Molecular Toxicology Protocolsis a book about science on the interface, and ascience that is about to explode upon the clinical and popular horizon. Toxicology, asubdiscipline of pharmacology, is actually the interface of chemistry and biology. Asmost practice it, this field also extends into nonchemical “agents” of deleteriousbiological effects, especially radiation, the purview of the radiobiologist and healthphysicist. With the huge increase in computational power made available over the lastten years it has become possible to model and predict the potential toxicity of as yetunmade chemicals. Perhaps the greatest change in the practice of toxicology has beenapplication of the the tools of the trade directly to the human population, in what areknown clinically as “translational” studies, opening the new frontier of epidemiologythrough the more conventional portal of biostatistics. These studies expand thetraditional public health aspect of toxicology, screening of synthetic agents fortoxicological potential prior to their introduction into the environment, attemptingto define “normal” or “background,” perhaps unavoidable, exposures as mechanismsof human disease, and to design methods of preclinical intervention (“chemo-prevention”).