Research Center for Environment and Health (RCEH) is an innovative research division of the Three Gorges Institute of Ecological Environment (TGIEE), Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CIGIT, CAS). RCEH focuses on investigating the health hazards and synergistic toxicology of multiple environmental pollutants by using modern biological technologies. RCEH dedicates to developing the fast, economical, highly sensitive and convenient monitoring methods, and water-guarding techniques in the reconstructed water ecosystem of the Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA). To construct a sustainable environmental system, RCEH is trying to discover the pathogenic and carcinogenic mechanisms of environmental pollutants, and to promote the theoretical and technical support for establishing a secure ecological environment.

As a division of TGIEE, RCEH carries out researches to understand the complex mechanisms and monitoring methods of toxic and carcinogenic effects of typical pollutants in TGRA by using zebrafish and human cell lines. Accordingly, RCEH has 5 research interests:

 Developing the real-time biological monitoring of environmental pollutants.

 Evaluating the toxicity and hazard of environmental pollutants.

 Optimizing biological engineering species to sensitize environmental pollutants.

 Elucidating DNA damage mechanisms of potentially carcinogenic pollutants.

 Studies on the mechanisms of environmental pollutants in metabolism-associated diseases

Desheng Pei, Ph.D, the professor, and the recipient of “Hundred Talents Program” of CAS, and the dean of RCEH.

Dr. Pei got his Ph.D. degree from Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IHB, CAS) in 2003. From Jun 2006 to Feb 2009, Dr. Pei worked on the Center of Water Environment and Human Health in IHB as an assistant professor. From Feb. 2009 to Feb. 2011, as a Senior Postdoctoral Research Associate, Dr. Pei concentrated his study on the mechanisms of DNA damage and repair in Northeastern University. Thereafter, Dr. Pei worked as Research Fellow in Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Medical School to study on the mechanism of carcinogenesis of neuroblastoma from Feb. 2011 to Feb. 2013. His discoveries have been published in PLOS Genetics, Nucleic Acids Research, Cancer Cell, BMC Development Biology, Theriogenology, Analytical Biochemistry and Development Dynamics, etc.

Research Interests: Development of novel monitoring methods on environmental pollutants; the mechanisms of toxicology and carcinogenesis of environmental pollutants.

E-mail: peids@cigit.ac.cn

Phyllis R. Strauss, Ph.D. Visiting professor of RCEH.

Dr. Phyllis R. Strauss graduated from the Rockefeller University in 1971. Since 1971-1973, she worked as a Research Fellow in the department of physiology, Harvard Medical School. In 1973-1978, she was an assistant professor of Biology in Northeastern University. In 1978-1984, she was promoted as an associated professor and professor, respectively. In addition, she is now awarded as a Matthews Distinguished Professor in Northeastern University. She has extensively published her studies in the Nature, PNAS, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Journal of Experimental Medicine, Nucleic Acids Research, DNA Repair, Journal of immunology, Biochemistry, pLoS Computational Biology, Journal of Biological Chemistry etc.

Research Interests: Studies on the biochemistry and cell biology of DNA repair and focusing particularly on AP endonuclease in Base Excision Repair (BER)

E-mail: p.strauss@neu.edu

Wanping Bian, Ph.D. Assistant professor of RCEH.

He received his Ph.D. degree from the laboratory Génomique et biotechnologie des fruits of Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse in France. He has a wealth of expertise on analysis of proteins and proteomics data. Dr. Bian has worked on construction and analysis of a normalized full-length cDNA library of Chrysanthemum Cinerariifolium flowers during his study for master degree. He is familiar with molecular biology, such as extraction of RNA and DNA, synthesis of cDNA, molecular cloning and plasmid construction, etc. He has participated in the grant (No. 30471214) from National Natural Science Foundation of China and grant (No. 2007BA1005) from Key Projects in Chongqing Science & Technology Commission. Dr. Bian has published 6 papers in Plant Physiology, Annals of Botany and Plant and Cell Physiology etc.

