The Interdepartmental Toxicology Graduate program believes that professional travel, whether local, national, or international, builds confidence, aids in networking, provides access to a community with similar research interests, and helps you develop the ability to communicate and defend your own research. Conferences and Symposia can recharge and open new avenues of thought. Talk with your major professor and POS committee members about the best opportunities.

Below are potential resources for funding for travel. Here is a form sample that you can use to keep track of travel expenses for reimbursement (PDF).

Request a Iowa State University Professional Advancement Grant Travel PAGs may be granted to students who attend a professional meeting, defined as a gathering of an organized society of professionals for the purpose of presenting research. Travel PAGs may also be approved for attending professional workshops that provide hands-on experiences not available at Iowa State University (ISU). Travel PAGs will not provide funding for required academic activities as defined in GPSS Bill 93-06, including workshops, classes, or other events required for fulfillment of a student's degree requirements or program of study. Travel PAGs are divided into two categories depending on the student's involvement at the meeting: Presenters and Non-Presenters (attending only). To qualify for a Presenting Travel PAG, the student must present results of research performed at ISU at the professional meeting. These categories are described in detail in GPSS Bill S07-01.

Symposia and Conferences may have travel grants for graduate students who are willing to help with the symposia or who are presenting. We recommend also checking with your home department for available travel awards. 

Students who are supported by training grants maybe able to request funding from training grants resources. (Example: IGERT, USDA, MGET, NSF).

Request Funding From Toxicology

Funding for professional travel for Toxicology graduate students is provided by the Interdepartmental Toxicology program when funds permit. Funds have previously been distributed equally to all eligible Toxicology students who attend and participate in conferences. Please contact the Department Officer of Graduate Education, Dr. Aileen Keating, or Caitlin Trom, Program Coordinator, at cmtrom@iastate.edu for more information. 

To request funding send an email indicating the following information:

• Conference name:
• Conference website:
• Conference dates:
• Conference location:
• Your name and email:
• Your major professor's name and email:
• Provide an abstract for your talk or presentation IF you are presenting.

Previous Travel Award Recipients

Toxicology students awarded Interdepartmental Toxicology Travel Awards for FY18 (total awarded: $1950).

• Laura Burns, (VDPAM/Borts) ($300).  American Society of Mass Spectrometry.  June 3-7, 2018, San Diego CA 

  "Rapid screening for veterinary drug residues in food and companion animal tissues using liquid microjunction surface sampling probe mass spectrometry."  LC/MS is frequently used to screen for veterinary drug residues and other xenobiotics in animal tissues for food safety, diagnostic, and toxicological purposes.  Conventional LC/MS screening of animal tissue requires a series of time-consuming and resource-intensive sample extraction and preparation steps.  The liquid microjunction surface sampling probe (LMJ-SSP) extracts analytes via a liquid microjunction with a sample surface.  Extracted analytes flow through the LMJ-SSP to an electrospray ionization source where ions are created and passed to a mass spectrometer for analysis.  The LMJ-SSP provides a simple, rapid, and economical option for screening of veterinary drug residues and xenobiotics in animal tissues.

