FSEM 129   Poisons

Faculty Profile for Professor Goldberg

Students explore some of the many ways that humans, across different times and places, have identified and used poisons for good and evil. A broad survey of animal venoms, heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyls, pesticides, and chemical warfare agents emphasizes the history, toxicology, and modes of action of these ubiquitous compounds. Special attention is given to chemical carcinogenesis, the mechanisms by which certain compounds cause cancer, and chemotherapeutic strategies for curing the resulting diseases. Hands-on laboratory experiences include the synthesis of an antidote for thallium poisoning. Students who successfully complete this seminar satisfy the Core Sciences requirement.

Assistant professor of chemistry Jacob M. Goldberg is a biochemist whose research interests span the fields of chemical biology, bioinorganic chemistry, and metalloneurochemistry. His laboratory, which is populated exclusively by undergraduates, focuses on the design and application of small molecules to interrogate complex biological systems, particularly with respect to elucidating the role of metal ions in the brain.