WWAMI Spotlight: Former ITHS Trainee Wins NIH Award

ITHS congratulates former TL1 trainee, Trenton Wolfe, for earning a highly competitive national fellowship related to his dissertation research. Wolfe investigates how antibiotics affect the body’s ability to detoxify arsenic.

A graduate student in the Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology in MSU’s College of Agriculture, Wolfe received a Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. This will provide approximately $73,000 to support tuition, research supplies, conference travel, and specialized training opportunities during the remainder of his doctoral studies as he examines the relationship between antibiotics, gut microbiome, and arsenic exposure.

Exposure to arsenic can introduce an array of health issues including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. Wolfe has a personal connection to his work: Growing up in Montana, he saw how his community was shaped by the environmental impacts of mining, including arsenic exposure.

After receiving this award, Wolfe cited his experience at ITHS as being a boon to his efforts to secure this funding, saying,

“I benefited so much from going through the ITHS TL1 program. It really strengthened my application and prepared me well for this next milestone.”