Cellular and Organismal Responses to Toxins, and Therapeutic Treatment of Toxins Don Smith, Dept of Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology It is becoming clear that exposures to environmental toxins, such as lead, mercury, and arsenic can cause or contribute to the development of diseases in humans. For example, some neurobehavioral and neurodegenerative disorders, such as learning deficits and Parkinsonism have been linked to elevated lead and manganese exposures in children and manganese exposures in adults, respectively. The Smith lab explores basic mechanisms underlying how toxic metal exposures contributes to cellular effects and disease.

Researcher in the Smith laboratory centers around the effects of lead in model systems and humans, with emphasis on the study of therapeutic treatments for lead poisoning. They are also interested in the neurotoxicology of manganese and other redox active metals, and how they contribute to neurologic disease. Their research is both integrative and interdisciplinary, utilizing an array of analytical, biochemical, and molecular techniques to investigate basic mechanisms of action at the biochemical/molecular level, as well as the functional outcomes at the organ and whole organism level.

Examples of current research topics in our lab include:

• The molecular targets, biochemical mechanisms, and functional outcomes of manganese neurotoxicity.
• Exposure pathways and neurotoxic actions of lead; use of stable lead isotopic tracers and mass spectrometry to study lead metabolism and the physiologic basis of individual susceptibility to lead uptake and retention.
• The efficacy of therapeutic treatments to alleviate metal toxicity.
• Wildlife toxicology.