Research Interests: Reconstruction and optimization of model organisms via molecular cloning for monitoring environmental pollution and researching in the mechanism of toxicology

E-mail: bianwanping@cigit.ac.cn

Yanbo Ma, Ph.D. Assistant professor of RCEH

She obtained her Ph.D. degree at the department of environmental toxicology, in Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Science in 2013,. During this period, she worked on the endocrine disruption of persistent organic pollutants chlorophenols, the molecular mechanisms of toxicant-exposed model fish and evaluation of eco-toxicological effects. She won the national scholarship for graduate students on 2012, firat prize of Di Ao scholarship and several institute scholarship. She published 4 papers in Aquatic Toxicology, Toxicology and Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.

Research Interests: Evaluation of organic pollutants on the mechanism of molecular toxicology and effects of eco-toxicology

E-mail: mayanbo@cigit.ac.cn

Yanling Chen, Ph.D. Assistant professor of RCEH

In 2012, she obtained her molecular biology Ph.D. degree, at the University of Toulouse III, France. In 2013, she then did postdoctoral studies at the department of Eukaryotic Molecular Biology，Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. During study abroad, her research was mainly focusing on the process of ribosome synthesis and RNA processing in eukaryotic kingdom, especially for understanding of the mechanism of action exerted by RNA helicases and telomerase inhibitors in ribosome assembly and ribosomal RNA processing pathways. Some of them have been published in internationally renowned journals, such as EMBO Journal and others. Research Interests: Toxicology mechanisms and monitoring methods of environmental pollutants.

E-mail: chenyanling@cigit.ac.cn

Chao He, Master student.

He is studying as a combined training of postgraduate in RCEH and Southwest University for Nationalities.

There are 4 platforms in RCEH: the laboratory of zebrafish management and microinjection, the laboratory of molecular biology, the laboratory of cell culture and manipulation, and the laboratory of toxicology of environmental pollutants. We focus on the mechanism study on toxicology of environmental pollutants and monitoring of the environmental pollutants.

1. Patent

[1]. Development of a method for expressing green fluorescent protein of zebrafish whole kidney. 2013, (The patent application number：201310481487.5)

2. Publications of 2010-2014

[1]. Dai Y, Jia Y, Chen N, Bian W, Li Q, Ma Y, Chen Y, Pei D*. Zebrafish as a model system to study toxicology. Environ Toxicol Chem. 2014, 33(1): 11-17. (SCI, IF= 2.6, 2012)

[2].Pei DS, Luther, Wang WC, Paw B, Stewart RA and George RE. Distinct Neuroblastoma-associated Alterations of PHOX2B Impair Sympathetic Neuronal Differentiation in Zebrafish Models. Plos Genetics，2013, 9(6):e1003533. （SCI IF=9.173, 2011）

[3]. Pei DS, Strauss P*. Zebrafish as a model system to study DNA damage and repair. Mutat Res-Fund Mol M. 2013, 743-744:151-9. (SCI, IF= 3.0, 2011)

[4]. Berry T, Luther W, Bhatnagar N, Jamin Y, Poon E, Sanda T, Pei DS, Sharma B, Vetharoy WR, Hallsworth A, Ahmad Z, Barker K, Moreau L, Webber H, Wang W, Liu Q, Perez-Atayde A, Rodig S, Cheung NK, Raynaud F, Hallberg B, Robinson SP, Gray NS, Pearson AD, Eccles SA, Chesler L*, George RE*. The ALK (F1174L) mutation potentiates the oncogenic activity of MYCN in neuroblastoma. Cancer Cell. 2012, 22(1):117-30. (SCI, IF= 26.5, 2011)

[5]. Ma Y, Han J, Guo Y, Lam PKS, Wu RSS, Giesy JP, Zhang X, Zhou B*. Disruption of endocrine function in in vitro H295R cell-based and in in vivo assay in zebrafish by 2, 4-dichlorophenol. Aquatic Toxicology. 2012, 106-107,173-181. (SCI, IF=3.761, 2011)

