Cheminfostream

Advancing Collaborative Drug Discovery & Safety Infrastructure

I will deliver an OpenTox seminar at the IQPC (Pharma IQ)  Predictive Toxicology conference taking place in London 23-24 Feb 2011, in which I will present on recent developments with regards to OpenTox interoperability advances, and particularly to support of collaborative drug discovery projects.  Also of interest to the increasing support by OpenTox of in vitro methods is a significant program on stem cell technology.  The conference will address the accuracy of drug safety testing through the integration of advanced prediction methods, including stem cell based assays and screening into safety evaluation strategies. The main conference will take place in London on 23rd-24th February 2011 and new for this year, there will be a pre-conference focus day on 22nd February 2011 dedicated to the use of stem cells as a tool to enhance predictive toxicology.
http://www.predictivetoxicology.co.uk/Event.aspx?id=394530

Collaborative Development and Use of Predictive Toxicology Applications

I have made a copy of the slides used in the OpenTox presentation on 19 September at the EuroQSAR meeting in Rhodes available at:

Development and Use of Predictive Toxicology Applications
Barry Hardy, Christoph Helma, Nina Jeliazkova, Olga Tcheremenskaia, Stefan Kramer, Haralambos Sarimveis and Andreas Karwath
http://www.opentox.org/home/documents/presentations/rhodesworkshoppressept2010/view

We then spent the afternoon overcoming various challenges in working groups!

 

Afterwards we had some chance for reflection on the water as we sailed down the coast.

Collaborative development of predictive toxicology applications

The following initial paper on OpenTox has now been published and is available in preliminary form:

Collaborative development of predictive toxicology applications
Barry Hardy, Nicki Douglas, Christoph Helma, Micha Rautenberg, Nina Jeliazkova, Vedrin Jeliazkov, Ivelina Nikolova, Romualdo Benigni, Olga Tcheremenskaia, Stefan Kramer, Tobias Girschick, Fabian Buchwald, Joerg Wicker, Andreas Karwath, Martin Gutlein, Andreas Maunz, Haralambos Sarimveis, Georgia Melagraki, Antreas Afantitis, Pantelis Sopasakis, David Gallagher, Vladimir Poroikov, Dmitry Filimonov, Alexey Zakharov, Alexey Lagunin, Tatyana Gloriozova, Sergey Novikov, Natalia Skvortsova, Dmitry Druzhilovsky, Sunil Chawla, Indira Ghosh, Surajit Ray, Hitesh Patel and Sylvia Escher
Journal of Cheminformatics 2010, 2:7 (31 August 2010)
http://www.jcheminf.com/content/2/1/7

Please feel free to circulate in the community and to your contacts who might be interested. Thanks!

And a special thanks to all who have contributed to advancing this work, including our advisors, and growing community of friends, interactions and partners!

Barry

OpenTox Links - Creating a Linked Data and Resource Infrastructure for Predictive Toxicology and Safety Assessment

We have had a lot of activity in recent months on the OpenTox project with regards to developing a linked data and resource infrastructure for the support of interdisciplinary predictive toxicology research and safety assessment.  I enclose several links below including our recent overview workshop presentation in Potsdam, reports, demonstrations, technical links and interest groups.  A paper will be published as an Open Access publication in coming weeks (reference below).

 

We welcome your joining this community and movement to work towards the common goal of safer products and a safer environment, supported by new alternative and advanced methods.

 

Barry 

 

Predictive Toxicology Workshop in Oxford (2-6 August 2010)
Strategies: http://barryhardy.blogs.com/theferryman/2010/05/developing-new-predictive-toxicology-strategies.html

Program (pdf): http://barryhardy.blogs.com/files/echeminfopredictivetoxbrochure-ox810-web1.pdf

Program (eCheminfo website): http://echeminfo.com/COMTY_oxfordadmet10

Registration: http://echem2010-admet.eventsbot.com/

 

OpenTox Links

 

Your Resources
If you have a useful resource you would like to see integrated into OpenTox, e.g., a database from your project to which an OpenTox web service could be added, please contact me to discuss.

 

OpenTox Workshop in Potsdam, 30 May 2010
Program:
http://www.opentox.org/data/blogentries/public/opentoxworkshoppotsdam2010

OpenTox Presentation:
http://www.opentox.org/home/documents/presentations/opentoxpresPotsdam30May2010/view 

 

OpenTox Reports
http://www.opentox.org/home/documents/Reports

 

OpenTox Demos
(Please keep in mind these are early prototype applications and may not have features you want.  We welcome requests from you for what you additionally need in these applications or others.)
http://www.opentox.org/toxicity-prediction

 

OpenTox Signup & Mailing List
Complete the form at http://www.opentox.org/join_form

Note: If you have a general interest and want to receive a monthly news update e.g., on new applications, data resources, ontology developments, news etc., select the "I'm interested in OpenTox news"

option.  We also welcome including news from other projects in the newsletter.  Do not select the option "I'm interested in OpenTox Technical Development" unless you are doing technical computing work

in the field as this list is quite technical and busy!

