News and photos from Alumna Fabienne Reisen

Fabienne Reisen (Ph.D. 2003) is currently working at CSIRO in Melbourne Australia where she is applying her knowledge of atmospheric chemistry and air pollution to study the effects of wildfires. Above are two pictures of Fabienne collecting samples for a project on greenhouse gas emissions from savanna burning. As she described it in a recent email, "it has been an amazing experience. We camped out for about a week in Arnhem Land east of Kakadu NP, collecting smoke samples from prescribed burns. There were about 150 people involved in the project, about 50 scientists and 100 indigenous rangers. During the days we were busy collecting our samples, and in the evening I had a bit of time to go exploring and go swimming in the river. There are some amazing rock art galleries in the area. I've been back up there again the last few weeks, and I've just got back to Melbourne last night."

Fabienne has been offered a permanent position at CSIRO and has applied to become a permanent resident of Australia. Our congratulations to Fabienne! We think she will be our first Aussie alumna. She was already our first from Luxembourg.

Alumna Wendy Hwang-Verslues presents seminar at UCR

On October 14, Dr. Wendy Hwang-Verslues, an ETOX alumna (Ph.D. 2007) who is now working at the Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, in Taipei, Taiwan, returned to UCR to present a seminar in the Environmental Toxicology seminar series. Her seminar was entitled, "Existence of multiple lineages of breast cancer stem cells identified by profiling breast cancer cell lines and primary breast tumors". It was great to see her and hear about the new research in which she is involved. The picture above was taken during her visit.

Toxicologist position at the FDA

I was sent the following information by Dr. Dan Levy about a position currently being advertised by the FDA. If interested, please contact Dan at the contact information below.

The FDA Division of Dietary Supplement Programs (DDSP) is looking for a toxicologist/pharmacologist/interdisciplinary scientist to review pre-market safety notifications for new dietary ingredients (NDIs). NDIs include vitamins, minerals, amino acids, botanicals, dietary substances, or constituents, metabolites, etc of any of these. Safety reviews require evaluation of evidence of safety which frequently includes sub-chronic rodent toxicology studies and history of use in food and also sometimes clinical studies and published literature with various degrees of relevance. This information is reviewed within 75 days by a multi-disciplinary team which can include chemists, botanists, microbiologist and medical officers. The ideal candidate will demonstrate proficiency in an area of toxicology or pharmacology relevant to dietary supplements, ability to review animal toxicology data, ability to write clearly and concisely, and to work in a fast-paced interdisciplinary team environment. DDSP also initiates collaborative studies with extramural laboratory scientists to resolve scientific questions relevant to the safety of dietary supplements. Applications are accepted online only at USAjobs.gov (HHS-FDA-06-2010-0014 for “status” Federal employees, HHS-FDA-06-2010-0013 for all other U.S. Citizens). Hiring at the GS-14 level is possible with a demonstration of experience commensurate with a “nationally recognized expert” in a sub-discipline related to the position. Applicants are cautioned that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management definition of “toxicologist” may be more restrictive other definitions and that applying as a pharmacologist or biologist may be more appropriate to your qualifications. For information about the positions or the DDSP you are encouraged to contact Dan D. Levy at dan.levy@FDA.hhs.gov.

2009 ETOX Fall Social

On Friday October 2, Yinsheng Wang and his wife hosted potluck dinner and fall social at their home. There was a good turnout of students and faculty. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Below are some photos of the evening.

Gayatri Sankaran and Kristi Capsel, the ETOX graduate student representatives to the UCR Graduate Student Association this year.

Zhenshan Chen and his wife.

Group shot while eating.

Faculty members Paul Ziemann, Yinsheng Wang, Jay Gan, Dave Eastmond and our newest faculty member Nicole zur Nieden.

Zhenshen Chen, Su Bum Lee and new student Do Hyung Kim.

New graduate students, Laurel Dodgen and Ashley Swanson

Dr. Noriko Nishino, a recent alumna, Katy Zimmerman and Richard Belcher

New graduate students Xueyun Zheng and Qian Cai.

Prof. Jay Gan

Our hosts for the evening, Prof. Yinsheng Wang and his wife.

And in Florence, Italy

The 10th International Conference on Environmental Mutagens immediately followed the IWGT meeting and took place in Florence, Italy. In additional to those in Basel, ETOX alumnae Jennifer Sasaki was also in attendance. Above is a picture of several of us at dinner. Jennifer is at the end of the table, Maik Schuler is to her left in the photo and I am next to Maik. Our colleagues and friends Roland and Maria are on the right.

ETOX Grads well represented in Basel, Switzerland

The 5th International Working Group on Genotoxicity Testing took place in Basel, Switzerland Aug. 17-19. There were several ETOX grads (and a post doc) in attendance including Krista Dobo, Drew Olaharski, and Maik Schuler. Drew has been working in Basel for the past 5 months and will be returning to New Jersey next week. I wasn't able to see Bjarte Furnes but apparently he is currently working in Basel as well. It was enjoyable to see our former students. Above is a picture of Drew and Marilyn Aardema (a colleague at P&G) at a reception.

Noriko Nishino selected for Outstanding TA Award

Noriko Nishino, a current ETOX student working with Drs. Arey and Atkinson, was recently awarded the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award from the Department of Environmental Sciences. Above is a picture of Noriko (holding certificate) and Lynnie Cua. Our congratulations to Noriko for this nice recognition.