• Sireesha Manne, (BMS/Arthi Kanthasamy) ($150).  Society of Toxicology, March 11-16, 2018.  San Antonio, Texas. 
• Niranjana Krishnan, (NREM/Bradbury) ($300) Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. Nov 12-16, Minneapolis, MN.
  ABSTRACT "Assessing risks of insecticides used in corn and soybean production on monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) larvae."
  Niranjana Krishnan, Keith Bidne, Richard Hellmich, Joel Coats and Steven Bradbury?
  Iowa State University, Department of Entomology, Ames, Iowa and USDA-ARS, Ames, Iowa
  Over the last two decades populations of monarch butterflies in North America have declined significantly. Conservation efforts in the U.S. Midwest are focused on restoring milkweed (Asclepias species), the sole food source of monarch larvae. Restored milkweed habitat could be placed in close proximity of corn and soybean fields, where insecticides are often used for pest management. Risks of monarch larvae exposure to these insecticides at the individual habitat patch and landscape scales are unknown.
  Larvae could be exposed through the cuticle by spray drift from foliar applications. Dietary exposure also could occur if monarch larvae ingest milkweed leaves with insecticide residues from spray drift deposition or systemic uptake from treated seeds. Cuticular toxicity studies were undertaken with beta-cyfluthrin, chlorantraniliprole, chlorpyrifos, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam and risk quotients (RQs) were calculated at different distances from treated fields (0, 50, 100 and 125 feet) using AgDRIFT, a spray drift model. For aerial applications, predicted percent mortality for 1st instars ranged from 100% to 44%, 100% to 7% and 100% to 1% at the edge of field, 50 feet and 100 feet away from treated fields, respectively. For 5th instars, percent mortality ranged from 100% to 0%, 97% to 0% and 82% to 0%. In general, predicted mortality rates were higher for beta-cyfluthrin and chlorantraniliprole and lower for thiamethoxam and imidacloprid. Preliminary acute dietary toxicity results for systemic insecticides are being compared with residue values reported in the literature. Cuticular and dietary neonicotinoid exposures to 5th instars caused them to die at the onset of pupation, approximately 96h after treatment. Prior to pupation larvae behaved normally. This phenomenon occurred less commonly with the other insecticides.
  The estimated larval survival rates obtained from the deterministic risk assessments are being incorporated into a projection model to predict population responses at the landscape level. These analyses will inform conservation costs and benefits of establishing habitat in areas potentially exposed to insecticides.
• Edmund Norris, (Entomology/Coats) ($300)Society of Vector Ecology, Palama Mallorca, Spain. Abstract: The burden of mosquito-borne diseases to public health throughout the world cannot be underestimated. Every year, approximately 700,000 people die from complications associated with etiologic disease agents transmitted by mosquitoes. With insecticide-resistant mosquito populations becoming an ever growing concern, the need for new insecticidal formulations is more important than ever. We screened mixtures of various synthetic pyrethroids and natural pyrethrins (permethrin, deltamethrin, -cyfluthrin, and natural pyrethrum) with various essential oils in order to enhance the efficacy of these insecticides. We have previously shown that some commercially available essential oils have the ability to enhance the mortality caused by the synthetic pyrethroid, permethrin. We have demonstrated that many plant essential oils are capable of differentially enhancing various synthetic pyrethroids. Moreover, we have also tested mixtures of plant essential oils and synthetic pyrethroids against insecticide-susceptible strains and an insecticide-resistant strain of Aedes aegypti in order to better assess the ability of these plant essential oils to enhance synthetic pyrethroids in wild mosquito populations. These plant essential oils were capable of enhancing synthetic pyrethroids in both insecticide-susceptible and insecticide-resistant mosquito strains. This percentage enhancement was most notable in insecticide-resistant strains. A second resistant strain of Anopheles gambiae was also screened. Here plant essential oils were capable of producing very high levels of enhancement of permethrin. This work demonstrates the potential of plant essential oils in future mosquito control formulations, especially those used for the control of Aedes aegypti and Anopheles gambiae, the primary vector of both Dengue fever and Zika virus.
• Adhityhiya Manohar-Charle, Biomedical Sciences (Kanthasamy Lab). ($300). Physiological Bioenergetics APS Conference 2017, San Diego, August 27-30, 2017. "Protein Kinase C&[delta] (PKC&[delta]) Controls Basal Mitochondrial Bioenergetics in Dopaminergic Neuronal Cells: Relevance to Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Neurodegenerative Diseases."
• Souvarish Sarkar, Biomedical Sciences (Kanthasamy Lab). ($300) Gordon Research Conference, August 13-18, Proctor Academy, Andover, New Hampshire.
• Niranjana Krishnan, Natural Resource Ecology and Management (Bradbury Lab). ($300.00). American Chemical Society, August 20 -24, 2017, Washington DC

Toxicology students awarded Interdepartmental Toxicology Travel Awards for FY17 

(total awarded: $2400).

