CHEM 341
Toxicology and Cancer Fall 2012
Division III
Cross-listed ENVI 341
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

What is a poison and what makes it poisonous? Paracelcus commented in 1537: “What is not a poison? All things are poisons (and nothing is without poison). The dose alone keeps a thing from being a poison.” Is the picture really this bleak; is modern technology-based society truly swimming in a sea of toxic materials? How are the nature and severity of toxicity established, measured and expressed? Do all toxic materials exert their effect in the same manner, or can materials be poisonous in a variety of different ways? Are the safety levels set by regulatory agencies low enough for a range of common toxic materials, such as mercury, lead, and certain pesticides? How are poisons metabolized and how do they lead to the development of cancer? What is cancer and what does it take to cause it? What biochemical defense mechanisms exist to counteract the effects of poisons?
This course attempts to answer these questions by surveying the fundamentals of modern chemical toxicology and the induction and progression of cancer. Topics will range from description and quantitation of the toxic response, including risk assessment, to the basic mechanisms underlying toxicity, mutagenesis, carcinogenesis, and DNA repair.
The Class: Format: lecture, three hours per week
Limit: 30
Expected: 24
Class#: 1056
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: evaluation will be based on two hour tests, a class presentation and paper, participation in discussion sessions, a self-exploration of the current toxicological literature, and a final exam
Prerequisites: Chemistry 156; may be taken concurrently with Chemistry 251/255; a basic understanding of organic chemistry
Unit Notes: this course is required for the Chemistry track through the Environmental Science major and satisfies the Natural World requirement for the Environmental studies concentration
Distributions: Division III
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
CHEM 341 Division III ENVI 341 Division III
Attributes: BIMO Interdepartmental Electives
ENVI Natural World Electives
ENVS Environmental Biology Upper Level Electives
ENVS Environmental Chemistry Electives
INST Global Health Studies Electives
PHLH Science and Medicine

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