The Environmental Statistics and Bioinformatics Core (ESBC) provides biostatistical, statistical genetics, and bioinformatics support for investigators associated with the HSPH NIEHS Center for Environmental Health (the Harvard-NIEHS Center). Assistance is also available in several other specialized areas including environmental epidemiology, spatial statistics, and Geographical Information Systems (GIS), as well as quantitative risk assessment. In addition to design and analysis support, Core faculty and staff advise investigators on data management issues and provide statistical and bioinformatics training for graduate students and fellows working on Center-related projects. Core faculty and researchers engage in missionrelated research motivated by questions and methodological challenges that arise from Center collaborations. Providing such services via a core facility allows us to build and maintain specialized resources (e.g., expertise in advanced statistical methods, statistical genetics and bioinformatics) and also allows us to draw on the broader resources available through the Department of Biostatistics at Harvard. Having a core facility also provides us with the necessary infrastructure to support educational activities such as seminars and workshops of relevance to Center investigators and also to support high quality methods research motivated by environmental health research.