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2007 MESSAGE
FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT QUICK
LOOKS WARM
NEW WORLD Sidebar: Are oceans becoming acidic? LANGUAGE
911 THE
BEACH BUILDERS THE
LOST LEWIS AND CLARK BIRDS
AS BAROMETERS A
GROWING MYSTERY STUDENT
SCIENTIST INVITING
DISCOVERY Sidebar: Neurons get their close-up Sidebar: Core facility models molecules UNDERSTANDING
A HAZARDOUS WORLD Sidebar: Useful tools: toxic agents and air pollution Sidebar: Genes, the environment and you
ARCHIVE
Cover: An illustration of UM's Main Hall tower bathed in the glow of a fictitious smoldering Earth.
Vision is published annually by The University of Montana Office of the Vice President for Research and Development and University Relations. It is printed by UM Printing & Graphic Services. PUBLISHER: Daniel J. Dwyer. MANAGING EDITOR AND GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Cary Shimek. PHOTOGRAPHER: Todd Goodrich. CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Brianne Burrowes, Brenda Day, Judy Fredenberg, Joan Melcher, Rita Munzenrider, Patia Stephens and Alex Strickland. WEB DESIGN: Patia Stephens. EDITORIAL OFFICE: University Relations, Brantly Hall 330, Missoula, MT 59812, 406-243-5914. MANAGEMENT: Judy Fredenberg, Office of the Vice President for Research and Development, 116 Main Hall, Missoula, MT 59812, 406-243-6670.
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tools: toxic agents and air pollution
Airborne pollution or toxins such as arsenic can pose human health risks. But such harmful by-products of human activity can be harnessed to become useful tools for CEHS scientists. Associate Professor Howard Beall studies how arsenic exposure may foster atherosclerosis, the hardening of arteries leading to cardiovascular disease. He says, “We use arsenic as a tool to study disease. So arsenic causes a buildup and worsening of atherosclerotic plaque, and if we can see what arsenic is doing, it can give us a fundamental understanding of the disease process.” He says many center researchers use harmful agents to expand knowledge of basic disease function. “We have people studying asbestos, and you can study how cancer comes about by studying how asbestos causes cancer.” Assistant Professor Jean Pfau says people in her lab use asbestos as a tool to explore many research avenues. As an example, graduate student David Blake studies the possibility that asbestos spurs production of reactive oxygen molecules in the body. This may cause damage that makes the body’s molecules look foreign to the immune system, leading to detrimental autoimmune responses. “So could this explain how silica or asbestos drives an autoimmune response?” she asks. Center Director Andrij Holian says there are a number of toxic components in air pollution that are believed to cause chronic inflammation in the lungs, which in turn may generate a variety of harmful diseases. It’s well-known that particulates exacerbate asthma, and polluted air in places such as Houston or Los Angeles has been shown to decrease lung growth in children. “If we can understand how these agents cause chronic inflammation,” he says, “they may provide details of how we can deal with them pharmacologically — at least until we find ways to lower air pollution in the environment and our exposure levels.”
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Cary
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Managing Editor |
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