RESEARCH FIELD

Toxicology

Toxicology is the scientific study of the adverse effects of chemical, biological, and physical agents on living organisms — from molecular mechanisms of cellular injury to population-level health impacts. The field spans environmental toxicology assessing risks of pesticides, heavy metals, microplastics, and industrial chemicals; clinical and forensic toxicology covering overdose management and poison detection; neurotoxicology examining chemical effects on nervous system function; reproductive and developmental toxicology; and regulatory toxicology underpinning chemical risk assessment. Mechanistic toxicology investigates adverse outcome pathways — the causal chain from molecular initiating event to population-level effect — enabling new approach methodologies that reduce animal testing. Organ-on-chip and 3D organoid models provide human-relevant toxicity data. Computational toxicology uses quantitative structure-activity relationships and machine learning to predict hazard from chemical structure, dramatically accelerating screening. Toxicogenomics integrates omics profiling with toxicological endpoints. Funding comes from regulatory agencies including US EPA and EFSA, NIH NIEHS, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, and environmental health programmes.