institutions around the regions including all of Maine’s major Universities, State Government Agencies, Non-profit organizations and business. The Center is a multidisciplinary effort with the many different disciplines involved. At USM the Departments of Applied Medical Sciences, Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Environmental Science and Policy, Natural and Applied Sciences and Psychology are engaged in this effort. MCTEH fosters collaborative efforts that cross departmental and school boundaries. Approximately 52 members at USM and across New England participate in Center activities.
Center investigators are trained in diverse disciplines including epidemiology, virology, immunology, physiology, molecular biology, biochemistry, chemistry, environmental science, psychology and bioethics among others. The majority of members are biomedical researchers at academic institutions; however, others are researchers in clinical, government and commercial settings. This diversity gives MCTEH multidisciplinary flexibility to investigate a broad spectrum of research problems.
Maine has substantial public health issues that are linked to environmental contaminants. The primary research focus of MCTEH is the improvement of public health through research into cellular, molecular and behavioral mechanisms and genetic predisposition of human disease with a particular emphasis on environmental contaminants. To coordinate efforts and enhance collaboration across disciplines, research in the Center is concentrated in 3 interrelated research cores: Developmental Toxicology, Genetic Toxicology/Carcinogenesis, and Marine Toxicology and Health. The Center also has four Facility Cores, and an emerging Community Outreach and Education Program.
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