Toxicology is a branch of science derived from toxican and logos, and toxican is described as the science of poison. Toxicology investigates the adverse effects of physical, biological, and chemical agents (including drugs) on living organisms. In other words, toxicology can be defined as the branch of science that determines the harmlessness limits of chemical substances.

On the other hand, toxicologists are scientists trained to investigate the cellular, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms of the adverse effects of chemical substances, including drugs, to determine the conditions for the emergence of these effects and to evaluate the associated risks.

As a result of the rapid development of industrialization in the twentieth century, the number of chemicals used increased rapidly. Today, there are 100,000 substances, most of which are synthetic, drugs, cosmetics, food additives, pesticides available on the market, and an average of 1000 new chemicals come into use every year. As a result, humans and other living organisms are exposed to increasing chemicals. Since these compounds have become a part of modern life, it is of greater importance to learn about their safe use rather than giving up their use. In this respect, toxicology has two important activities that complement each other:

• Obtaining toxicity data of chemical substances,
• Using this data to predict the harmful effects of chemical substances on both humans and the environment.

Your pharmaceutical toxicology lectures and laboratories will begin in the 4th year of your 5-year education. Our Department of Pharmaceutical Toxicology will explain to you the requirements of toxicology with its respected faculty members and research assistants who publish many national and international publications and books. Within the scope of our laboratories and courses, research is carried out in the fields of toxicity studies in animal models, genetic polymorphisms, genotoxicity and cytogenetic methods, biological macromolecules, xenobiotic biotransformation, drug safety, environmental, clinical biomarkers, environmental exposure, bioconcentration, bioaccumulation, toxicology of food and natural substances, and occupational toxicology.