Vet Cetera magazine 2015

PHIL SHOCKLEY / UNIVERSITY MARKETING
The inaugural recipients of graduate fellowships in Interdisciplinary Toxicology joined professors at the Interdisplinary Toxicology
Symposium. From left are Manushree Bharadawaj, Shane Morrison, Dr. David Wallace, Adam Simpson, Dr. Carey Pope, Patrick
Cusaac, Dr. Loren Smith and Chris Goodchild.
“There are 50,000 to 90,000 individual compounds
in commerce that we are exposed to,”
he says. “Then you add on the fact that we are
always exposed to chemicals in complex mixtures
and these mixtures are constantly changing.
This results in a nearly infinite number of
possible chemical exposures.”
But Tanguay says it isn’t all gloom and doom.
The goal is to use structural and mechanistic
information from large numbers of chemicals
in order to predict chemical toxicity of all
chemicals. This information can be used to regulate
chemical use, but perhaps more importantly,
will help to design safer products.
Tanguay uses the zebrafish model because it
is amenable to large-scale studies.
OSU’s Interdisciplinary Toxicology Program
fosters collaborative research on toxicity among
faculty from different disciplines and supports
the training of students in the use of multidisciplinary
concepts and approaches.
Loren Smith, Ph.D., Regents
Professor, head of the Department
of Integrative Biology and co-director
of the Interdisciplinary Toxicology
Program, moderated the
five graduate fellows’ presentations,
which included:
•ADAM SIMPSON, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Integrative Biology, presented
“Utilizing Resurrection Ecology to Discover the Link Between Cultural Eutrophication and
Xenobiotic Sensitivity.” Simpson studies Daphnia pulicaria, a freshwater zooplankton.
Daphnia produce eggs that can remain viable in sediment for centuries. Simpson exposed
a population of hatched Daphnia eggs to the insecticide chlorpyrifos in a series of acute
toxicity tests, which found the resurrected organisms were more sensitive to chlorpyrifos.
• PATRICK CUSAAC, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Integrative Biology, presented
“Terrestrial Exposure and Effects of Headline AMP Fungicide on Amphibians.” Cusaac used
agricultural areas in the Rainwater Basin of Nebraska to examine exposure and effects of
Headline AMP fungicide to amphibians, specifically Bufo woodhousii ulicaria (toads) and
Acris blanchardi (cricket frogs), during routine aerial treatment of corn (tassel stage). He
determined that mortality appeared low under these conditions.
• MANUSHREE BHARADWAJ, BVSc, a graduate teaching assistant and Ph.D. candidate
in the Department of Physiological Sciences at the Center for Veterinary Health Sciences,
presented “Effects of the Cholinesterase Inhibitor Pyridostigmine on Autonomic Regulation
of Cardiac Function.” The drug pyridostigmine has been used to control symptoms of
progressive weakness and improve cardiac function in humans suffering heart failure. The
current project is focused on developing an animal model of heart failure and studying the
mechanism by which pyridostigmine is beneficial.
• CHRISTOPHER GOODCHILD, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Integrative Biology,
presented “Assessing the Bioenergetic Effects of Crude Oil in an Avian Model System.”
Goodchild plans to use zebra finches to determine if birds, not visibly oiled, are affected by
ingestion of crude oil.
• SHANE MORRISON, a Ph.D. student also in Integrative Biology, presented “Development
of Helisoma trivolvis Pond Snails as Bio-Monitoring Tools for Current Use Pesticides.”
Morrison’s research focuses on methods for estimating environmental exposures that
typically occur in short pulses.
David Wallace, Ph.D.,
professor of pharmacology and
assistant dean for research at the
OSU Center for Health Sciences in
Tulsa, moderated the Toxicology
in Safety Assessment section:
• KEN OLIVIER, Ph.D., senior director of toxicology at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals,
presented “Is it Safe? Toxicology in Therapeutic Development.” Olivier likened his job as a
toxicologist to that of a risk assessor with an “it depends” approach to ensure high-quality
generation and interpretation of data. “Drug-development toxicologists evaluate the
effects of drug candidates in nonclinical animal studies to inform the benefits/risks to
human patients,” he said. “We study the adverse effects of chemical, physical or biological
agents on living organisms and the ecosystem and try to prevent and/or lessen such
adverse effects.”
•ANNA LOWIT, Ph.D., senior scientist, health effects division at the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, presented “Toxicology in Risk Assessment: Pesticides.” According
to Lowit, registration of pesticides for use in the U.S. requires extensive toxicology and
exposure data. “We review the safety of pesticides and the effects of pesticides on human
and ecological health.”
2015 Oklahoma State University 21