Biology 4160:  Toxicology Laboratory

Modern biochemical and molecular techniques will be used to assess the impact of environmental contaminants on liver, gill and blood biomarkers in fish.  One three-hour laboratory each week.

            Prerequisites:  Biol 3350 or Biol 3306

            Co-requisite:   Biol 4360

Welcome to Environmental Toxicology Laboratory, Biol 4160.  This course is designed to introduce students to some of the techniques used in environmental toxicology.  Emphasis will be placed on the isolation, identification, and analysis of proteins  from fish after dosing with common pollutants—benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), Copper (Cu), or the combination of BaP and Cu (Combo). 

The goal of this course is to perform an experiment from beginning to end, including a number of assays which will all provide data to ultimately help us answer several questions:  How do animals respond to exposure to common environmental pollutants?  Specifically, what proteins are upregulated to either help detoxify the contaminants or to repair tissue damage.  Is a combination of toxicants different from each individual chemical alone?

Wednesday, 2:00-4:50 PM, Room 128 Dedman Life Sciences

Instructor:  Eva Oberdörster (please call me Dr. O)

Office:  Room 241 Dedman Building; 214-768-1241; eoberdor@smu.edu

Office hours: by appointment

TEXTBOOK: Toxicology lab manual

SUPPLIES:  Laboratory Research Notebook, ISBN 0-8720-877-5 OR any composition type notebook.  Lab coats and safety glasses are available in the lab for your use.

Fall 2008 Schedule of labs