This blog is co-authored by Jodi Flaws.
We are pleased to announce that three new toxicology learning resources have been released by the Toxicology Mentoring and Skills Development Training (ToxMSDT) program and are linked on the “Toxicology Learning Resources” web page. These engaging and interactive online products are available at no cost and are designed for undergraduate students and independent learners who have taken introductory biology and chemistry. They are correlated with the SOT Undergraduate Toxicology Learning Framework, which is based in the national standards for undergraduate biology education. Those who successfully complete the examination at the end of each unit receive a certificate of completion.
Modules provide an overview of basic concepts in an area related to toxicology. The two new modules are updates of resources developed early in the ToxMSDT project. Case studies are new additions to the project and allow learners to explore toxicology concepts related to specific toxicants. Both types of resources are adaptable for the independent learner as well as for formal course assignment or informal education.
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Biochemistry: A Toxicology Module illustrates how biochemical interactions are fundamental to the responses of organisms to toxicants. Specific examples illustrate concepts, and the biochemistry of some common toxicants are highlighted.
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Pathophysiology: A Toxicology Module reviews basic physical and functional changes that occur at the biochemical, cellular, tissue, organ, and organismal level when organisms respond to exposure to a toxicant. Diagrams and micrographs illustrate key concepts.
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Lead in Drinking Water: A Toxicology Case Study spotlights the potential health effects of exposure to lead in drinking water, using the water contamination incident in Flint, Michigan. The new case study guides the learner through the circumstances that led to the contamination, the potential health impacts, the basic toxicology related to lead exposure, and regulatory considerations.
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You can learn more about ToxMSDT resources during the SOT Annual Meeting and ToxExpo through two opportunities on Monday, March 11, in the ToxExpo Exhibit Hall. The Tiny Tox Talk “Undergraduate Toxicology Teaching Resources Available through ToxMSDT” will be 1:20 pm–1:40 pm. Poster #3253 “The Toxicology Mentoring and Skills Development Training (ToxMSDT) Program Launches New Case Studies and Revised Skills Development Online Modules for Undergraduates and Undergraduate Educators” will be on display Monday, with authors present 2:15 pm–4:30 pm.
The ToxMSDT program is funded by grant R25GM139200 from the National Institutes of Health, with us—Wilson Rumbeiha, DVM, PhD, DABT, DABVT, University of California Davis and Jodi Flaws, PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign—as the principal investigators and is hosted at the University of California Davis. SOT, a partner in the grant, is the lead in developing and updating this set of ToxMSDT learning resources. Pathophysiology and Lead in Drinking Water were authored by SOT members and undergraduate educators Mindy Reynolds, PhD, Washington College; Joshua Gray, PhD, US Coast Guard Academy; and Jayanta Das, Florida Memorial University, with the assistance of Betty Eidemiller, PhD, SOT Director of Education. That team has provided oversight for the SOT project. Michael Borland, PhD, lead, Bloomsburg University; Eva Oberdorster, PhD, Southern Methodist University; and Xiang Xue, DPhil, University of New Mexico, authored the Biochemistry module. Teams are now updating additional ToxMSDT modules and authors will create several new modules and case studies for release within the next two years.
Providing learning resources is a skills development component of ToxMSDT. The program selects a cohort of undergraduate students each year who participate in mentoring and job shadowing activities with a toxicologist, learn toxicology principles, and participate in workshops and the SOT Annual Meeting and ToxExpo.
For more information about ToxMSDT, contact program manager La Cole Blackshire.
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