Prof Nigel J Gooderham

Research Interests:

• Mechanisms of chemical carcinogenesis
• Mechanisms of genotoxicity and mutation
• Molecular, cellular and genomic responses to toxicity

My interest in the mechanisms and processes through which chemicals are toxic has evolved from my background in the biochemistry of xenobiotics and understanding the molecular and biochemical events associated with pathological outcome.  Although toxicology is classically determined by animal experiments in which chemical administration produces pathological change that is dose and time dependent, such experiments tend to focus upon outcome rather than mechanism. 

Explaining the reasons for toxic outcome requires an understanding of the molecular processes that occur at the cellular and tissue level, that ultimately contribute to whole animal toxicity.  Such events can be subtle and insidious and occur in a co-coordinated sequence often involving many metabolic pathways and biochemical cascades.  In executing this intracellular response, the cell ultimately relies upon genomic activity and my research activities are directed at understanding these molecular events.