Genetic Toxicology and Health

3 ECTS credits
75 u studietijd

Aanbieding 1 met studiegidsnummer 4021206FNR voor alle studenten in het 2e semester van een even academiejaar (bvb. 2012-2013) met een gespecialiseerd master niveau.

Semester

tweejaarlijks: 2e semester van een even academiejaar (bvb. 2012-2013)

Inschrijving onder examencontract

Niet mogelijk

Beoordelingsvoet

Beoordeling (0 tot 20)

2e zittijd mogelijk

Ja

Onderwijstaal

Engels

Faculteit

Faculteit Wetenschappen en Bio-ingenieurswetensch.

Verantwoordelijke vakgroep

Biologie

Onderwijsteam

Birgit Mertens (titularis)

Onderdelen en contacturen

0 contacturen Exam
12 contacturen Lecture
12 contacturen Practical exercises

Inhoud

The course will especially focus on genetic toxicology, one of the important pillars of the science of toxicology. Due to its link with cancer and transmission of hereditary diseases, genetic toxicology has many applications, e.g., as a regulatory tool in product testing, human and environmental biomonitoring, etc. First, the basic principles of toxicology will be addressed (i.e., toxicokinetics – toxicodynamics, hazard vs. risk, principles of risk assessment, etc.) as knowledge of these principles is needed to adequately understand genetic toxicology.

Following this introductory lesson, the course of “Genetic Toxicology” will comprise:

General introduction to genetic toxicology addressing questions like What is genetic toxicology?, What is the difference between genotoxicity and mutagenicity?, What is its importance and What are the applications?

• 
  Overview of the criteria for the performance of genotoxicity tests (e.g., need of a battery of tests, in vitro and in vivo studies, inclusion of positive and negative controls, blind study, adequate number of examined cells and/or animals/humans, use of statistically sound tests,...)


• 
  Description of the main genotoxicity tests (in vitro/in vivo) (e.g., Ames test, Vitotox test, mouse lymphoma test, micronucleus/cytome assay, comet test,...)


• 
  Introduction to the use of in silico methods for the prediction of genotoxicity


• 
  Examples of applications:
  
  
  
  • 
    Product testing (e.g., evaluation of toxicological dossiers, REACH,…)
  
  
  • 
    Human (cytogenetic) biomonitoring studies (e.g., following environmental pollution  accidents or population surveys – nuclear power accident, municipal incinerators, industrial workers,...)
  
  
  • 
    Environmental monitoring including tests on water, air, soil samples and animals living in the region of interest (e.g., monitoring the genotoxicity of industrial waste water, survey of the quality of water in particular rivers/air samples in urban or industrial environments,...)
  
  
  • 
    Medicinal plants and natural products which are generally, but often erroneously, considered ‘safe’ (e.g., antigenotoxicity testing in search of new medication against cancer,...)
  
  
  • 
    Biological dosimetry of ionizing radiations (e.g., survey of workers at a nuclear power plant,…)
  
  
  • 
    Testing of cosmetics (only in vitro testing can be done)
  
  
  • 
    Food contaminants (e.g., residues of food contact materials, food processing contaminants, heavy metals,…)
  
  
  
  

+ Half day demo/practical work at the laboratory of Toxicology (ScienSano): demonstration on a number of genetic toxicology tests including some practical exercises.

Studiemateriaal

Praktisch cursusmateriaal (Vereist) : EPA reports, OECD reports, IARC publications, Royal Decrees, IHE reports
Handboek (Aanbevolen) : Genetic Toxicology, Tests and applications, Verschaeve L., ASP, 9789057182839, 2015

Bijkomende info

Course material

Course text (Required): All power point slides used will be made available and should be complemented with individual notes.

Extra: Recommended handbook:  Verschaeve L., (2015), Genetic Toxicology, tests and applications (UPA, ISBN 978 90 5718 263 9).

Leerresultaten

General competences

This course explicitly contributes to the following competences of the curriculum

(as defined by the Biology Department of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel):

• 
  to have a broad knowledge on human-environment interactions with a focus on genetic toxicology


• 
  to understand what the applications and consequences are with respect to as well human as environmental health


• 
  to understand how this discipline in toxicology plays a role in society

Beoordelingsinformatie

De beoordeling bestaat uit volgende opdrachtcategorieën:
Examen Mondeling bepaalt 100% van het eindcijfer

Binnen de categorie Examen Mondeling dient men volgende opdrachten af te werken:

• Oral exam with written prep met een wegingsfactor 1 en aldus 100% van het totale eindcijfer.
  
  Toelichting: Oral exam with written preparation.

Aanvullende info mbt evaluatie

Oral exam with written preparation.

Toegestane onvoldoende

Kijk in het aanvullend OER van je faculteit na of een toegestane onvoldoende mogelijk is voor dit opleidingsonderdeel.

Academische context

Deze aanbieding maakt deel uit van de volgende studieplannen:
Master in de biologie: moleculaire en cellulaire biowetenschappen
Master of Biology: Molecular and Cellular Life sciences (enkel aangeboden in het Engels)
Master of Biology: Human Ecology (enkel aangeboden in het Engels)
Master of Biology: Ecology and Biodiversity (enkel aangeboden in het Engels)
Master of Biology: AR Human Ecology 60 ECTS (enkel aangeboden in het Engels)