Colorado State University Engineering Professor to Help People in Thailand through Fulbright Scholarship

Brad Reisfeld, an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, has been named a Fulbright Scholar.

Through the Fulbright award, he will teach and conduct research at the Center of Excellence for Environmental Health and Toxicology at Naresuan University in Thailand during the 2013-2014 academic year, according to the announcement from the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

While in Thailand, Reisfeld will investigate how people – because of their genetics, geography, climate, social structure, history, etc. – are predisposed to certain diseases that may not affect other people. He will also develop and teach workshops and courses in computational modeling for the students and faculty of the center.

At CSU, his group uses computational and experimental approaches to better understand how chemicals to which people are exposed are absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and excreted by the body and how these chemicals and their metabolites affect human health.

Reisfeld and his colleagues are currently using these methods to optimize therapies to treat tuberculosis and analyze the risks associated with a group of widely used insecticides.

“By understanding the biochemical and biological processes and interactions involved in chemical exposure, disposition, and effect, we can undertake important challenges, like the design of improved drug therapies to treat disease or the development of a better assessment for chemical risk that can be used to protect human health,” Reisfeld said.

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