Richard Pollenz

Richard Pollenz
Professor & Associate Dean, Director Office For Undergraduate Research

Contact

Office: LIB 210
Lab: BSF 123, 125
Phone: 813/974-4241
Email:

Bio

Richard S. Pollenz earned a BS degree in Toxicology from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science in 1983 and a PhD in Cellular, Molecular and Structural Biology from Northwestern University in 1991.  He has been a tenured faculty member at USF since 2000.  Dr. Pollenz is currently serving USF as an Associate Dean within Undergraduate Studies as the Director of the Office for Undergraduate Research.  Dr. Pollenz’s laboratory focuses on aspects of molecular toxicology as they relate to gene regulation and protein degradation that is mediated by environmental contaminants.  His lab has published over 50 peer-reviewed manuscripts in high impact journals such as Molecular Pharmacology, Biochemical Pharmacology and the Journal of Biological Chemistry.  His laboratory has been continually funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) since 1997.

Research

Our overall focus is to better understand the response of organisms to environmental stress at the molecular level. The stresses of interest are chemical contaminants (halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons, typified by 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, TCDD) and low oxygen (hypoxia). The models of interest include both aquatic and mammalian species with emphasis on the Ah receptor and hypoxia signal transduction systems. These pathways have wide ranging impact in cancer, development and reproduction.

Current Courses

Recent Publications

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