Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology 110: Toxicology - 3 Units

Instructor and Office Hours
Len Bjeldanes
Professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology
E-mail: lfb@nature.berkeley.edu
510-642-5202
115 Morgan Hall
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 2-3pm or by appointment

Teaching Assistant
Yixuan Gong
Email: gongyx@berkeley.edu
50 Morgan Hall
Office Hours: TBD

Prerequisites
Organic Chemistry, biochemistry and a course in biology

Required Text:
Casarett & Doull's Toxicology - the Science of Poisons, 6th ed. C.D. Klaassen, editor.

Course Objectives:

1.   To become familiar with basic chemical and biological aspects of toxicology.

2.   To describe and evaluate the toxicology of certain natural and manmade environmental substances.

3.   To appreciate certain current research issues important to toxicology.

Examinations:

Exams:      Two exams on the following dates:  9/30 and 11/16

Final Exam:      Thursday, December 16, 8-11:00 a.m.

Practice Questions and Old Exam

Grades:
Grading is based on points earned from two midterms (100 pts. each) and a final (100 pts.), for a total of 300 points. Grades are assigned by the following percentages based on the highest score in the class:

"A" range	90% - 100%
"B" range	80% - 89%
"C" range	70% - 79%
"D" range	50% - 69%

Students may improve their midterm scores as follows. Students may provide correct responses along with a summary of a research paper that relates to the topic of the examination question. Summaries should be double-spaced, approximately one half page in length, and should clearly explain how the material relates to the topic of the exam question. As much as 50% of the maximum points for each exam question may be obtained in this manner. The deadline for turning in the revised examinations is one week following receipt of the graded examination. Group discussions of graded exams are encouraged, but the summaries of published papers are to be prepared individually. The instructors will not provide the exam key until after the exam re-writes have been turned in.

Student Liaison Committee:
Members of three SLCs are chosen from volunteers in the class to serve for the several week periods before each examination. The primary function of the SLC is to serve as the voice of the class to communicate to the instructors any problems related to course instruction. In addition, the SLC may choose to organize study sessions or other activities for the class, as they wish.

Lecture Schedule

Lecture	Day	Date	Topic	Required reading *
1	T	8/31	Introduction, Description of the course. Principles of Toxicology - 1	Chapter 2, p.11-24
2	Th	9/2	Principles of Toxicology - 2	Chapter 5, p. 107-129
3	T	9/7	Principles of Toxicology - 3
4	Th	9/9	Principles of Toxicology - 4
5	T	9/14	Biotransformation -1	Chapter 6
6	Th	9/16	Biotransformation -2
7	T	9/21	Metabolic activation	p. 250-259
8	Th	9/23	Risk assessment/Testing	p. 85-90. 288-306
9	T	9/28	Reproductive / Developmental  toxicity	p. 688-704,351-362
10	Th	9/30	Exam #1
11	T	10/5	Chemical carcinogenesis -1	p. 241-259, 266-280, 287-306
12	Th	10/7	Chemical carcinogenesis -2
13	T	10/12	Food Additives - 1	p. 1049-1064
14	Th	10/14	Food Additives - 2
15	T	10/19	Pesticides - 1	Chapter 22
16	Th	10/21	Pesticides - 2
17	T	10/26	Pesticides - 3
18	Th	10/28	Heavy Metals - 1	p. 822-837, 1073-1074
19	T	11/2	Heavy Metals - 2
20	Th	11/4	Fungal toxins - 1	pg.1075-1078,969, 970
21	T	11/9	Fungal toxins - 2
	Th	11/11	Veteran's Day Holiday
22	T	11/16	Exam #2
23	Th	11/18	Marine Toxins	p. 1078-1079
24	T	11/23	Natural Toxins in Plant Foods - 1	handouts
	Th	11/25	Thanksgiving Holliday
25	T	11/30	Natural Toxins in Plant Foods - 2
26	Th	12/2	Diet and cancer -1	p. 280-287, 1082-1083, handouts
27	T	12/7	Diet and cancer- 2
28	Th	12/9	Diet and Cancer - 3

*Required readings are selected from Casarett & Doull's Toxicology - The Basic Science of Poisons. Selected readings from the designated chapters will be provided in class.

Final Exam: Thusday, December 16, 8:00am - 11:00am