Toxicology Track

Weekly Newsletter of the MSU Center for Integrative Toxicology
Director: Norbert Kaminski/Editor: Lois Furry

August 11, 2008, Vol. 31, Number 23

Seminars / Workshops / Course Announcements

Seminars

Wednesday, August 13, 2008
*EITS trainee Dr. Stephan A. Carey, DVM, will give a dissertation defense seminar titled "Role of Flutathione in Ozone-Induced Epithelial Hyperplasia in the Nasal Airways of Infant Monkeys and Rats" on Wednesday, August 13, 2008 at 8:10 AM in the Buchanan Room (A-214 CVM).

Friday, August 15, 2008
The MSU Graduate School presents "Developing Communication and Conflict Management Skills to Save Time and Enhance Productivity" on Friday, August 15, 2008 from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in 106 Kellogg Center. Please register by sending an e-mail with your name, department, e-mail address and name of the workshop to gradwrsp@msu.edu.

*Fulfills seminar requirements for the Environmental and Integrative Toxicological Sciences Graduate Programs. Seminars that fulfill this requirement are archived at Seminar List.

Workshops

The MSU Center for Integrative Toxicology Superfund Program's workshop "Dioxin Toxicity: Mechanisms, Models, & Potential Health Risks" will occur October 20-21, 2008 at the MSU Kellogg Center. Poster abstracts are requested by September 19, 2008. The workshop is being offered free-of-charge but seating is limited. Register by e-mailing tox@msu.edu. For hotel accommodations, call the MSU Kellogg Center at 517-432-4000. For more information, go to MSU 2008 superfund workshop.

The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences, Division of Computational Biology, is offering a Computational Systems Biology and Dose Response Modeling Workshop in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina from September 22-26, 2008. See the informational brochure for more information.

The MSU Division of Genetics & Epigenetic Toxicology, Oncology and Human Adult Stem Cells presents a symposium on "Human Health Risks to Low-Level Radiation" to take place on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 from 12 noon to 4 p.m. in 162 Food Safety and Toxicology Building. The workshop is being offered free-of-charge, but seating is limited. See the registration brochure for more information. The workshop is sponsored in part by the CIT.

Course Announcements

The following two Cell and Molecular Biology 800 Courses for Fall 2008 will be acceptable to meet the Topics in Toxicology requirement for the Environmental and Integrative Toxicological Sciences (EITS) graduate program:

CMB 800 section 1: Topics in Breast Cancer Research, coordinated by Sue Conrad, Ph.D. and Kathy Gallo, Ph.D. will meet on Wednesdays, 12:30-1:30 p.m., in 3280 Biomedical and Physical Sciences. Participants in this seminar course will present and discuss contemporary issues in breast cancer research. Selected topics will include cancer stem cells; signaling pathways in breast cancer; transcriptional regulation (including steroid hormone signaling) in breast cancer; control of invasion and metastasis; gene expression profiles as prognostic/diagnostic indicators of disease outcome; and targeted therapies and mechanisms of resistance. Students must have successfully completed BMB 801 or obtain permission from Drs. Conrad or Gallo before registering. Contact Dr. Sue Conrad (conrad@msu.edu) or Dr. Kathy Gallo (gallok@msu.edu) for further questions or for permission to register.

CMB 800 section 002: DNA Repair, coordinated by Kefei Yu, Ph.D. will focus on all aspects of DNA repair mechanisms. Dr. Yu will give an overview presentation of all the
major DNA repair pathways: 1. direct reversal of DNA modification; 2. base excision repair; 3. mismatch repair; 4. nucleotide excision repair; 5. homologous recombination; 6. double strand break repair. Dr. Yu will list a pool of papers for students to pick for their presentations, but the students are also allowed to present the papers of their own choices under his discretion. The selected papers can be most current ones as well as those of historical importance. Pass or fail depends on attendance as well as perform of oral presentation. Contact Dr. Yu (yuke@msu.edu) for further questions.

This Biochemistry and Molecular Biology course also fulfills an EITS requirement:

BMB 961 Section 003: Genomics and Proteomics of Complex Genetic Systems, coordinated by Dr. John Lapres will take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 9:10 10:00 a.m. in A148 Plant and Soil Science Building. This course fulfills a requirement for the Environmental and Integrative Toxicological Sciences program. If you are NOT a Biochemistry major, you must contact Dr. John Lapres (lapres@msu.edu) for permission to enroll.

The following course may fulfill part of the elective requirement in the EITS Toxicology Track program:

ESP 801 - Physical, Chemical & Biological Processes of the Environment: A Systems Perspective. This is the first course in the sequence for those students in ESP doctoral specialization, but it is open to all interested graduate students. It might be of value to students considering the specialization, or who simply have an interest in systems perspective on environmental issues that emphasizes the need to understand critical processes. It is designed to be accessible and valuable to students from a variety of science and social-science disciplines. For more information, contact the instructors: Dave Long (long@msu.edu) or Tom Voice voice@msu.edu).

The following course may fulfill part of the elective requirement in the EITS Toxicology Track or Environmental Track program:

FSC 807 - Advanced Food Toxicology (3 cr); Dr. James Pestka, Instructor; Mon/Wed 3:00- 4:20 PM, Room 206 Trout FSHN. FSC 807 will focus on the major classes of toxic chemicals in food relative to occurrence, metabolism, molecular/ cellular/ tissue targets, risk assessment and regulation. The course will involve lectures with accompanying readings from texts and recent reviews. In addition, there will be discussions of recent peer-reviewed papers
dealing with the occurrence, toxicology and safety assessment of major classes of toxic foodborne chemicals. Please contact Dr. Pestka at Pestka@msu.edu if you have questions about the course.

Other Courses:

LCS 901: Investigating the Lung will be offered for 2 credits in the Fall of 2008 on Thursdays from 3-5 pm. The course provides lectures and a laboratory in basic, advanced, and state-of-the-art topics in pulmonary physiology and pathophysiology. Presentations on anatomy, lung development, pulmonary mechanics, gas exchange, and inflammation will serve as an introduction for more specific inquiries into acute and chronic pathologies, including pneumonia, allergic airway disease, fibrosis, and other selected topics. This course is appropriate for veterinary residents and graduate students in the biomedical sciences. For further information contact Dr. Jim Wagner (432-1026; wagnerja@msu.edu), Dr. Kurt Williams (432-6320; williamsk@dcpah.msu.edu) or Dr. Ed Robinson (353-5978; robinson@cvm.msu.edu).

The Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology is offering a short course August 3-25, 2008 titled "Integrative and Organ Systems Pharmacology." Go to http://www.phmtox.msu.edu/education/shortcourse.html for more information and an application, or call 517-353-9619.

The Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology will offer PHM 820 Cellular, Molecular and Integrated Systems Pharmacology and Toxicology during the fall 2008 semester. For more information, go to http://www.phmtox.msu.edu.