Goodnight Distinguished Chair in Molecular Toxicology
Department of Biological Sciences
Toxicology Program
Education
BS University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth
PhD University of Michigan
Post-Doc Roche Institute of Molecular Biology
Rob Smart is a Goodnight Distinguished Chair in Molecular Toxicology and Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and the Toxicology Program. He and his group have discovered critical roles for C/EBP transcription factors in skin cancer, the DNA damage response, apoptosis and stratified squamous and sebocyte differentiation and the Type 1 IFN response. His laboratory has made highly significant contributions through the characterization of genes/pathways involved in critical fundamental processes such as cell cycle regulation, differentiation, apoptosis, inflammation and cancer. Rob has published over 90 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters. In recognition of his expertise, Rob has been invited to participate on numerous NIH panels (>20) including the NIEHS Environmental Health Sciences Review Committee and as a speaker at national/international conferences/seminars (>60). His research program has been continuously funded by NIH R01s/P01s from NCI and/or NIEHS since 1988-present.
Rob has served as the Director of the Toxicology Graduate Program (14 years). He was the Director of this NIEHS Training Program in Molecular Pathways to Pathogenesis in Toxicology (2001-2020) and is the founding Director of the NC State Center for Human Health and the Environment (CHHE), which is one of 26 NIEHS-funded Environmental Health Science Core Centers across the US. CHHE brings together ~75 investigators from across the NC State campus as well as faculty from the Brody School of Medicine East Carolina University, North Carolina Central University and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to form an interdisciplinary team to conduct research aimed at the understanding and prevention of the adverse impacts of environmental factors on human health. Rob is the co-editor of a textbook, Molecular and Biochemical Toxicology, utilized in many graduate level toxicology programs in the US and worldwide. The 5th edition of this textbook was published in January 2018.
Rob participates as an associate faculty member in the following graduate programs; Genomic Sciences, Comparative Biomedical Sciences Program, Cell Biology, and Pharmacology. He has served as the major advisor for 18 predoctoral and 12 postdoctoral students and 8 junior faculty members. He taught in the following courses; Fundamentals of Toxicology, Biochemical and Molecular Toxicology, Principles of Pharmacology, Cancer Biology, Responsibility in the Conduct of Science, and Environmental Health (Duke University).
Research Areas: CCAAT/enhancer binding proteins, apoptosis, cancer biology, gene-environment interactions in cancer susceptibility, DNA damage response, cell cycle regulation, long noncoding RNAs, UVB-induced nonmelanoma skin cancer, Ras oncogene, skin lipidomics