UC Toxics News: Summer 2002
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New Directions for the TSR&TP with Three New Associate Directors

 

 

 

Risk assessment, efficient mitigation, and habitat restoration are Associate Director Tom Harmon's areas of interest

Tom Harmon, Southern Campuses

As an Associate Director, one of my most important jobs will be to identify southern campus faculty who can bring new ideas and direction to the UCTSR&TP, while benefiting from interactions with participating faculty and students. I plan to make regular visits to each of the Southern California campuses to meet with faculty in physical, biological and social sciences. I anticipate seeding 3 to 5 research efforts in the upcoming year.

Over the next few years, I will be particularly receptive to ideas related to accurate risk assessment, efficient mitigation and habitat restoration in impaired urban environments, such as brownfields. There is a dearth of undeveloped real estate in the urbanized regions of California, and that which is available is either extremely expensive, contaminated, or both. Parkland is perhaps even scarcer in places like Los Angeles. Restoration is usually slow to happen because we have developed neither the efficient mitigation strategies nor an adequate understanding of the real exposure and risks posed by these sites. Finding solutions to these problems will provide a challenge to a wide array of potential UCTSR&TP students and faculty, including those interested in innovative toxic substance monitoring (i.e., sensors and sensor networks), human and habitat risk assessment, brownfield policy development, and other subjects.

 

Associate Director John Knezovich will focus his efforts on interdisciplinary research and policy studies

John Knezovich, Central Campuses

Toxic substance research crosses many traditional academic departments and programs, many of which are currently represented in the TSR&TP. As with many science and technology fields, however, it is likely that innovations and breakthroughs in toxic substances research will increasingly occur at the boundaries between disciplines (e..g, computer science and biology, engineering and chemistry). Accordingly, I am excited by the prospects that exist for building new research teams and I intend to encourage and promote interdisciplinary research and teaching within the program. I am particularly interested in supporting policy studies that are linked to ongoing or new research projects within the program. Lastly, the rapidly approaching opening of the tenth UC campus at Merced presents a unique opportunity to build a foundation for interdisciplinary toxics research in the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada regions.

 

Associate Director Marion Miller brings the new field of metabonomics - a platform for studying drug toxicity and gene function - to the TSR&TP

Marion Miller, Northern Campuses

Associate Director Dr. Marion Miller is sponsoring an initiative in a new field called NMR-based metabonomics. This powerful technique can take a snap-shot of the potentially hundreds of small organic molecules that make up the body’s metabolic system. These measurements can be made on tissue and biofluid samples (typically urine or blood) following exposure to toxicants, during the development of organisms, or throughout the progress of a disease [1]. The analysis and interpretation of the resulting metabolite profiles is dependent upon computational and mathematical methods, termed bioinformatics. Metabonomics is ideally suited for examining mechanistic aspects of toxicology and for determining metabolic changes that can be associated with specific disease or exposure states. In conjunction with studies on the genetic composition of organisms and of the proteins expressed by those genes, metabonomic information could offer unprecedented insights into mechanisms of toxic action.

The aims of this initiative are to increase awareness of the emerging technique of NMR-based metabonomics, and to develop seed projects that could ultimately lead to future funding. An additional goal is to develop the necessary spectroscopic, statistical, and bioinformatic infrastructure. Accordingly, this initiative includes a collaboration with The Center for Image Processing and Integrated Computing at UC Davis under the direction of Dr. David Rocke. In addition, the UC Davis NMR Facility will provide technical support. For further information, please contact Dr. Marion Miller mgmillersears@ucdavis.edu. For technical enquires, contact Dr. Mark Viant mrviant@ucdavis.edu.

1. J. C. Lindon, J. K. Nicholson, E. Holmes and J. R. Everett, "Metabonomics: Metabolic Processes Studied by NMR Spectroscopy of Biofluids", Concepts in Magnetic Resonance 12, 289-320 (2000).

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