-- Department of Environmental Medicine --
Graduate students study for
the Ph.D. degree
in toxicology,
receiving stipends ($26,650 for 2012—2013)
subsidized by an NIEHS training grant.
The program is administered by the Department of Environmental Medicine but is designed to take advantage of the diverse resources available at this academic medical center.
Faculty members are drawn from both basic science and clinical departments, and have particular competence in the specialty areas of molecular, pulmonary, and neurotoxicology, as well as immunotoxicology, osteotoxicology, carcinogenesis, and reproductive and developmental toxicology.
The program is administered by the Department of Environmental Medicine but is designed to take advantage of the diverse resources available at this academic medical center.
Faculty members are drawn from both basic science and clinical departments, and have particular competence in the specialty areas of molecular, pulmonary, and neurotoxicology, as well as immunotoxicology, osteotoxicology, carcinogenesis, and reproductive and developmental toxicology.
Toxicology at the University of Rochester: From the Manhattan Project to the
Environmental Basis of Human Diseases recounts our program’s history. It appears in a book published by the Society of Toxicology for its 50th anniversary last Spring.
A Small Dose of Toxicology by Steven G. Gilbert,a graduate of this program, explores the principles of toxicology by examining the health effects of common chemical agents.
Post-doctoral fellows
are also supported by our NIEHS training
grant as well as on research grants.
Consult
Dr. Paige Lawrence
about other possible positions.
Ph.D. Program in ToxicologyWelcome! This graduate program in Toxicology builds upon our medical school’s strength in environmental health research. Areas of emphasis include neurotoxicology, immunotoxicology, osteotoxicology, carcinogenesis, and molecular, pulmonary, reproductive and developmental toxicology. It is administered by the Department of Environmental Medicine. |
| We rank among the top five toxicology graduate programs in the country, according to the National Academy of Science’s NRC Assessment of Graduate Education, 2010. Since the first degree was awarded in 1970, our graduates have been making significant contributions to science through their positions in academia, government, pharmaceutical and chemical companies, and research institutes. Their graduate training has proven broad enough to qualify them for a wide variety of careers, from teaching toxicology at the college level, to engaging in forensic toxicology and criminal investigation, to helping set national environmental health policy. Over 160 students have earned the doctorate. |
| View the 2013 Student Seminar Photographs |
| Faculty
Research Programs range across the entire spectrum of toxicology, from molecular mechanisms to
human populations, and address many important human environmental health concerns, including endocrine
disruption, carcinogens, immunotoxicants and neurotoxicants.
Faculty members and their graduate students study
osteoporosis, autism, Parkinsonism, Alzheimer’s disease, and other neurodegenerative diseases. The students working on pulmonary questions recently took part in the medical school-wide Lung Biology and Trainee Day |
Graduation, May 19, 2012Four students were awarded their Ph.D. degrees by President Joel Seligman.Joseph Frasca, Sarah Latchney, Ming Kung,and Jennifer Head   |
Recent Student Publications |
Every month the toxicology graduate students choose to honor a publication by one of their peers. The fifth “publication of the month,” chosen in early February 2012, was by Bethany Winans.
Environmental toxicants and the developing immune system: a missing link in the global battle against infectious disease? Winans B, Humble MC, and B. Paige Lawrence. Reprod Toxicol. 2011 Apr;31(3):327-336. “There is now compelling evidence that in utero and early life exposure to pollutants can negatively impact health later in life. The early life environment has been shown to contribute to diseases such as cancer and obesity; less well studied is how early life environmental insults can impact the immune system. Given that the immune system is the body‘s first line of defense against invading pathogens, it is critical to understand how immune function may be altered by early life exposures. This review summarizes data that investigates how a number of pollutants, such as cigarette smoke and dioxin-like compounds, lead to changes in immune function in animal models. These data support the idea that developmental exposure to pollutants may persistently reduce immune function. Infectious diseases remain among the top five causes of death worldwide, and the findings reviewed here suggest that exposure to common chemicals from our daily environment may be an overlooked factor that contributes to this global burden of disease.” |
| Other Recent Graduate Student Events |
| David H. McMillan
defended his Ph.D. thesis on January 29, 2013: Attenuation of Inflammation by the NF-kB Member RelB. Sanjay Maggirwar (left), Richard Phipps and Patricia Sime were his major advisors. 
|
| Whitney V. Christian (shown with wife and family) successfully
defended his Ph.D. thesis on December 18, 2012:
Identification of residues required for functional interaction of the two subunits of the organic solute transporter, OSTa-OSTb.
His advisor was Patricia Hinkle.  
|
Casey M. Manning successfully
defended her Ph.D. thesis on December 12, 2012:
Radiation effects on the pulmonary response to influenza A virus infection. Her advisor was Jacob Finkelstein.
|
| Chia T. Thach successfully
defended his Ph.D. thesis on December 11, 2012:
The modulation of cellular signaling
by cholesterol depletion and nanoparticle exposure. trafficking during gene transfer. His advisor was also Jacob Finkelstein. 
|
| Brittany Baisch received the ACS Young Scholar Award for her oral presentation at the 2012 Nanotoxicology Conference, held in early September. Here she is with Günter Oberdoerster and her advisor, Alison Elder,  |
and with Andre Nel of UCLA (left) and Wolfgang Parak of Marburg University.
|
| Melissa Badding successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis on June 15, 2012: Cytoplasmic factors that impact intracellular plasmid trafficking during gene transfer. Her advisor was David Dean. 
|
| Joseph Frasca successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis on February 24, 2012: Interaction of peripheral inflammation and pesticide exposure in multiple hit models of Parkinson‘s disease: Comparative vulnerability of nigrostriatal cell bodies vs. projection areas.
His advisor was Deborah Cory-Slechta.  
|
| John Allen Bennett, a third-year student, gave his PhD Qualifying Exam Seminar on March 29, 2012: Investigating the Role of the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor in the Regulation of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Function.
His advisor was Tom Gasiewicz.  
|
| Katherine Ringo, a third-year student, gave her PhD Qualifying Exam Seminar on January 12, 2012: Regulation of Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule Expression by the Matricellular Protein CCN1.
Her advisors were Jennifer Young and David Dean.  
|
| John Lapek gave his PhD Qualifying Exam Seminar on January 6, 2012. His topic was Elucidation of histidine-aspartic acid signaling cascades in a testosterone and estradiol-induced prostrate cancer progression model.
His advisor was Alan Friedman (left).  
 
|
| Jennifer Head successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis on December 15, 2011: Sustained Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Activation and its Role in Neutrophil Recruitment and Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase Expression in the Lung during Influenza A Virus Infection on December 15, 2011. Her advisor was B. Paige Lawrence (left). 
|
| Allison Greminger, a third-year student, presented her PhD Qualifying Exam Public Seminar on December 16, 2011. Her topic was Investigation of the Potential Neurotoxicity of Combined Developmental Iron Deficiency and Lead Exposure. Her advisor was Margot Mayer-Proschel. 
|
