Pharmacogenetics is the study of the effect of variation in a single gene on response to a therapeutic agent. Pharmacogenomics extends pharmacogenetics to include the effects of multiple genes and genome wide analysis. Research in these areas is providing the basis for the concept of personalized medicine that is using genetic information to identify the therapy that will have the maximum efficacy and minimum toxicity for each patient. I work with the genes that code for N-acetyltransferases (NAT1 and NAT2). These enzymes metabolize drugs and environmental chemicals. For example NAT2 is involved in the metabolism of isoniazid which is used to treat tuberculosis, hydralazine which is used to treat hypertension and 4-aminobiphenyl a cancer causing chemical found in tobacco smoke. Genetic variation in these genes can affect the therapeutic outcome as well as the chances for developing adverse drug reactions. My current research is using animal and cell models to understand the mechanisms of the adverse effects of chemicals metabolized by NATs. Work is underway to investigate whether pre- and postnatal exposure to 4-aminobiphenyl affects risk of developing cancer as an adult. Selected Publications Erickson, R.P., Cao, W., Acuna, D. Strnatka, D., Hunter, R., Chau, B., Wakefield, L., Sim, E. and McQueen, C.A. Confirmation of the role of N-acetyltransferase 2 in teratogen-induced cleft palate using transgenics and knockouts. Molec. Repro. Dev. 75:1071-1076, 2008. Erickson, R.P., McQueen, C.A., Chau, B., Uchiyama, M., Toyoda, A., Ejima, F., Maho, N., Sakaki, Y. and Gondo, Y. An N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea-induced mutation in N-acetyltransferase 1 in mice. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 370:285-288, 2008.