The Comet Assay in Toxicology

Professor Alok Dhawan currently holds the position of Senior Assistant Director at the Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow, India. He was awarded the Young Scientist Medal in Biomedical Sciences by the Indian National Science Academy in 1993. He was also awarded with the coveted CSIR Young Scientist Award in Biological Sciences in 1999 by the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, India. The Indian Council of Medical Research also conferred its Shakuntala Amir Chand prize on Professor Dhawan for his contributions in the area of neuro- and geno- toxicology. He was elected as Vice President - Environmental Mutagen Society of India in 2006. He is also an elected fellow of the Society of Toxicology (India), and a member of various scientific societies in India as well as a member of the Asian Association of Environmental Mutagen Societies, Japan, and the United Kingdom Environmental Mutagen Society. He has published 67 papers in peer reviewed journals and has also has been the Associate Guest Editor of a special issue of Teratogenesis, Carcinogenesis and Mutagenesis journal published by Wiley-Liss, Inc, U.K in 2003 as well as Guest Editor of a special issue of the Nanotoxicology journal in 2008. He is actively involved in developing and establishing alternate animal models and substitute technologies for toxicity evaluation as well as in identifying peripheral biomarkers of exposure, effect and susceptibility to xenobiotics. Professor Dhawan is currently working in the area of nanomaterial and in silico toxicology. Professor Diana Anderson currently holds the Established Chair at the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Bradford, UK and is Research Co-ordinator for the Department. In 1974, Professor Anderson was appointed as Head of Mutagenesis Studies at ICI's Central Toxicology Laboratory and she joined BIBRA International in 1981 as Head of Genetic and Reproductive Toxicology and became Assistant Director and Group Forum Co-ordinator in 1987. In 1992, she became Senior Associate and Co-ordinator of External Affairs at BIBRA. She has served on the editorial board of 8 international journals, has over 300 publications, has edited/authored 6 books and guest-edited 9 special issues of 4 international journals. She has been/is Series Editor of books in Current Toxicology for John Wiley and Sons and Issues in Toxicology for the Royal Society of Chemistry. As an active Committee member, she has been Vice-President of the Institute of Biology and is Chair of the Scientific Committee of the International Association of Environmental Mutagen Societies. New research laboratories in India and Korea have been established with her help under the auspices of the British Council and UNIDO. She has organised both national and international meetings and is/was a member of various national (e.g. MRC Advisory Board and Veterinary Products Committee) and international committees, including the European Union Scientific Committee for Animal Nutrition (SCAN) and is a consultant for many international organisations, such as the WHO, NATO, TWAS, UNIDO and the OECD.