Undergraduate Program (Interdisciplinary)

The Undergraduate Toxicology program at the University of Saskatchewan is the only program of its type in western Canada, and the most comprehensive undergraduate toxicology program in the country.

The program has been designed to provide students with a basic understanding of how toxic substances behave in the body and in the natural environment, how they adversely affect individual organisms, populations and ecosystems, and how to measure these toxicants and their potential effects.

The interdisciplinary Undergraduate Program in Toxicology is a joint program of the Toxicology Centre and several academic units, including the departments of Soil Science, Biology, Geography, and Animal & Poultry Science, as well as the School of Environment & Sustainability.  The program allows students to choose from a large number of electives so that they can focus their undergraduate program to emphasize environmental toxicology or human/biomedical toxicology.  Students receive a B.Sc. Four-year or a B.Sc. Honours degree, depending on their academic standing.

For more information about the Toxicology program, contact:

Dr. Mark Wickstrom, Program Chair
Tel: 306-966-7441
E-mail: mark.wickstrom@usask.ca

 
For details about course offerings and requirements visit the Interdisciplinary Programs, College of Arts & Science

http://www.arts.usask.ca

Toxicology

Understand how toxic substances behave in the body and the natural environment.  Discover how industrial emissions have polluted our ecosystem and how to evaluate and remediate their effects.  Learn how new pharmaceuticals or pesticides and manufacturing waste products are regulated.  Study poisonous plants and venomous snakes.  These are just a few opportunities available to you when you choose to major in toxicology at the University of Saskatchewan.

What is Toxicology?

Toxicology is the science that deals with the harmful effects of chemical and physical agents on living organisms and biological systems. Generally speaking, toxicology is the study of poisons and pollutants.

During the last four to five decades, the world has seen a rapid growth in industrial activity, development of new technology and the synthesis of new chemicals. Some of these chemicals are approved for direct use in people and animals (e.g. drugs and food additives). Others are released into our environment, either intentionally (e.g. pesticides and household products), unintentionally (e.g. through industrial effluents and emissions) or by accident (e.g. spills and releases). In many cases, our knowledge of the effects of these new chemicals and the risk that they pose to environmental and human health is inadequate.

The potential adverse effects on people, wildlife and ecosystems from these chemicals are now being recognized and have become a matter of concern to scientists, regulatory agencies and the public at large. Industrial emissions and effluents released into our environment have caused global changes such as atmospheric ozone layer depletion, acid rain, surface and ground water pollution, contamination of natural and processed food supplies, disease, and large-scale wildlife and fish kills. The social-economic impacts of these pollution events have been enormous, and the need for trained toxicologists to address these issues is growing.

Career Opportunities

The main objective of this program is to properly prepare students for careers or further study in the exciting and expanding field of toxicology. There is a high demand for toxicology graduates both in Canada and internationally. A variety of career paths are available to graduates of both the undergraduate and graduate programs, given the different branches of toxicology. Examples of these include the following:

• Analytical and Forensic Toxicology
• Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Toxicology
• Human and Chemical Toxicology
• Veterinary and Wildlife Toxicology
• Ecological and Aquatic Toxicology
• Risk Assessment and Regulatory Toxicology

Graduates with a major in Toxicology find jobs in chemical, drug, food and resource industries, environmental consulting firms, federal and provincial government research laboratories and regulatory departments, or university-based research centres. Such jobs range from laboratory and field work to regulatory and consulting positions.

Students with an undergraduate degree in Toxicology can meet the course requirements for admission to medicine, veterinary medicine or dentistry, or could pursue graduate studies in toxicology at the Master’s or Ph.D. level.

The U of S Advantage

The Toxicology program at the University of Saskatchewan is the only program of its type in western Canada and is the most comprehensive undergraduate toxicology program in the country.

The program has been designed to provide students with a basic understanding of how toxic substances behave in the body and in the natural environment, how they adversely affect individual organisms, populations and ecosystems, and how to measure these toxicants and their potential effects.

Choose Your Program!

Students are able to choose from a large number of electives so that they can design their undergraduate program to emphasize one of two areas: biomedical toxicology or environmental toxicology.

Given the multidisciplinary nature of toxicology, students in the first two years of the program will receive a broad education in the life sciences. Required courses include the following:

• Biochemistry
• Statistics 
• Cell biology
• Chemistry 
• Ecology
• General biology
• Genetics
• Organic chemistry
• Physics
• Physiology

Courses focusing specifically on toxicology are available in years three and four of the program. These include the following:

• Applied toxicology
• Biotoxins
• Ecological toxicology
• Environmental fate and transport of toxic substances
• Environmental impact assessment
• Environmental toxicology
• General principles of toxicology
• Perspectives in toxicology
• Radiation and radionuclide toxicology
• Risk assessment and regulatory toxicology
• Systemic toxicology
• Toxicology of industrial pollutants
• Introduction to aquatic toxicology
• inhalation and environmental toxicology of air pollutants
• Contaminated site management
• Quantitative Toxicology
• Toxicology research

A Major in Toxicology

Students majoring in toxicology can choose from one of the following degrees:

• B.Sc. Four-year
• B.Sc. Honours

The first two years of the program have been designed to provide maximum transferability with other U of S natural and life science programs, so that interested science students can transfer to the Toxicology program without having to take many additional courses.

Students wishing to do a minor in toxicology should look in the Calendar entry for the program to find the required courses.