Lecture Spotlights Toxicology

The Center for Veterinary Health Sciences’ 2004 Sitlington Lecture focused on toxicology and genomics. Featured speaker Kenneth Olden, director of both the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the National Toxicology Program within the National Institutes of Health, presented “Toxicogenomics: New Tools for Studying Pathways to Disease.”

Olden’s lecture, hosted by Carey Pope, Sitlington chair in toxicology at the CVHS, included information on understanding and mapping the genes of different species and the comparative gene changes that occur in response to environmental chemical exposures.

The human genome sequence presents many exciting opportunities for toxicologists, such as investigating the role of gene and environment interactions in the development of complex diseases, Olden told approximately 75 attend ees. Studies of this nature are critical to establish a causal association between particular genotypes, specific environmen tal exposures and complex toxic injuries.

“Dr. Olden is a leader in toxicology, both through his own research in environmental factors contributing to cancer and as NIEHS director,” Pope says. “By spotlighting toxicology research through the Sitlington Lecture series, OSU is fostering the dissemination of information on the adverse effects of chemicals on living systems — whether those living systems are cells, organisms or ecosystems.”

Now in its sixth year, the Sitlington Lecture series was initiated by Pope and made possible through Oklahoma rancher Walter “Bill” Sitlington.

The 2005 Sitlington Lecturer will be David Dorman of CIIT Centers for Health Science, Research Triangle Park, N.C.

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