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International Collaboration Facilitated
by Michael Denison, 2007 AstraZeneca Traveling Lectureship Award Winner
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Michael Denison |
Dr. Michael Denison, a Professor in the Department of Environmental Toxicology at the University of California, Davis, is the recipient of the 2007 AstraZeneca Traveling Lectureship Award. The following offers an overview of the opportunities provided to him by receiving this award.
The AstraZeneca Traveling Lectureship Award I received was significant in that the funding provided me with the ability to visit numerous European universities and research institutes in order to exchange information and explore potential research collaborations. Without this award, it would literally have taken me years to be able to accomplish what could be done in a matter of weeks. Trying to schedule meetings with specific scientific experts and leading research institutions within a relatively short window of time takes considerable planning and coordination of schedules, and it is simply not possible to incorporate these visits along with other international travel, such as to meetings and conferences. Because this award is not prescriptive, beyond providing funding for North American scientists to further collaborations with international scientists, many aspects of toxicology and its applications can be supported through this funding mechanism.
My research interests are in the area of receptor-mediated mechanisms of action of environmental toxicants, specifically those related to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin and other aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) agonists, and their toxic and biological effects, and the development of AhR-based bioassay systems for these widespread toxicants. This award allowed me to meet with European scientists at both universities and research institutes working in this area and to benefit from their perspectives. The European approach to research typically includes a greater emphasis on translational aspects of the research than that in the U.S., frequently to address or inform public understanding as well as regulatory issues or concerns. The research translation aspects of U.S. grants and programs, although, are becoming more important aspects. Because of public pressures, European scientists and regulators appear to be more open to the development and application of new technologies for chemical screening and testing. The lectures, discussions, and visits held at these institutions also provided me with the opportunity to present our most recent findings to well-established European scientists working in these areas, and to receive feedback from them.
From June 9–28, 2008, I traveled to the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands. In the United Kingdom, meetings with David R. Bell, Department of Molecular Toxicology at the University of Nottingham, were focused on the AhR mediated molecular mechanisms of action of dioxin and related chemicals. In Germany, discussions and the presentation during the visit with Dr. Dieter Schrenk and his colleagues in the Food Chemistry and Environmental Toxicology Department at the University of Kaiserslautern were directed toward the role of receptors in biological and toxic action of environmental chemicals and the impact of naturally occurring chemicals (receptor ligands) found in food.
The visit to the laboratories of Drs. Ranier Malisch and Johannes Haedrich at the Community Reference Lab for Dioxins and PCBs in the State Institute for Chemical and Veterinary Analysis of Food, Freiburg, predominantly focused on discussions and presentations on novel biological methods for detection of dioxins and related chemicals in foods. This laboratory has been assigned the task of evaluating existing dioxin bioassay methods for adoption of the optimal assays for use by the member states of the European Union.
In the Netherlands, presentations, interactions, and discussions with Dr. Martin van den Berg and his colleagues at the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS) and World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Research on Environmental Health Risk Assessment, Utrecht University, covered research in the areas of receptor-mediated molecular mechanisms of toxic action of environmental and natural chemicals and the development and application of recombinant bioassay systems for detection and characterization of endocrine disruptor chemicals.
The visit to the laboratory of Dr. Albertinka Murk in the Department of Toxicology at the Agricultural University Wageningen, had a decidedly greater focus on the application of receptor-based bioassays for detection of endocrine disruptor chemicals in the real world environmental samples and in wildlife.
I plan to deliver a lecture at the AstraZeneca’s Alderley Park Facility in the United Kingdom this fall. My lecture will focus on the molecular mechanisms of AhR action and will emphasize our recent results on the structural diversity of AhR ligands, characteristics of AhR ligands that produce toxicity, and our chemical screening studies that have revealed that a large number of current drugs are AhR agonists. This is particularly important for drug development since activation of the AhR pathway is currently viewed as a significantly negative aspect and typically is sufficient to eliminate the chemical from further development. I also will address our results on the structural homology modeling studies we have carried out on the AhR ligand binding domain and its implications in receptor function and ligand binding specificity.
Because of the resources provided by this award, I was able to visit researchers at six institutions during this trip. As a direct result of my visits, we have not only established collaborative research projects with scientists at three of these institutions but also are awaiting the review of a collaborative European Union research grant that we submitted with the University of Utrecht. In addition, we have exchanged research reagents, materials, results, and information with four of the institutions that I visited and are discussing the possibilities of exchange of students and postdocs for collaborative research projects.
I was very pleased to receive this award and appreciated the honor. It was something that has certainly enhanced our current international collaborations.
Access more information about this and other SOT awards.
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