| Responsible Department | Department of Basic Science and Environment | ||||||||||||||
| Research School | Environmental Chemistry, Microbiology and Toxicology (RECETO) | ||||||||||||||
| Course Dates | 6-14/8 2013 | ||||||||||||||
| 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 course, you will learn the basics of toxicokinetic and toxicodynamic modelling, and how they can be linked to analyse and interpret body residue and toxicity data (focussing on survival) on a mechanistic basis. | ||||||||||||||
| Course Registration | To sign up for the course, please send an e-mail to Nina Cedergreen (ncf@life.ku.dk). Please also remember to add the course to your PhD plan. | ||||||||||||||
| Deadline for Registration | 1/5 2013 | ||||||||||||||
| 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 receive 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 to Holbæk station on tuesday 6th and Wednesday 14th and food and housing is included in the price. | ||||||||||||||
| Language of Instruction | English | ||||||||||||||
| Restrictions | Minimum 10 and maximally 30 participants | ||||||||||||||
| Course Content | |||||||||||||||
| A detailed schedule for the content of the specific talks and exercises will be provided in the spring of 2013. 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 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 survival. This will be accomplished by a combination of lectures, computer exercises and discussions. In the computer exercises you will learn to build and use basic TKTD models yourself in Matlab or ModelMaker, and work with more advanced pre-programmed models (GUTS) to fit more elaborate data sets. 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 and discussions. Datasets will be provided for the hand-Inn report. Students can bring their own data for the report also, providing they are of a sufficient quality. | |||||||||||||||
| Learning Outcome | |||||||||||||||
| In this 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 survival. This will be accomplished by a combination of lectures, computer exercises and discussions. In the computer exercises you will learn to build and use basic TKTD models yourself in Matlab or ModelMaker, and work with more advanced pre-programmed models (GUTS) to fit more elaborate data sets. | |||||||||||||||
| 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. Ashauer R, Escher BI. 2010. Advantages of toxicokinetic and toxicodynamic modelling in aquatic ecotoxicology and risk assessment. Journal of Environmental Monitoring 12:2056 - 2061. Jager T, Albert C, Preuss TG, Ashauer R. 2011. General Unified Threshold Model of Survival - a Toxicokinetic-Toxicodynamic Framework for Ecotoxicology. Environ Sci Technol 45:2529-2540. More information including references can be found on: www.debtox.info and www.ecotoxmodels.org | |||||||||||||||
| Course Material | |||||||||||||||
| Will be provided May 1st 2013 at the latest. | |||||||||||||||
| Course Coordinator | |||||||||||||||
| Nina Cedergreen, ncf@life.ku.dk, Department of Basic Sciences and Environment/Environmental Chemistry and Physics, Phone: 353-33397 Andreas Christopher Kretschmann, ack@life.ku.dk, Department of Basic Sciences and Environment, Phone: 353-32416 | |||||||||||||||
| Other Lecturers | |||||||||||||||
| Tjalling Jager, VU University of Amsterdam, Holland and Roman Ashauer, University of York, England (currently Eawag, CH). | |||||||||||||||
| Course Fee | |||||||||||||||
| 5000 dkr (approximately 670 Euro) for PhD students and 10000 dkr (approximately 1340 Euro) for non-PhD students. The price includes transport to and from Holbæk station, food and housing. | |||||||||||||||
| Course Costs | |||||||||||||||
| All course expenses including food and housing are included in the price. All participants must, however, bring their own lap-top. | |||||||||||||||
| Type of Evaluation | |||||||||||||||
| The final report must be handed in in time and be accepted by the course responsibles. | |||||||||||||||
| Work Load | |||||||||||||||
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