Welcome to the Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology. We currently offer undergraduate minors, Ph.D. and M.S. Degrees in the field of Toxicology. Our graduate and undergraduate training programs are closely aligned with the research expertise of our faculty and focus on two major areas:
1) Molecular and Mechanistic Toxicology: The mechanisms of toxic responses at the molecular, cellular and whole animal levels, with an emphasis on pathways by which environmental chemicals cause toxicity and disease, by perturbing critical cell signaling pathways or inducing DNA mutations and aberrations which then result in cancer and other environmental diseases.
2) Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology: Concomitantly, our programs also focus on how molecular interactions and macroscopic transport phenomena determine the spatial and temporal distribution of chemicals (transport and fate of chemicals in ecosystems and the environment), and the resultant ‘bioavailability’ of these chemicals, and thus ultimately the exposure (doses) of these chemicals to humans and other organisms.
This synthesis of approaches provides a unique inter- and multi-disciplinary training program that integrates current advances in chemistry, toxicology, and ecology, thus providing an exciting and competitive training environment for our students.
