Home   Research   Teaching    SPH Biorepository   HUMN 
 Publications   Links 

 
 IBD 
CRECER Ozone FACES
Research : Biomarkers in Children and Environmental Pollution : Fresno Asthmastic Children's Environmental Study (FACES)

FACES staff preparing material for new participants
 Collaborators 

    Kathleen Mortimer, ScD, MPH
    John Balms, MD
    Ira Tager, MD, MPH


 Research Group at UC Berkeley 

     Subha Venkat, PhD
     Nishat Shaikh, MS Student

Undergraduate Researchers
    Bobby Dhesi
    Ray Lai
    An Nguyen

FACES is a research project of the UC Berkeley School of Public Health (SPH) that includes collaborators from the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the California Department of Health Services (DHS), and Sonoma Technology Incorporated (STI).

The FACES study will measure the effect of air pollution among children aged 6-11 years with asthma. The study will follow a group of several hundred asthmatic children for several years to address several research questions:
  • What is the effect of daily air pollution levels on short-term asthma status?
  • Does asthma exacerbation influence the progression of childhood asthma over the course of several years?
  • Do environmental factors such as tobacco smoke, allergens and other bioaerosols, housing characteristics or other outdoor and indoor air quality issues influence children's response to air pollution?

We do the study in Fresno for several reasons: it has a location of an EPA "Supersite" for air quality monitoring, it has high rates of asthma morbidity/mortality, it frequently exceed air quality standards, and a community interest in asthma.

Sample Processing Protocol

Protocol for the collection, transport, and processing of blood specimens for FACES research project


Sample Processing Images

A scheme of sample processing is shown below. Click on a thumbnail to view a larger image.
    


Whole Blood
Buccal Cells

 

 Publications

M. Neri, D Ugolini, S Bonassi,  A Fucic, N Holland, LE Knudsen, R J Sram, M Ceppi,V. Bocchini, DF Merlo.Children’s exposure to environmental pollutants and biomarkers of genetic damage: I Overview and critical issues. Mutation Research Reviews, 612:1-13, 2006.

M. Neri, D. Ugolini, S. Bonassi, A. Fucic, N. Holland, L. Knudsen, R. Sram, M. Ceppi, Vittorio Bocchini, and Domenico Franco Merlo. Children’s exposure to environmental pollutants and biomarkers of genetic damage: II. Results of a comprehensive literature search, Mutation Research Reviews, 612:14-39, 2006.

B.Eskenazi, E.A. Gladstone, G. S. Berkowitz, C. H. Drew, E.M. Faustman, N. T. Holland, B. Lanphear, S. J. Meisel, F. P. Perera, V. A. Rauh, A. Sweeney, R. M. Whyatt, K.Yolton. Methodological Issues in Conducting Longitudinal Birth Cohort Studies: Lessons Learned from the Centers for Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research, Environmental Health Perspectives, 113: 1419-1429, 2005.

Holland NT, Pfleger LP, Berger E, Ho A, Bastaki M. Molecular Epidemiology Biomarkers - Sample Collection and Banking Considerations. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, 206:261-68, 2005.

Nina T. Holland, Martyn T. Smith, Brenda Eskenazi, Maria Bastaki. "Biological sample collecion and processing for molecular epidemiological studies", Mutation Research Review, 534, 217-34, 2003.

Laura Gunn, Matthew S. Forrest, Luoping Zhang, Nina T. Holland and Martyn T. Smith. "Biomarkers of early effect in the study of cancer risk." Book Chapter, "Biomarkers of Environmentally Associated Disease: Technologies, Concepts and Perspectives" with eds. Wilson, SH and Suk, WA., 2002.

Holland NT, Zhang L, Smith MT. "Cytogenetic biomarkers and air pollution. In: Relationship between acute and chronic effects of air pollution", ed. U. Heinrich & U.Mohr, ILSI press, Washington, D.C., pp.65-78, 2000.