[6]. Barsan C, Zouine M, Maza E, Bian WP*, Egea I, Rossignol M, Bouyssie D, Pichereaux C, Purgatto E, Bouzayen M, Latche A, Pech JC. Proteomic analysis of chloroplast-to-chromoplast transition in tomato reveals metabolic shifts coupled with disrupted thylakoid biogenesis machinery and elevated energy-production components. Plant Physiology. 2012, 160: 708-725. (*Co-first author) （SCI, IF=7.054, 2011）

[7]. Pei DS, Yang XJ, Liu W, Guikema J, Schrader C, Strauss P*. A novel regulatory circuit in base excision repair involving AP endonuclease 1, Creb1 and DNA polymerase beta. Nucleic Acids Res. 2011, 39(8):3156-65. (SCI, IF= 8.0, 2011)

[8]. Ma Y, Liu C, Lam PKS, Wu RSS, Giesy JP, Hecker M, Zhang X, Zhou B*. Modulation of steroidogenic gene expression and hormone synthesis in H295R cells exposed to PCP and TCP. Toxicology. 2011, 282, 146-153. (SCI, IF=3.681, 2011)

[9]. Bian WP, Barsan C, Egea I, Purgatto E, Chervin C, Zouine M, Latché A, Bouzayen M, Pech JC. Metabolic and Molecular Events Occurring during Chromoplast Biogenesis. Journal of Botany 2011: 1-13.

[10]. Egea I, Bian WP*, Barsan C, Jauneau A, Pech JC, Latche A, Li Z, Chervin C. Chloroplast to chromoplast transition in tomato fruit: spectral confocal microscopy analyses of carotenoids and chlorophylls in isolated plastids and time-lapse recording on intact live tissue. Annals of Botany, 2011, 108: 291-297. (*Co-first author) (SCI, IF=4.03, 2011)

[11]. Deng W, Bian WP, Xian ZQ, Yang YW, Li ZG. Molecular cloning and characterization of apathogen-related protein PR10 gene in pyrethrum (Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium) flower response to insect herbivore. African Journal of Biotechnology, 2011, 10: 19514-19521.

[12]. Egea I, Barsan C, Bian WP, Purgatto E, Latche A, Chervin C, Bouzayen M, Pech JC. Chromoplast differentiation: current status and perspectives. Plant and Cell Physiology, 2010. 51: 1601-1611. (SCI, IF=4.702, 2011)

3. Published in 2009 and before

[1]. Chen CH, Sun YH, Pei DS, Zhu ZY*. Comparative expression of zebrafish lats1 and lats2 and their implication in gastrulation movements. Developmental Dynamics. 2009, 238(11): 2850-9 (SCI, IF=2.54, 2011)

[2]. Zhong S, Wang YP, Pei DS, Luo DJ, Liao LJ, Zhu ZY*. A one-year investigation of the relationship between serum GH levels and the growth of F4 transgenic and non-transgenic common carp Cyprinus carpio. J Fish Biol. 2009, 75 (5): 1092-1100. (SCI, IF= 1.69 , 2011)

[3]. Pei DS, Sun YH, Chen SP, Wang YP, Hu W, Zhu ZY*. Identification and characterization of a novel gene differentially expressed in fish cross-subfamily cloned embryos. BMC Dev Biol, 2008, 18; 8:29. (SCI, IF= 3.0, 2011)

[4]. Pei DS, Sun YH, Zhu ZY*. Construction of cytoplasmic molecular markers distinguishing Danio rerio from Gobiocypris rarus at high identity domains based on MP-PCR strategy and Sybr Green I detection. Mol Biol Rep. 2008, 35(1):45-50. (SCI, IF=2.93, 2011)

[5]. Pei DS, Sun YH, Long Y, Zhu ZY*. Inhibition of no tail (ntl) gene expression in zebrafish by external guide sequence (EGS) technique. Mol Biol Rep. 2008, 35(2):139-43. (SCI, IF=2.93, 2011)

