Saturday, September 23, 2017

Toxicology of Designer Drugs (Lecture 1, Introduction to Forensic Toxicology)

I'm teaching a toxicology of designer drugs course at IUPUI this fall via the Forensic and Investigative Sciences Program.

The outline of topics for the first lecture included:

Introduction to Forensic Toxicology

    • The Realms of Forensic Toxicology
      • Human Performance
      • Postmortem
      • Drug Facilitated Crimes
      • Urine Drug Testing
    • The Role of the Forensic Toxicologist
      • Analyze specimens
      • Analytical instrumentation
      • Develop and validate testing methods
      • Case review and release
      • Results interpretation
      • Education
      • Expert and fact witness courtroom testimony
      • Research, publish, and present
    • Autopsy and Toxicology Specimens
      • Blood
      • Urine
      • Vitreous Humor
      • Tissues
      • Bile
      • Gastric contents
      • Alternative matrices
    • Toxicological Terms
      • Pharmacokinetics
        1. Dose
        2. Dosing interval
        3. CMax
        4. TMax
        5. CMin
        6. Volume of distribution
        7. Concentration
        8. Elimination half life
        9. Elimination rate constant
        10. Bioavailability
      • Pharmacodynamics
        1. Onset vs. Duration of action
        2. Receptor agonism
        3. Receptor antagonism
        4. Receptor inverse agonism
        5. Catecholamines / Neurotransmitters
          • Serotonin
          • Norepinephrine
          • Dopamine
          • Histamine
          • Acetylcholine
          • GABA

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