Pharmacology and toxicology are broadly based biomedical sciences involving the study of the therapeutic and/or potential toxicity of chemical agents on biological systems. The focus of the department is on the pursuit of excellence in teaching and research.

Educational Mission

The educational mission of the department is related to teaching in the medical, nursing, graduate and undergraduate curricula. Teaching excellence is a priority of the department and the faculty put much effort into their lectures and practical science teaching. The programs of study are in the Master of Science in Pharmacology and Toxicology and the Ph.D. programs in Biomedical Sciences and Environmental Sciences. The master's program is a research-based program that recruits students from universities as well as the military and industrial sectors. Faculty also participate in the summer research training program for minorities and persons with disabilities (STREAMS) as well as the Biomedical Science Exchange (BSE) a research and education with universities in Brazil.

Research Mission The research foci of the department are: Toxicology – dermal, behavioral, immunological, cardiovascular, and nanoparticles Disease processes – hypertension, diabetes, stroke, autism, pain, and others Neuroscience – cellular physiology, ion transport, behavior, and volume regulation The methods used in these experimental approaches are molecular genetics, gene therapy, mass spectroscopy (proteomics), gene microarray expression, integrative cardiovascular biology, confocal microscopy and a low-level laboratory for the use of dilute chemical agents.

Some of the facilities available to the faculty and students are molecular biology, a genomics expression center, a proteome analysis laboratory, an imaging facility, a conference room, student offices and designated space within the Laboratory Animal Resources facility. Research support comes from the NIH, American Heart Association, Office of Air Force Research, Department of Defense, Department of Education, and Colgate Palmolive.

The department will continue its growth in the coming years with the addition of faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and visiting faculty and students. There are close ties with the research scientists at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (Air Force and Navy Research Laboratories) and Battelle Inc. in West Jefferson, Ohio. Many of these scientists participate in teaching and research programs as adjunct faculty. They have definitely enhanced our toxicological research and training opportunities.

News — Nobel Prize-winner to Speak

Nobel Prize-winner Oliver Smithies, D.Phil., Excellence professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, will be the keynote lecturer at the Earl Morris Symposium at 10:30 a.m., on Friday, July 10, 2009, in the Gandhi Auditorium of White Hall. Smithies, along with Mario R. Capecchi of the University of Utah’s Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Sir Martin J. Evans of the United Kingdom, shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The scientists were selected "for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells." Read more about the Morris Lecture here.

For more information, please contact:
Mariana Morris, Ph.D.
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology
Wright State University
3640 Colonel Glenn Highway
Dayton, OH 45435
Phone: (937) 775-2168
Fax: (937) 775-7221
E-mail: pharmtox@wright.edu

Terry Oroszi, M.S., Director
Master of Science Program in Pharmacology and Toxicology
Phone: (937) 775-2395
E-mail: pharmtoxms@wright.edu

For more information regarding the Master of Science Program, please contact:
Juanita Davis, Graduate Program Coordinator
Phone: (937) 775-4091
E-mail: pharmtoxms@wright.edu