[6]. Liu J, Sun YH, Wang YW, Wang N, Pei DS, Wang YP, Hu W, Zhu ZY*. Identification of differential transcript profiles between mutual crossbred embryos of zebrafish (Danio rerio) and Chinese rare minnow (Gobiocypris rarus) by cDNA-AFLP. Theriogenology. 2008, 70(9): 1525-1535. (SCI, IF=2.1, 2011)

[7]. Pei DS, Sun YH, Long Y, Zhu ZY*. Identification of a novel gene K23 over-expressed in fish cross-subfamily cloned embryos. Mol Biol Rep. 2008, 36(6):1375-80. (SCI, IF= 2.93, 2011)

[8]. Ma YF, Pei DS*, Liang GL*, Li MY, Cui ZB. Research advances in P-glycoprotein. Progress in Modern Bomedicine, 2008, 8(8):1584-1587 (*Correspondence author) (Chinese)

[9]. Ma YF, Liang GL, Pei DS, Cui ZB. Advancement of studies on ABC transporter proteins. Biotechnology Bulletin, 2008, 5:35-41 (Chinese)

[10]. Kong XH, Zhang HX, Wang GZ, Li SQ, Pei DS. Seasonal changes of soluble protein and soluble saccharide in mud crab (Scylla Serrata). Journal of Henan Normal University (Natural Science), 2008, 36(1): 99-102 (Chinese)

[11]. Pei DS, Sun YH, Chen SP, Wang YP, Hu W, Zhu ZY*. Zebrafish GAPDH can be used as a reference gene for expression analysis in cross-subfamily cloned embryos. Anal Biochem. 2007, 363(2):291-3. (SCI, IF= 3.0, 2011)

[12]. Pei DS, Sun YH, Chen SP, Wang YP, Hu W, Zhu ZY*. Identification of differentially expressed genes from the cross-subfamily cloned embryos derived from zebrafish nuclei and rare minnow enucleated eggs. Theriogenology. 2007, 68(9):1282-91. (SCI, IF=2.1, 2011)

[13]. Pei DS, Sun YH, Chen SP, Wang YP, Zhu ZY*. Cloning and characterization of cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COXI) in Gobiocypris rarus. Mitochondrial DNA. 2007, 18(1):1-8. (SCI, IF=1.50, 2011)

[14]. Pei DS*, Hu W*, Dai J, Chen SP, Sun YH, Wang YP, Zhu ZY. Conversion of RAPD markers to SCAR markers and its application between zebrafish and Chinese rare minnow. Chinese High Technology Letters, 2006, 9(16):959-963 (*Co- first author) (Chinese)

[15]. Pei DS, Xiang YW, Li MY, Cai PZ*, Zhang ZX, Yan WZ, Hou L, Pei Y. Analysis of RAPD markers about sterility gene in cytoplasm-nucleolus interacting type rice mitochondrial DNA. Acta Genetica Sinica, 2003, 30 (4): 357-363.

[16]. Pei DS, Cai PZ, Li MY, Xiang YW, Yan WZ, Zhang ZX, Hou L, Zhang ZY,Pei Y. Screening of RAPD Markers for Sterility Gene of Nucleo2cytoplasmic Interaction in Mitochondrial DNA of Rice. Acta Agronomica Sinica. 2003, 29 (6): 899-902 (Chinese)

[17]. Pei DS, Cai PZ, Li MY, Yan WZ, Pei Y, Xiang YW, Zhang ZX, Wu J. A simple method for isolation of rice mitochondrial DNA. Journal of Sichuan University (Natural Science Edition), 2002, 39:18-20 (Chinese)

[18]. Wu J, Cai PZ, Yan WZ, Zhang ZX, Xiang YW, Pei DS. Factors affecting rice transformation with agrobacterium-mediated PMN29 chimeric gene. Southwest China Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 2002, 15(3):116-118 (Chinese)