Introduction to Internal Exposure Modeling (EH 526), Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health

The health effects of environmental chemicals depend on the internal concentrations of the xenobiotics and their metabolites in target tissues. Understanding and predicting chemical internal concentrations (tissue dosimetry) requires a toxicokinetic modeling approach. Based on human physiology and anatomy, physiologically based toxicokinetic (PBTK) models mechanistically simulate the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination (ADME) processes that affect the fates of exogenous chemicals in the human body, producing, as model output, changes in chemical tissue concentrations over time. PBTK-based internal exposure modeling has been increasingly applied in chemical health risk assessment, especially as in silico tool in the new era of non-animal methodology for toxicity testing.

In this course students will learn numerical simulation techniques to model what the body does to the chemicals. Environmental health students interested in chemical tissue dosimetry, internal exposure, interpretation of biomarkers of exposures, in vitro to in vivo extrapolation (IVIVE) of chemical dosimetry are highly encouraged to enroll.

The class (EH 526) will meet Spring 2025 on Friday from 1:00 – 2:50 PM. It is worth 2 credits. For more information, visit the Atlas directory.