The Department (Chair) of Nutritional Toxicology is part of the Institute for Nutrition, at  FSU, Germany. The Institute of Nutrition includes 3 additional Chairs for Nutritional Physiology, Human Nutrition, Food Chemistry, and 3 smaller departments for Food Technology, Hygiene, and Food Science, with a staff of appr. 80-150 employees, affiliated graduate, postgraduate and PhD-students. The Department for Nutrition is part of the Biological-Pharmaceutical Faculty. It has expertise in Cancer Research, Nutritional and Molecular Toxicology. The work being performed is in the field of molecular toxicology which includes in vitro studies as well as in vivo/ex vivo work with human cells/human subjects. Fields of interests are to elucidate mechanisms by which dietary factors modulate genetic activities in human tumour target tissues and human primary cells. For developing biomarkers lymphocytes, faecal water and biopsies are used. The facilities to perform the work include: laboratories for cell culture, for molecular biology techniques (real-time PCR, Western-Blot, Northern-Blot, Macroarrays, 2D-gelelectrophoresis), for performing the Comet Assay, image analysis and microscope facilities, laboratory space for work with human biological samples. The Department is involved in several national and international projects. Presently it is working on prebiotics/probiotics, dietary fibre and gut fermentation products, green tea catechins, apple flavonoids and other polyphenols, phytoestrogens and heavy metals as modulators of cancer risk or risk factors. Cellular responses are determined in human cancer cell lines and in primary cells, esp. targeting putative mechanisms of chemoprevention during colon, breast and prostate carcinogenesis. The department is also developing and applying new biomarker methods, based on the detected new parameters of chemoprevention, to assess functional foods after dietary intervention, using explanted cells or body fluids. The department is currently employing 2-3 scientists, 3 technicians, 10 PhD-students and up to 10 graduate (diploma) students.