Toxicology Track

Weekly Newsletter of the MSU Center for Integrative Toxicology
Director: Dr. Norbert Kaminski / Editor: Lauren St.John

August 17, 2009, Vol. 32, Number 31

Workshops / Courses / Job Postings

Workshops

The 2009-2010 Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) series workshop dates are:

9/10/09
Investing in Responsibility & Integrity for a Productive Career
Room 103 (Kiva) Erickson Hall
6:00 – 8:00 PM

10/5/09
Responsible Decision-making in Academic Research: Ethical & Moral Perspectives
Room 103 (Kiva) Erickson Hall
6:00 – 8:00 PM

10/27/09
Maintaining a Productive & Responsive Environment for Conducting Graduate Research
Room 103 (Kiva) Erickson Hall
6:00 – 8:00 PM

1/13/10
Personal Responsibility in Conducting Graduate Research & Advancing Your Career
Room 103 (Kiva) Erickson Hall
6:00 – 8:00 PM

1/26/10 (Animals) and/or 1/28/10 (Humans)
Responsibility to the Subjects of Research
Room 103 (Kiva) Erickson Hall
6:00 – 8:00 PM

2/16/10
Objectivity & Conflicting Interests in Academic Research
Room 103 (Kiva) Erickson Hall
6:00 – 8:00 PM

Registration is necessary for all sessions.  You may register for the entire series (recommended) or for an individual session.  The deadline for registering for a session is one week before the session.  However, due to the popularity of this series, the workshops fill up quickly and you are encouraged to register as soon as possible.  All sessions are free to MSU faculty, staff, postdocs, & students.
           
Attendance at this full series will be recognized with a certificate of completion, but attendance may be over several years. The series is intended to complement other training offered by MSU to comply with requirements for formal training before working on research funded by the Public Health Service, the National Science Foundation, and others. The workshops will be expanded and adapted as appropriate from one year to the next to respond to current issues and needs.

More information can be found at http://grad.msu.edu/rcr/.

Courses

Groundwater Modeling, CE 822 / ENE 822, Fall 2009

Time: MW 8:30-9:50 AM (tentative)

Location: B100A, Engineering Research Complex

Instructor: Prof. Shu-Guang Li

Topics:

• Groundwater flow modeling
• Contaminant transport modeling
• Model calibration
• Spatial data analysis
• Practical numerical methods
• Probabilistic Methods/Monte Carlo Simulation

Problem-based Learning:

• Wellhead Protection
• Groundwater Use Management
• Groundwater Remediation
• Protection of Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems

Field Trips:

• Zephyr groundwater contamination site (under active remediation), Muskegon, MI
• Groundwater-Dependent Fens/Ecosystems,  The Nature Conservancy

Guest Lectures:

• Remediation Consultants
• DEQ Managers
• Scientists from (TNC) - The Nature Conservancy

_____________

Computational Systems Biology and Dose Response Modeling Short Course
PHM 980-1, Section 301, 1 credit (fulfills the EITS Topics in Toxicology requirement)

Date: October 7-9, 2009 (all day Oct. 7 and 8, half day on Oct. 9)

Location: Food Safety and Toxicology Building, room 164

Instructors: Qiang Zhang, Sudin Bhattacharya, and Melvin E. Andersen, Division of Computational Biology, The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences; and Rory Conolly US Environmental Protection Agency.

Course Description: In this short course, you will learn:

• Current computational modeling techniques for the quantitative investigation of how biological systems respond to perturbations at the cellular level.

• Common themes in signal transduction and gene regulatory networks that underlie systems-level cellular behaviors including homeostasis, adaptation, threshold response, binary cell fate decisions, and irreversible differentiation.

• How molecular circuits comprising genes and proteins give rise to different dose response behaviors.

• To use these techniques to develop computational models for understanding and predicting dose response behaviors of drugs and environmental agents.

The course comprises lectures and hand-on computer simulation exercises. Students will be required to bring a PC laptop computer each day to the course as there will be sample data sets for them to model.

Please visit http://www.thehamner.org/education-and-training/drm_workshop.html for a full description of a one-week version of this course. Contact Dr. Norbert Kaminski, kamins11@msu.edu, with questions.

Please contact Diane Hummel, hummeld@msu.edu, in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology for course registration/override.

Job Postings

Post-doctoral position in the societal aspects of environmental effects of nanomaterials: Environmental Risk Perception. University of California, Santa Barbara.

A multidisciplinary team of social scientists is seeking a postdoctoral-level researcher to study the societal aspects of emerging effects of nanomaterials (NMs) in the environment, with a particular focus on US public and expert risk perception and comparative risk analysis.  The specific project opportunities include: survey research on US public perceptions of nanotech environmental risk; comparative analysis of other technological and environmental risk controversies; social amplification and attenuation of risk; constructed preference and decision pathways; vulnerability, gender, race and risk perception; mental modeling and risk communication.

Applicants should possess a Ph.D. in a relevant social, behavioral, or environmental studies field, including Ph.D’s from interdisciplinary environmental studies programs as well as those offered through sociology, anthropology, geography, communications, social psychology, political science, and/or law. The applicant must have demonstrated experience in related research, and a record of communicating research results. Quantitative data analysis expertise required; mixed quantitative/qualitative methods research background highly desirable.

The position will be available starting October 1, 2009 or later and is full time with a beginning salary of $42,000-$46,000 (plus health benefits) depending on experience.  Applications should have completed the PhD no more than 6 years prior, although exceptions can be made where a hiatus from academic work can be explained. The initial appointment is for 1-year on this multiyear project; continuation beyond 1 year will be based on performance and funding. 

Applicants should submit a CV, a statement of research interests, and the names of three referees to imelda@icess.ucsb.edu.  Initial review of applications will begin on 1 September 2009, however the position will remain open until filled. The department is especially interested in candidates who can contribute to the diversity and excellence of the academic community through research, teaching and service.