• Poojya Anantharam (Rumbeiha Lab), $300. Society of Toxicology - SOT, Baltimore Maryland, March 12-15. "Therapeutic Efficacy of Cobinamide-Midazolam Combination As Treatment for H2S-Induced Neurotoxicity."
• Souvarish Sarkar (Kanthasamy Lab), $300. Society of Toxicology - SOT, Baltimore Maryland, March 12-15. "Manganese Exposure Activates NLRP3 Inflammasome Signaling and Propagates Exosomal Release of ASC in Microglial Cells in Cell Culture and Animal Models."
• Monical Langley (Kanthasamy Lab), $300. Society of Toxicology - SOT, Baltimore Maryland, March 12-15. Title: "Fyn Kinase Inhibition Attenuates Motor and Non-motor Symptoms, Neurodegeneration, and Neuroinflammation in Preclinical Models of Parkinson's Disease."
• Edmund Norris (Entomology/Coats Lab), $600 (oral presentation). American Mosquito Control Association (AMCA) 2017. February 13-17, 2017. San Diego, California. "The burden of mosquito-borne diseases to public health throughout the world cannot be underestimated. Every year, approximately 700,000 people die from complications associated with etiologic disease agents transmitted by mosquitoes."
• Jorrell Fredericks (Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine/Wannemuehler Lab), $300. Society of Toxicology, March 2017. Baltimore, Maryland. "Cytotoxic effects of manganese oxide nanoparticles and interaction with microbial components on maintenance of gut epithelium and host mucosal homeostasis."
• Souvarish Sarkar (Biomedical Sciences/Kanthasamy Lab), $300. Experimental Biology 2017 April 22-26, 2017, Chicago Illinois. "Microglial Kv1.3, a voltage-gated potassium channel, mediates neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in cell culture and animal models of Parkinsons disease"
• Adhithiya Manohar-Charle (Biomedical Sciences/Kanthasamy Lab), $300. American College of Toxicology. November 6-9, 2016, Baltimore, Maryland. "Mitochondrial Neurotoxic Pesticides Promote Epigenetic Dysregulation by histone H3 and H4 Hyperacetylation in Dopaminergic Neuronal Model of Parkinson's disease"

Toxicology students awarded Interdepartmental Toxicology Travel Awards for FY16 

(total awarded: $1500.)

• Edmund Norris (Entomology/Coats Lab), $300. American Mosquito Control Association (AMCA) Annual Meeting, Feb 7-11, 2016, Savnnah, GA. "The burden of mosquito-borne disease to public health throughout the world cannot be underestimated. Every year, approximately 700,000 people die from completications associated with etiologic disease agents transmitted by mosquitos.We hypothesize that plant essential oil components are capable of enhancing the effect of various synthetic insecticides by interfering with detoxification enzymes."
• Jorrell Fredericks (Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine/Wannumuehler Lab), $300. Digestive Disease Week - DDW2016, May 21-24, Sand Diego, CA. "Cytotoxic effects of metal nanoparticles and interaction with microbial components on maintenance of gut epithelium and mucosal homeostasis"
• Qi Xu (Food Science and Human Nutrition/Reddy Lab), $300. Experimental Biology 2016 San Diego, April 2-6. "Neurorescue Effect of EGCG in an Animal Model".
• Porsha Thomas (Animal Science/Keating Lab), $60 from TOX and $240 DSH fund. SOT Annual Meeting, March 13-17, New Orleans, LA
• Porsha Thomas (Animal Science/Keating Lab), $240. Society for the Study of Reproduction 2015 , 18-22 June 2015, San Juan, Puerto Rico. "Multidrug resistance associated protein involvement in phosphoramide mustard-induced ovotoxicity."
• Souvarish Sarkar (Biomedical Sciences/Kanthasamy Lab), $300 with POSC. Society of Neuroscience 2015. October 17-21, 2015, Chicago, Illinois. "Pesticide-induced Mitochondrial Dysfunction Activates NLRP3 Inflammasome Signaling Pathway in Primary Murine Microglia"
• Dilshan Harischandra (Biomedical Sciences/Kanthasamy Lab), $300. International Neurotoxicology Association Annual Meeting, June 27-July 1, Montreal, Canada. "Lysosomal dysfunction caused by the environmental neurotoxicant manganese increases exosome-mediated cell-to-cell transfer of a-synuclein by a prion-like mechanism"

Toxicology students awarded Interdepartmental Toxicology Travel Awards for FY15 

(total awarded: $1800.00 ).

• Jorrell Fredericks (Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine, VMPM), $300. Washington D.C. May 17-19, 2015 Digesive Disease Week 2015
• Souvarish Sarkar (Biomedical Sciences), $300. Experimental Biology 2015, March 28 to April 1, Boston, MA. Title: Pesticide-induced Mitochondrial Dysfunction Augments NLRP3 Inflammasome Signaling Pathway in Primary Microglia."
• Qi Xu (Food Science and Human Nutrition), $300. Experimental Biology 2015, March 28 to April 1, Boston, MA. Title: "(-)-Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate Protects against TNF alpha and Hydrogen Peroxide Induced Apoptosis in a Cell Culture Model of Parkinson's Disease."
• Shanthi Ganesan (Animal Science/Keating Lab), $300. Society for the Study of Reproduction, July 10-23, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
• Vic Albright (Entomology/Coats Lab), $300. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) North America 35th Annual Meeting, November 9-13, 2014, Vancouver, British Columbia, CANADA.