Alvaro Alvarado presents seminar at UCR

On April 2, Alvaro Alvarado (Ph.D., 1998) returned to UCR to speak in the Environmental Toxicology Seminar series. His talk was entitled, "Quantifying the Health Impacts of Exposure to Fine Particulate Matter” and drew upon his experience working with both the federal EPA and his more recent experience working at the California Air Resources Board. Following his seminar at lunch, he talked to a group of our graduate students about working in government and his experiences in applying and interviewing for positions. It was an enjoyable visit and I know the students appreciated his insights about job hunting. [I forgot to take a picture during his visit but a recent picture of Alvaro and his daughter can be seen on the ETOX blog as one of last summer's posts.]

Postdoctoral positions at the US EPA

I recently received notice of several postdoctoral positions that are available at the US EPA. Brief descriptions are posted below. More details can be found at the EPA website.

NOTICE
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Research and Development (ORD)
CROSS-ORD INTERDISCIPLINARY POST-DOCTORAL RESEARCH PROGRAM

ORD is accepting applications through April 4, 2008, for several Federal,
four-year, post-doctoral positions. Candidates will engage in cross-cutting
research in the following identified areas (details follow):

- Valuation of Ecosystem Services for Decision Support
- Systems Toxicology Modeling with Small Fish
- Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment Tools for Waterborne Pathogens
- Climate and Air Quality Interactions: Global to Regional Linkages
- Quantifying Uncertainty in Exposure-to-Effects Models for Pyrethroid
Pesticides
- Mapping Toxicity Pathways for Environmental Chemicals

Mentors will be assigned from appropriate ORD Labs and Centers based upon the
nature of the cross-ORD interdisciplinary research.

BENEFITS
- Salary range of $54,494 - $84,913
- Full four-year appointments
- Paid relocation to EPA duty location
- Vacation and sick leave
- Federal health benefits, life insurance, and retirement program
- Travel to professional and scientific meetings
- Flexible start date in 2008

REQUIREMENTS
- Up-to-date Curriculum Vitae
- Letter of recommendation from your research advisor or comparable official
- Cover letter indicating research activity of interest from the
aforementioned areas, summary of relevant experience, and a paragraph
describing the research you would like to conduct
- DD-214, if claiming veteran's preference

A preference is given to U.S. Citizens. Detailed information and contacts are
posted on the ORD Website at: http://www.epa.gov/ord/htm/jobs_ord.htm.
General inquiries can be directed to: Dorothy Carr at ordpostdocapps@epa.govor
1-800-433-9633.

The U.S. EPA is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Sasaki and Van Hummelen Visit UCR

Jennifer Sasaki (Ph.D. 1996) and her husband Paul Van Hummelen agreed to visit Riverside on their way to the SOT meeting in Seattle. On March 14, Paul presented a seminar on the current state of the art using genomics in toxicology and clinical medicine. Jennifer led a lunch discussion on career development. Both the seminar and the discussion were excellent and it was really nice to see both Jennifer and Paul again. We wish Jennifer and Paul the best of success. Above are a couple of pictures of Jennifer and a number of students (with a side shot of Paul) at the career discussion.

Beckage grant spotlighted in InsideUCR

Nancy Beckage is a co-principal investigator on a new USDA/CSREES Higher Education Challenge grant that was recently spotlighted in InsideUCR. Over the next three years, Nancy and her co-investigators will be taking students to conduct short-term research projects and develop closer relations with villagers on small farms in Mali, West Africa. We wish her and her students success in this new venture. The full article can be found at the InsideUCR.

Olaharski seminar on kinases and toxicity

Recently, we have been inviting some of our alumni to discuss their work and to meet with our students. Earlier this month on Feb. 9, Drew Olaharski (Ph.D., 2004) came to campus to present a seminar on some his work at Roche Pharmaceuticals. The seminar was entitled, "Using kinase inhibitory profiles to predict toxicity" and described their studies using information on the types and origins of kinases to predict activity in the in vitro micronucleus test. Drew gave a nice seminar and I found the the work to be quite impressive. We appreciate Drew's visit and wish him continued success. Above is a picture of Drew (on the right) and two of his colleagues with a dendrogram of the human kinome.

Molecular toxicologist position at TERA

I recently received the following position announcement that I thought might be of interest. If you are interested in applying, please see the contact information at the bottom.

Molecular Toxicologist
Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA) is seeking a molecular toxicologist to help build on our strong history in human health risk assessment and risk science methods. This is a growth position for someone recently completing a Ph.D. or postdoctoral program in toxicology or a related field. Knowledge of risk assessment methods is a plus, but not required. Experience in computational biology and/or PBPK modeling is also a plus. The successful candidate will be actively involved in diverse tasks using knowledge of toxicology and molecular biology, including:

Preparing critical summaries of toxicity, epidemiology, toxicokinetics, and mechanistic studies for comprehensive toxicological reviews.
Learning and applying human health risk assessment guidelines and methods for the development of toxicity values (e.g., RfDs, RfCs) and cancer assessments.
Critically evaluating and applying mechanistic and mode of action data in evaluating the toxicity of chemicals and relevance of animal toxicity findings to humans.
Evaluating and incorporating biomarker data in risk assessment.
Participating on project teams in the development of documents and research projects related to diverse areas of risk assessment science.

TERA is an independent, non-profit corporation with a mission to support the protection of public health through the best use of toxicity and exposure information in the development of human health and ecological risk assessments. TERA offers an exceptional work environment where career growth and development are strongly supported. TERA also offers the atmosphere of a small organization, together with the opportunity to collaborate with leading scientists worldwide. We hire the best people, maximize their talents, and help them achieve their career goals. We are seeking scientists who are energetic, enjoy scientific challenges and technical details, are excellent writers, and are committed to helping shape the future of a dynamic organization to further our contribution to public health protection. Visit our website at http://www.tera.org>www.tera.org.
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
Salary: negotiable.
Electronic resumes may be submitted to: Poehlmann@tera.org. Any questions may be directed to Maier@tera.org Please share with colleagues who may be interested

Yushan Yan and Derek Beving's article spotlighted in Chemical & Engineering News

Congratulations to Yushan Yan (an ETOX faculty member), Derek Beving (a recent alumnus) and their colleagues for their recent article on zeolite coatings that was spotlighted in this week's Chemical & Engineering News. The short CEN article can be accessed here and the full article can be found downloaded from the Angewandte Chemie International Edition website (here).

Update: A news report on Yan's zeolite research has also been posted on the UCR newsroom website, and can be accessed here.