Mechanistic toxicology is the study of how chemical or physical agents interact with living organisms to cause toxicity. It includes cellular, biochemical, and molecular processes and toxic effects, with a wide range of processes including reproductive and developmental pathways, exposure pathways and outcomes, food and product safety, drug discovery, and carcinogenesis.
Faculty Research Areas
Sakhila K. Banu
Determine molecular pathways and identify target genes/proteins by which CrVI alters prenatal development and organogenesis of female reproductive system in the offspring
Candice Brinkmeyer-Langford
T32 Preceptor
Comparative genomics, identify and characterize environmental and genetic interactions that contribute to neurological conditions resulting from antecedent viral infections; how genetic background influences disease diversity following infection by a neurotropic virus
Robert C. Burghardt
Reproductive biology; toxicology and environmental health; cell biology; use of non-invasive imaging technologies to investigate cellular signaling pathways and homeostasis mechanisms
Sanjukta Chakraborty
Tumor lymphatic interactions in the progression of lymph node metastasis; inflammation as a prime modulator of lymphatic associated pathologies
Robert S. Chapkin
T32 Preceptor
Dietary/microbial modulators related to the prevention of cancer and chronic inflammatory diseases
Tracy M. Clement
T32 Preceptor
Genetics, epigenetics, molecular and cellular biology of male fertility; proteomics and genomics during spermiogenesis
Chendil Damodaran
metal-induced carcinogenesis in urogenital cancers, including cadmium-induced prostate and arsenic-induced bladder cancers
Robin Fuchs-Young
T32 Preceptor
Mechanisms of cancer susceptibility, environmental health disparities
Michael C. Golding
T32 Preceptor
Interface between pregnancy and epigenetics, trying to understand how environmental exposures before conception or early in development cause disease later in life
Arul Jayaraman
T32 Preceptor
Molecular systems biotechnology, particularly cytokine signaling in inflammatory diseases, signaling interactions between bacteria and human cells in GI tract infections, and development of microfluidic model systems for combinatorial drug screening and vascular tissue engineering
Natalie M. Johnson
T32 Preceptor
Inhalation and developmental toxicology, maternal air pollution exposure, childhood asthma, gene-environment interactions
Gladys Y.-P. Ko
Molecular mechanisms that regulate retinal photoreceptor physiology and how early diabetic conditions trigger changes that might lead to diabetic retinopathy
Rajesh C. Miranda
Fetal brain development, microRNAs, ncRNAs, neural stem cells, teratology
Annie Newell-Fugate
Sex steroid control of white adipose tissue metabolism in health and disease with increasing emphasis on sex steroid receptor control of mitochondrial function in this tissue
Xu Peng
Explore and define novel genetic mechanisms that are involved in cardiovascular disease which can ultimately translate into potential strategies for its treatment
Weston W. Porter
T32 Preceptor
Determining the role of factors in normal development and how disruption of these pathways results in associated pathologies
Ivan Rusyn
T32 Director & Preceptor
Mechanisms of action of environmental toxicants and the genetic determinants of the susceptibility to toxicant-induced injury
Stephen H. Safe
T32 Preceptor
Development of novel mechanism-based anticancer drugs which target the nuclear orphan receptors (NR4A1, 2, and 3), the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, and specificity protein (Sp) transcription factors
Susanne M. Talcott
Translational pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of botanical compounds and their physiological metabolites related to inflammation, cancer prevention; intestinal health with a focus on human clinical trials
David W. Threadgill
T32 Preceptor
Factors that contribute to inter-individual differences in health and disease in the mouse model, identification and functional characterization of alleles contributing to cancer susceptibility, the role of genetic variation in response to environmental stimuli
Yanan Tian
Transcriptional control of the Ah receptor-regulated gene expression. Interaction between the Ah receptor and NF-kB signal transduction pathways, lncRNAs and their role in regulation of gene expression
Jun Wang
T32 Preceptor
Optogenetics, chemogenetics, confocal imaging, operant conditioning, electrophysiology, identifying the neurobiological basis of neuropsychiatric disorders, such as drug alcohol use disorders
Ursula Winzer-Serhan
Early life exposure to psychoactive drugs, like nicotine and alcohol, resulting long-term cognitive impairments, anxiety, and anti-social behavior