Five years ago, CNR’s Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology (NST) department looked at its molecular toxicology group and asked: What does the future of our field look like?

The answer, they realized, was a shift toward “systems biology”—that is, looking at the complex interactions of metabolic, genetic, protein, and cellular elements with the goal of modeling entire systems.

Such an approach requires serious data crunching. To keep the undergraduate curriculum up-to-date, the department turned to adjunct professor Dale Johnson, a former vice president for research and development at the biotech giant Chiron, and current CEO of a biotech startup called Emiliem. Johnson designed a course in computational toxicology to teach students the techniques and technologies required to analyze toxins, from pharmaceuticals in the body to chemicals in the environment. In the lab portion of the class, students use the heavy-duty computing power of CNR’s Geospatial Imaging and Informatics Facility.

Johnson is on the leading edge of corporate toxicology research, but he is also passionate about education. “I love how students challenge you on new things,” he says. “Undergrads are always looking to the future, because that’s where their careers are.”

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