DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Dr. Nels C. Olson, PhD is a postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory for Clinical Biochemistry Research (LCBR) in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. He is currently supported by an NHLBI-funded T32 training award and is mentored by Dr. Russell P. Tracy, PhD, director of the LCBR, Professor of Pathology and Biochemistry, and the Department's Vice-Chair for Research. Dr. Olson earned a PhD in cell and molecular biology at the University of Vermont under the mentorship of Dr. Albert van der Vliet, PhD as an NIEHS-funded T32 predoctoral trainee. Dr. Olson's research thesis utilized isolated primary airway epithelial cell culture systems, hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) gene silencing, and nitric oxide synthase 2 genetic knock out mice, to elucidate the roles of nitric oxide and HIF-1 signaling in airway epithelial barrier regulation during allergic airway disease. Dr. Olson's career goals are to become an independent faculty member with a research program that involves the joint application of epidemiological, biochemical, genetic, and biostatistical methods to develop inflammation-, immunity-, and coagulation-based biomarker assays for implementation and use in cardiovascular disease (CVD) epidemiological and clinical research studies. His goals are to elucidate disease etiology, translate molecular findings to human populations, improve CVD risk stratification, and guide individual treatment strategies. In order to achieve these goals, Dr. Olson chose to pursue postdoctoral training in molecular epidemiology with Dr. Tracy following the completion of his basic science oriented PhD. Dr. Olson's current research involves investigating biomarkers of inflammation (TNF-α, C-reactive protein), immunity (Th1 and Th2 cells, CD4+ memory and naive cells), and coagulation (thrombin, coagulation factors XII, XI and IX) as CVD risk factors in large population-based epidemiological cohort studies (e.g., the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA); the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS)). During his postdoctoral fellowship, Dr. Olson, has published 8 manuscripts and was awarded the American Heart Association's (AHA) Roger R. Williams award for genetic epidemiology and the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis. Dr. Olson serves on the ancillary studies committee for the NHLBI-MESA study, and attends and presents at the MESA steering committee meetings, and the AHA Epidemiology Scientific Sessions. He also serves on the Early Career Advisory Committee of the Cardiovascular Research Institute of Vermont. Dr. Olson's research application proposes to measure 17 T- and B-lymphocyte and monocyte populations, and novel plasma-based biomarkers of immunocyte activation, at the baseline examinations of MESA and CHS. Using a case-cohort study design with 2,400 participants free of CVD at baseline, Dr. Olson will evaluate the prospective relationships of...