Toxicology Track

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

December 10, 2007, Vol. 30, Number 45

Seminars this week / Seminars Upcoming / Dioxin Workshop Proceedings On-line/

Course Announcement / Positions

Seminars this week

*The CIT and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology present Dr. Tim Ryan, Lilly Research Laboratories, to speak on "Leveraging Gene Expression Data in Pharmacology and Toxicology: Functional Genomics in Drug Discovery" on Thursday, December 13, 2007 11 a.m. in 1415 Biomedical Physical Sciences. This is the first talk in the annual Distinguished Scholars in Toxicology Lecture Series. For more information, go to http://cit.msu.edu/News/ryanlecture.pdf.

The Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology presents Debra Diz, Professor and Director of Basic Sciences Research, Hypertension & Vascular Research Center, and Professor, Department of Physiology & Pharmacology; Neuroscience Program at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, to speak on "The Renin-Angiotensin System, Aging and Metabolic Function" on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 at noon in B448-9 Life Sciences. The Department also presents Mark Chappell, Associate Professor Surgical Sciences, Hypertension and Vascular Research Center, Department of Physiology & Pharmacology, Section of Molecular Medicine at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, to speak on "Sex, Salt and the Renin-Angiotensin System" on Thursday, December 13, 2007 at 9 a.m. in B448-9 Life Sciences.

Kellogg Biological Station presents Josh Schimel, University of California - Santa Barbara to speack on "The Role of Moisture Pulses in Regulating Biogeochemical Cycles" on Friday, December 14, 2007 at 10:45 a.m. in Stack 237, KBS. For more go to http://www.kbs.msu.edu/seminars/fall2007/.

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

Seminars Upcoming

*The CIT and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology present Dr. Joel Pounds, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, to speak on Thursday, February 14, 2007 11 a.m. in 1415 Biomedical Physical Sciences. This is the second talk in the annual Distinguished Scholars in Toxicology Lecture Series. More information will be posted at http://www.cit.msu.edu.

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

Dioxin Workshop Proceedings On-line

A one-day conference was held on September 19, 2007 at MSU to review and exchange ideas concerning dioxin and dioxin-like compounds. The workshop focused on reviewing the findings and conclusions reached by the National Academy of Science Study that reviewed the Environmental Protection Agencies reassessment of dioxin as well as the World Health Organization Committee on Toxic Equivalency Factors for dioxin-like compounds. Hosted by the Research Translation Core of the MSU Superfund Program, the event was jointly sponsored by the MSU-CIT and the Superfund Basic Research Program. National and international experts gave keynote presentations including: David Eaton, Ph.D., University of Washington; Martin Van den Berg, Ph.D., Utrecht University; Chiharu Tohyama, Ph.D., The University of Tokyo; Michael DeVito, Ph.D., U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and David Garabrant, M.D., M.P.H., University of Michigan. Each presentation can be viewed on-line at http://cit.msu.edu/Superfund/Dioxin%20Workshop.html or by clicking on the speaker's name above.

Course Announcement

PSL 950: Topics in Physiology, Winter/Spring 2008
Inflammation-Tissue Injury & Translational Medicine
In this 1-credit seminar course, faculty will guide graduate students in presenting/discussing recent research literature related to inflammation. This course will fulfill the EITS Toxicology Track requirement for a course in "Topics in Toxicology." Inflammatory Mediators: Elahé Crockett, Ph.D., Molecular Mechanisms and Signaling; Nara Parameswaran, Ph.D., Inflammatory Stress and Drug Hepatotoxicity; Robert A. Roth, PhD, DABT, Inflammation and Cancer; Alison Bauer, Ph.D. & Hua Xiao, MD-PHD, Gene Therapy and Healing; Andy Amalfitano, DO-PHD & Alex Chen, MD-PHD.
Time: Tuesdays, 12-1 pm. Place: 3280 Biomedical & Physical Sciences Building (BPS). For further information or permission to enroll, please contact Dr. Elahé Crockett (ecrocket@msu.edu).

