Concept information
Preferred term
DE/GSF-PUC
Definition
- Understanding the basis of life and the conditions for staying healthy, and developing concepts for precautionary measures - these are the central tasks of the GSF-National Research Center for Environment and Health. The GSF investigates the complex systems of life in the interface area between environmental influences and genetic predisposition. The aim of the research is to recognize health risks for humans and risks to the environment; to elucidate mechanisms of disease development; to assess the load-bearing capacity (and limits) of the environment and of the defense mechanisms of the human body; and to develop concepts for long-lasting prevention and cure. In this way, the GSF develops the scientific basis to protect man and the natural basis of human life in the future. Effective concepts for practical measures to protect the environment and health can only be developed from a basis of understanding of the complex interactions in living systems. These days a host of substances and potentially harmful factors (infectious agents, allergens, chemicals, ultra fine particles, and radiation) act on man and his environment at low doses. Impact and damage cannot be explained in a strictly linear monocausal relationship in these low ranges of concentration. The task for the future is thus to investigate the reactions of a system within the network of biological signals. Genetics plays one of the key roles. The genome is in part responsible for individual sensitivity to medication or damaging substances. Research into the interactions between genes and the environment is thus a common basis for all the research activities in the GSF. Similar regulatory principles are involved in the varying reactions of living beings to environmental factors. Common mechanisms which play a role in defense and development processes as well as the development of cancer, can be found in plants, microorganisms, and humans. In the GSF the basic protection mechanisms that keep man and the environment healthy are investigated. It will only be possible to make decisive advances by looking at the pollutant burden on man and the environment in an integrated way. The GSF is unique in the fields of environmental research and biomedicine in placing this integrated approach at the centre of its research concept. Website: "http://www.gsf.de/" [Summary provided by the GSF Research Center for Environment and Health/RZ.] (en)
Broader concept
- GERMANY (en)
URI
https://gcmd.earthdata.nasa.gov/kms/concept/3ee173f8-a336-437e-b60a-fd617d38d0fd
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