BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Mandal received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the Indian Institute of Science, India.
He completed his postdoctoral research at the University of Alberta and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in the field of Biochemistry.
He joined as an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at The University of Texas at Arlington in fall 2005.
His current research is aimed towards understanding the fundamentals of gene regulation, steroid hormone signaling, epigenetics, endocrine disruption, and human diseases.
SERVICE LEARNING CLASS
CHEM 4316/5327 (BIOCHEMICAL GENETICS)
Basics as well as recent advancements in DNA, RNA and protein metabolism; DNA replication, recombination, and repair; Gene expression/regulation in prokaryotes and eukaryotes; hormone signaling, endocrine disruptors, and mechanism of various human diseases
Academic Outcomes
- In-depth knowledge on nucleic acids and proteins metabolism
- Detailed understanding on human gene regulation and their clinical correlation
- Exposure to hormones, mechanism of action, hormone therapy and their good and bad effects on human health
- Effects of environmental factors that affect human gene regulation and diseases including endocrine disruptors
Service Learning Project
Increase awareness of the students and local community about the hormone, endocrine disruptors and
their effects on human health and the environment.
Description
Given the importance of hormones and endocrine disruption in human and wildlife, the proposed studies and
outreach activities will have a very broad impact, revealing a better understanding of hormone signaling network and their disruption by endocrine disruptors (EDCs). EDCs are widely dispersed in our present-day existence, from drinking water to foods and pose major health and environmental concern. It is important to increase awareness and educate our students, teachers, and community about EDCs. Herein, this will be achieved by using an innovative outreach program through service learning, and hands-on a summer research program for high school students and teachers, and interactive workshop. The outline of the overall scheme of the outreach activity is as follows
- Students (a group of three) will teach a lesson plan in one 1 hr period to the 11th or 12th graders at one of the high schools in Arlington ISD.
- When designing a lesson plan students will initially choose a topic related to course with an emphasis on hormones, hormone therapy, and their roles in human health and diseases. They will also emphasize on endocrine disruptors and their impact on human health and ecosystem. They will also describe different sources of endocrine disruptors and explain how we can minimize their exposure to save the environment and ecosystem.
- In addition to lectures, students will include a take-home message of civic responsibility (What can you do to help?). The preparation of a deliverable item to the classroom as a memento of the lesson should also be included.
- Interested high school students and teacher (if funding is available) will be invited for the summer research on “endocrine disruptors” in Dr. Mandal laboratory
Teams and responsibilities and Partners
For the first time, Dr. Mandal completed one round of service leaning session this semester Fall 09. This was performed in 5 different schools in Arlington and neighbors with the help of Dr. Shirley Theriot. The participating schools and the topics are also mentioned below.
| Participating UTA students | Topics | School |
|---|---|---|
| A: (Emirt Geda, Huong Le, Dereck Sigauke) | Hormones and endocrine disruptors | Sam Houston |
| B: (Donley Gandee, Christine Southard) | Hormones and Aging | Sam Houston |
| C: (Jason Le, Long Le, Nhan Tran) | Immune response and human health | Sam Houston |
| D: (Coung Le, Nhu Le, Wei Li) | Gene regulation and Human disease | Sam Houston |
| E: (Irene Lazarus, Subash Chand, Diego Lopez) | Hormones and endocrine disruptors | Juan Seguin |
| H: (Brandall Ingle, Linwood Whitener) | Genetic in a post-genomic era | Sam Houston |
| I: (Anthony Ackerman, Chris Riley, Nick Mandich) | Hormones and endocrine disruptors | Cleburne High School |
| J: (Michael Mbah, Dylan Kim) | Hormones and endocrine disruptors | Lewisville High School |
| K: (Rayan Peterson, Top Luangraj, Amna Sayed) | Hormones and endocrine disruptors | Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts |
Results and impact
The feedback from the school teachers as well as the participating students is overwhelming and
worthy. The poster as well as PowerPoint slide presentations will be posted online soon so that other people can access it. These types of outreach activities will be performed at least one semester every year. We will also be writing grants for external funding to support our outreach activities.