Positions

The EPA has the following two post-doc positions:
Project Number: IO-08-7; Division: <http://www.epa.gov/nerlesd1/> Environmental Sciences Division (ESD); Branch: Landscape Ecology Branch (LEB); Geographical Location of Position: Las Vegas, Nevada or Research Triangle Park, NC; Title of Project: Interdisciplinary approaches to environmental science, demography, and ecosystem services. Brief Description of Research Project: In order to understand the interactions of human activities and the production and consumption of ecosystems services, this project will explore approaches for characterizing and modeling the dynamics (e.g., temporal and spatial distribution) of humans in the landscape. Particular emphasis will be placed on quantitative research methods, quantitative analysis, and novel approaches for describing and predicting dynamics, as it relates to ecosystem functions and services, per the NERL Exposure Framework and the Ecosystems Research Multiyear Plan. This work will support priority EPA environmental modeling and assessment efforts for the EPA Office of Research and Development, Ecological Research Program. Close coordination with a diverse of environmental scientists and geospatial/statistical analysts is required. Major Research Area: Human population dynamics analysis (including futures) and geospatial/demographic data analysis/synthesis. Scientific Project Area: Environmental Science with a Demography emphasisEducational Requirements: Ph.D. in sociology, rural sociology, urban sociology, or a related scientific discipline with a strong emphasis in the environmental sciences. Specialized training and/or experience preferred: Human impacts on the environment, ecosystem services analyses, US Census data analyses, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analyses, multiscale demographic and environmental data analyses. Scientific Contact/ Principal Investigator*: Email: Ricardo D. Lopez, Ph.D. at lopez.ricardo@epa.gov. This person may be contacted for additional scientific about this project. This person is not authorized to accept applications, make job offers, set salaries, set start dates or discuss benefits. See general announcement for details on how to apply.

Project Number: IO-08-8; Division: <http://www.epa.gov/nerlesd1/> Environmental Sciences; Division (ESD)(in collaboration <http://www.epa.gov/athens/>Ecosystems Research Division (ERD) and <http://www.epa.gov/eerd/> Ecological Exposure Research Division (EERD); Branch: Landscape Ecology Branch (LEB); Geographical Location of Position: Las Vegas, Nevada; Title of Project: Interdisciplinary approaches to environmental modeling and ecosystem services. Brief Description of Research Project: The services that are derived from ecosystems are functions of the structure, function, and human uses of those systems. This project will address the need for approaches that integrate remote sensing, landscape characterization, other data sources and spatially distributed models in order to create and map the functions that support services and predict their responses to human activities and other drivers of change. This is a challenging project, integrating multi-media modeling with broad-scale "landscape" models, identifying and focusing on several components of the lithosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere to develop indicators, maps and models of ecosystems services. Particular emphasis will be placed on quantitative research methods, quantitative analysis, and mechanisms of ecosystem functions, per the National Exposure Research Laboratory's "Exposure Framework" and in support of the Ecosystems Research Program Multiyear Plan. This work will support priority EPA environmental modeling and assessment efforts for the EPA Office of Research and Development, Ecological Research Program. Close coordination with a diverse group of environmental scientists and geospatial/statistical analysts is required. Major Research Area: Environmental Science, Environmental Engineering, Atmospheric Sciences, Ecology, Landscape Ecology, Hydrology, Soil Science, or Biology Scientific Project Area: Environmental Sciences. Educational Requirements: Ph.D. in environmental science or other related scientific discipline, with emphasis in modeling. Specialized training and/or experience preferred: Environmental science (modeling emphasis), landscape ecology (modeling emphasis), atmospheric sciences (modeling emphasis), hydrology (modeling emphasis), biology/ecology (modeling emphasis), or soil science (modeling emphasis. Scientific Contact/ Principal Investigator*: Email: Ricardo D. Lopez, Ph.D. at lopez.ricardo@epa.gov. This person may be contacted for additional scientific about this project. This person is not authorized to accept applications, make job offers, set salaries, set start dates or discuss benefits. See general announcement for details on how to apply.