Curriculum

• What is Toxicology?
• Curriculum Overview
• Graduate Studies
• Recommended Core Courses
• Skills’ Development Courses
• Recommended Sequence of Courses
• Qualifying Exams
• Dissertation and the Final Exam
• Post-doctoral Training
• Post-doctoral Environment
• Post-doctoral Support
• Administrative Forms
• Contact Information

Recommended Core Courses

Note: Credit hours are shown in parentheses, followed by the academic semester in which the courses are offered.

1. PHCO 701—Introduction to Molecular Pharmacology (2) fall
   A first-year pharmacology course outlining the basics of molecular pharmacology, including molecular biology, drug/receptor interactions, receptors and ion channels, regulation of second messengers and drug metabolism

2. PHCO/TOXC 702—Principles of Pharmacology and Toxicology (3) spring
   Introduces students to the major areas of pharmacology and toxicology and serves as a basis for more advanced courses

3. PATH 713/PATH 714L—Disease Mechanisms, lecture (3) and laboratory (2) fall
   A lecture and laboratory course on cell injury and pathogenesis of disease with emphasis on basic mechanisms at the molecular, cellular, and organismal levels

4. PATH 715/PATH 716L—Systemic Pathology, lecture (3) and laboratory (2) spring
   A lecture and laboratory course on the pathology and pathophysiology of disease with an emphasis on molecular and cellular mechanisms of disease in organ systems

5. TOXC 442*—Molecular and Biochemical Toxicology (3) fall
   Development of a comprehensive understanding of biochemical and molecular actions of environmental chemicals and toxicants, and proper application of novel laboratory techniques for hypothesis-driven mechanistic research

6. TOXC 707*—Advanced Toxicology (3) spring
   Cellular and physiological basis of toxicity of environmental chemicals, with emphasis on pulmonary toxicology, hepatic toxicology, cardiovascular toxicology, reproductive toxicology, immunotoxicology, radiation toxicology, renal toxicology, and neurotoxicology, as well as regulatory toxicology (risk assessment) and clinical toxicology & drug interactions

7. Electives—2 graduate-level courses in any discipline or scientific area (courses in the area of research concentration chosen in the second year with help from the research advisor; or, courses not listed above and taken in the first year prior to selection of Toxicology as the degree-granting program)

8. Biostatistics—The need for a formal course and course choice will vary among students and research directions. BIOS 600 (Principles of Statistical Inference) is one option; a new course is currently being developed to attend basic needs of biomedical graduate students and will be available in 2010.

* All students are required to pass these two courses and a combination of at least two of the options listed from 1 to 4 (for example, 1+2, 3+4, or 1+4). TOXC 442 must be taken before TOXC 707. PHCO 701 is a pre-requisite for PHCO/TOXC 702.

Recommended sequence of courses