The University Research Corridor - Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University - will host an all-day conference on "Environmental Health Sciences" on Wednesday, January 20, 2010 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Wayne State's McGregor Memorial Conference Center in Detroit, Michigan.

The goal of the conference is to develop inter-institutional, multidisciplinary research collaborations in environmental health science problems important to Michigan and the U.S.

Dr. Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Science of the National Institutes of Health and the National Toxicology Program will be the keynote speaker. As NIEHS and NTP director, Dr. Birnbaum oversees a $730 million budget that funds multidisciplinary biomedical research programs, prevention, and intervention efforts that encompass training, education, technology transfer, and community outreach. The NIEHS supports more than 1,240 research grants.

The afternoon will consist of breakout sessions with the following-topics:

• Air Pollution and Adverse Health Outcomes
• Environmental Influences on Obesity and Chronic Diseases
• Environmental Contaminants and Human Reproduction
• Environmental Contaminants, Pediatric Health and the National Children’s Study
• Epidemiology/Epigenetics/ Biomonitoring/lLarge Tissue Banks in Human Health
• Great Lakes Urban Watersheds and Human Health
• Halogenated Hydrocarbons and Disease Interactions
• Human Health Implications of Climate Change
• Nano Materials and Health Effects