| Responsible Department | Department of Basic Science and Environment | ||||||||||||||
| Research School | Environmental Chemistry, Microbiology and Toxicology (RECETO) | ||||||||||||||
| Course Dates | 11-18th of August 2012 | ||||||||||||||
| Course Abstract | The toxicity of a chemical depends on chemical properties, the exposed species, exposure time, the endpoint measured and exposure conditions. Mathematical modelling is a powerful tool to interpret the results of laboratory toxicity tests and to make educated extrapolations. In this one-week course, you will learn the basics of toxicokinetic and toxicodynamic modelling, and how they can be linked to analyse and interpret toxicity data on a mechanistic basis from individual to population level. | ||||||||||||||
| Course Registration | To sign up for the course, please send an e-mail to Andreas C. Kretschmann (ack@life.ku.dk). Please also remember to add the course to your PhD plan. | ||||||||||||||
| Deadline for Registration | May 1st, 2012 | ||||||||||||||
| Credits | 5 (ECTS) We expect you to prepare for the course in advance and to hand in a report at September 1st at the latest to recieve full credits | ||||||||||||||
| Level of Course | PhD course | ||||||||||||||
| Organisation of Teaching | The course will take place at Søminestationen (http://www.soeminestationen.dk/). Transport to and from Søminestationen on saturday 11th and 18th and food and housing is included in the price. | ||||||||||||||
| Language of Instruction | English | ||||||||||||||
| Restrictions | Minimum 10 and maximally 30 participants | ||||||||||||||
| Course Content | |||||||||||||||
| A detailed scedule for the content of the specific talks and exersises will be provided in the spring of 2012. The overall content is given in this resume: The toxicity of a chemical depends on properties of the compound and of the species that is exposed, but also on the exposure time, the endpoint (e.g., reproduction or survival), and the exposure conditions (temperature, food level, etc.). In ecotoxicology, these dependencies are generally ignored by rigid standardisation of the tests and descriptive summary statistics such as EC50 and NOEC. However, we need a more mechanistic interpretation of toxicity to make an unbiased comparison of toxicity between species and chemicals, and to extrapolate the effects to untested exposure conditions. Because it is impossible to test all chemicals on all species under all possible exposure scenarios, extrapolation is of key importance for ecotoxicologists and environmental risk assessors. Mathematical modelling is a powerful tool to interpret the results of laboratory toxicity tests and to make educated extrapolations. The process of mechanistically modelling toxicity can be divided into two steps: toxicokinetics (TK) and toxicodynamics (TD). TK deals with the uptake, biotransformation and distribution of a chemical into the body of an organism, whereas TD deals with the next step: from internal concentration of the active compound to effects on the organism over time. In this one-week course, you will learn the basics of TK and TD modelling, and how they can be linked to analyse and interpret toxicity data on a mechanistic basis. For TK modelling, we will focus on 1- and 2-compartment models; for TD modelling, we will focus on effects on life-history traits such as growth, reproduction and survival, which are essential for impacts at the population level. This will be accomplished by a combination of lectures, computer exercises, discussions and simple toxicity experiments. In the computer exercises you will learn to build and use basic TKTD models yourself in Matlab, and work with more advanced pre-programmed models (GUTS and DEBtox) to fit more elaborate data sets and make excursions into population-level effects. The output of the course will be individual reports where the students use their accomplished skills to fit TKTD models to their own and/or provided data, and to interpret the results. | |||||||||||||||
| Teaching and learning Methods | |||||||||||||||
| Teaching will be a combination of lectures, computer exercises, discussions and simple toxicity experiments, which will provide data for the hand-Inn report. | |||||||||||||||
| Learning Outcome | |||||||||||||||
| In this one-week course, you will learn the basics of TK and TD modelling, and how they can be linked to analyse and interpret toxicity data on a mechanistic basis. For TK modelling, we will focus on 1- and 2-compartment models; for TD modelling, we will focus on effects on life-history traits such as growth, reproduction and survival, which are essential for impacts at the population level. In the computer exercises you will learn to build and use basic TKTD models yourself in Matlab, and work with more advanced pre-programmed models (GUTS and DEBtox) to fit more elaborate data sets and make excursions into population-level effects. | |||||||||||||||
| Course Literature | |||||||||||||||
| The following paper gives a good introduction to the topic: Jager T, Heugens EHW, Kooijman SALM. 2006. Making sense of ecotoxicological test results: Towards application of process-based models. Ecotoxicology 15: 305-314. More information of DEB-tox modelling including references can be found on: http://www.debtox.info/ | |||||||||||||||
| Course Material | |||||||||||||||
| Will be provided May 1st 2012 at the latests. | |||||||||||||||
| Course Coordinator | |||||||||||||||
| Nina Cedergreen, ncf@life.ku.dk, Department of Basic Sciences and Environment, Phone: 353-33397 Andreas Christopher Kretschmann, ack@life.ku.dk, Department of Basic Sciences and Environment, Phone: 353-32416 | |||||||||||||||
| Other Lecturers | |||||||||||||||
| Tjalling Jager, Vrije University, Holland | |||||||||||||||
| Course Fee | |||||||||||||||
| 3500-4500 dkr depending on the funding we can get from outside. The exact price will appear before January 1st. 2012. | |||||||||||||||
| Course Costs | |||||||||||||||
| All course expenses including laboratory materials, food and housing are included in the price. All participants must, however, bring their own lab-top. | |||||||||||||||
| Type of Evaluation | |||||||||||||||
| All course expenses including laboratory materials, food and housing are included in the price. All participants must, however, bring their own lab-top. | |||||||||||||||
| Work Load | |||||||||||||||
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