Notable

CIT students take top honors at the 2008 Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting. more

The CIT Superfund Program invites toxicologists and toxicology students to attend a workshop on dioxin toxicigy, Oct. 20-21, 2008. more

The 2006-2007 MSU-CIT Annual Report is now available. more

The MSU-CIT weekly "Toxicology Track" lists toxicology-related seminiars and events; recent grants and publications of MSU scientists; and open positions. more

View Proceedings of the recent MSU-CIT Superfund Program's one-day workshop on dioxin and dioxin-like compounds. more

History of the CIT

The Michigan State University Center for Integrative Toxicology (CIT) is a multidisciplinary academic unit that supports and coordinates research and graduate education activities for faculty interested in various aspects of  toxicology. The Center is a successor to the Institute for Environmental Toxicology and the Center for Environmental Toxicology, the latter founded in 1978.  While the name of the unit has changed over the years to denote changes in the leadership and academic position, the mission of the unit has been the same. For 30 years, toxicology at Michigan State has provided excellence in training graduate students, facilitating research, and providing service to the State of Michigan when needed. The successes generated in these endeavors have resulted in recognition of Michigan State as a leader in academic toxicology.

The Center for Environmental Toxicology was initiated primarily to help the State deal with environmental contamination issues such as those arising from the PBB (polybrominated biphenyls) incident in the early 1970s. That unfortunate event was initiated by the accidental contamination of Michigan’s environment with PBBs. These dioxin-like chemicals and dioxin itself remain a major topic for research at Michigan State University.

Two years after the founding of the Center for Environmental Toxicology, a multidisciplinary Ph.D. program in environmental toxicology was offered in conjunction with several cooperating  departments. The characteristics of the program were unique at that time as students were required to complete the Ph.D. requirements of a department of their choice in addition to the didactic requirements and toxicology research specified by the Center.   The quality of this multi-departmental effort was recognized by the National Institutes of Health in 1989 with the award of a Training Grant from the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences.  Graduates of this program number over 150 and can be found in academic, industry and governmental positions.