Dr. Godard-Codding’s research interests focus on genomic and cellular toxicology, mechanistic toxicology, endangered wildlife ecotoxicology and conservation, and biomarkers.  Species of special interest are marine mammals and sea turtles.  Dr. Godard-Codding is specifically interested in creating and using sea turtle cell lines to determine the sensitivity of these species to marine pollutants and in cloning and expressing key dolphin and polar bear metabolizing enzymes in order to assess their ability to process chemicals.  She is also interested in investigating pollutant sensitivity and metabolism in these taxa using organotypic culture, genomics and proteomics techniques.  Dr. Godard-Codding received her Masters in Microbiology from Clemson University, South Carolina in 1994 and her Diplome D’Ingenieurs from ENITA-Dijon in France also in 1994.  She received her Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology in 2000 from Texas Tech University.  Her Ph.D. research focused on the identification and characterization of novel cytochrome P450 1 genes in marine vertebrates (fish and cetaceans) and was conducted at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) from 1995 until 2000.  Dr. Godard-Codding pursued her research in biomarkers of exposure and effects in marine mammals at WHOI as a post-doctoral investigator from 2001 until 2004.  She then moved to the University of Southern Maine for a senior post-doctoral fellowship position where she studied the cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the endangered North Atlantic Right whale and participated in the creation of marine mammal cell lines.  During her post-doctoral appointments and from 2000 to 2005, Dr. Godard-Codding served as Chief Scientist for the toxicology program of a worldwide sperm whale research cruise sponsored by Ocean Alliance.  Her involvement in this program was featured in the news section of Science (2004, 2005) and on the Discovery Channel (2004).   Dr. Godard-Codding has established collaborations with a number of agencies and universities, including the Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks; the NOAA Fisheries center in Galveston, Texas; the Texas Marine Mammal stranding Network, the USDOC/NOAA/NOS/NCCOS Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research at Charleston (CCEHBR), South Carolina, and the University of Siena, Italy.  These collaborations provide opportunities for interesting research projects and student multi-disciplinary training.

Smith PN, Cobb G, Godard-Codding CAJ, Hoff D, McMurry ST, Rainwater TR, Reynolds KD. 2007. Invited review. Contaminant exposure in terrestrial vertebrates. Environmental Pollution, 150, 41-64

Rubio-Cisneros N, Mesnick S, Vazquez-Juarez R, Urban Ramirez J, Godard CAJ, Payne R and A Dizon..  2006.  Genetic sex determination supports the Gulf of California as an important habitat for sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus).  Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals 5(2), 125-128.

Godard CAJ, Wise SS, Kelly, RS, Goodale, B, Kraus S, Romano T, O’Hara T and JP Wise Sr.  2006.  Benzo[a]pyrene cytotoxicity in right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) skin, testis and lung cell lines.  Marine Environmental Research, 62:S20-S24.

Godard CAJ, Goldstone JV, Said MS, Dickerson RL, Woodin BR and JJ Stegeman.  2005.  The new vertebrate CYP1C family: Cloning of new subfamily members and phylogenetic analysis.  Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 331, 1016-1024.

Godard CAJ, Smolowitz RM, Wilson JY, Payne RS, and JJ Stegeman.  2004.  Induction of cetacean cytochrome P4501A1 by β-naphthoflavone exposure of skin biopsy slices.  Toxicological Sciences, 80, 268-275.

Godard CAJ, Leaver MJ, Said M, Dickerson RL, George S and JJ Stegeman.  2000.  Identification of cytochrome P450 1B-like sequences in two teleost fish species (scup, Stenotomus chrysops and plaice, Pleuronectes platessa) and in a cetacean (striped dolphin, Stenella coeruleoalba).  Marine Environmental Research 50, 7-10.

Peden-Adams M, Alonso K, Godard C, Skipper S, Mashburn W, Hoover J, Charbonneau C, Henshel D, and R Dickerson.  1998.  Effects of environmentally relevant concentrations of 2,3,7,8-TCDD on domestic chicken immune function and CYP450 activity: F1 generation and egg injection studies.  Chemosphere 37 (9-12):1923-1939.