 

OpenTox Collaboration Pool
If you are interested in joining virtual organisation collaborations in predictive toxicology supported by OpenTox, complete the form linked from:
http://www.opentox.org/data/blogentries/public/opentoxcollaborationpool

 

Technical Development Details including API
http://www.opentox.org/dev

http://www.opentox.org/dev/apis

 

Publication Reference
Collaborative Development of Predictive Toxicology Applications, B. Hardy, N. Douglas, C. Helma, M. Rautenberg, N. Jeliazkova, V. Jeliazkov, I. Nikolova, R. Benigni, O. Tcheremenskaia, S. Kramer, T. Girschick, F. Buchwald, J. Wicker, A. Karwath, M. Gütlein, A. Maunz, H. Sarimveis, G. Melagraki, A. Afantitis, P. Sopasakis, D. Gallagher, V. Poroikov, D. Filimonov, A. Zakharov, A. Lagunin, T. Gloriozova, S. Novikov, N. Skvortsova, D. Druzhilovsky , S. Chawla, I. Ghosh, S. Ray, H. Patel, S. Escher, accepted 3 June 2010 for Open Access publication in J. Chemical Informatics http://www.jcheminf.com/ (2010).

 

eCheminfo Predictive Toxicology Workshop in Oxford

I posted the detailed program for the eCheminfo predictive toxicology workshop which take place in Oxford 2 - 6 August 2010 at
http://barryhardy.blogs.com/theferryman/2010/05/predictive-toxicology-echeminfo-2010-oxford-workshop-program.html

and you can also now download a copy of the program as a pdf:

http://barryhardy.blogs.com/files/echeminfopredictivetoxbrochure-ox810-web1.pdf

Satisfying REACH Requirements in Predictive Toxicology

The OpenTox workshop on "Satisfying REACH Requirements in Predictive Toxicology" to be held at the ISS in Rome 10-11 September 2009. 

Participants at the workshop will involve cross-industry users and regulatory experts in addition to solution developers and providers who will discuss the requirements and use cases of users in chemical toxicology evaluation and risk assessment, and including satisfaction of current and future requirements of the REACH legislation using alternative testing methods. The workshop format involves short presentations to provide user, regulatory and solution needs perspectives, followed by knowledge cafe discussions discussing use cases, challenges, issues, solutions, collaboration opportunities and ways forward in small groups.

PROGRAM

Thursday 10 September

08.30 Welcome Coffee

09.00 Introduction & Workshop Overview, Barry Hardy (OpenTox and Douglas Connect, Switzerland)

09.15 The Use of Computational Methods for the in silico  Prediction of Chemical Properties in REACH, Andrew P Worth (Systems Toxicology Unit, Institute for Health and Consumer Protection, European Commission -Joint Research Centre, Italy)

09.40 Automated Workflows for Hazard Assessment, Elena Fioravanzo (S-IN Soluzioni Informatiche, Italy)

10.05 OpenTox Predictive Toxicology Use Cases, Barry Hardy (OpenTox and Douglas Connect, Switzerland)

10.30 Coffee Break

11.00 Knowledge Café Discussions

12.30 Group Discussion

13.00 Lunch

14.00 Opportunities for using  Systems Biology Data for in silico  Modeling of Personalized Medicine, Richard D. Beger  (Division of Systems Toxicology, National Center for Toxicological Research, Food and Drug Administration, USA)

14.25 A Framework for Using Structural, Reactivity, Metabolic and Physicochemical Similarity to Evaluate the Suitability of Analogs for SAR-based Toxicological Assessments, Joanna Jaworska (Procter & Gamble, Modeling & Simulation, Biological Systems, Brussels Innovation Center, Belgium)

 14.50 Integration of Integrated Assessment Tools for Environmental Risk Assessment, Willie Peijnenburg (National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, The Netherlands)

15.15 Prediction of Animal Toxicity Endpoints for ToxCAST Phase I Compounds using a Combination of Chemical and Biological in vitro Descriptors, Alex Tropsha (Carolina Center for Computational Toxicology and Carolina Environmental Bioinformatics Research Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA)

15.40 Coffee Break

16.00 Knowledge Café Discussions

17.30 Group Discussion

18.00 Close

 

Friday 11 September

08.30 Welcome Coffee

09.00 Predictive Toxicology for Cosmetics - An Industry Perspective, Stephanie Ringeissen (Safety Research Department, L’Oréal R&D, France)

09.25 OECD (Q)SAR Application Toolbox: Progress and Ongoing Developments, (OECD, Paris, France)

09.50 Italian Specialty Chemical Industry Perspective on Predictive Toxicology, Maurizio Colombo (Health & Safety Evaluation, Industrial Regulation Management, Lamberti S.p.A., Italy)

10.15 Coffee Break

10.45 Knowledge Café Discussions

12.00 Group Discussion

12.30 Lunch

13.30 The Italian Chemical Industry and the REACH impact on SMEs, Antonio Conto (Chemsafe Srl, Italy)

13.55 Classification- and Regression-Based QSAR of Chemical Toxicity on the Basis of Structural and Physicochemical Similarity, Oleg Raevsky (Department of Computer-Aided Molecular Design, Institute of Physiologically Active Compounds of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia)

14.20 Analysis of Toxcast Data and in vitro / in vivo Endpoint Relationships, Romualdo Benigni (Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Italy)

14.45 Coffee Break

15.15 Knowledge Café Discussions

16.30 Group Discussion

17.00 Close

More Information including Abstracts:

http://www.opentox.org/data/blogentries/public/opentoxworkshoprome09

Overcoming the challenges to reducing animal experimentation through an Open Source community-based development of in silico methods

In a recent study by the European Chemical Bureau, it has been estimated that the new EU chemical legislation REACH will require 3.9 million additional test animals, if no alternative methods are accepted. The same study shows that it is possible to reduce the number of test animals significantly by utilizing existing experimental data in conjunction with (Quantitative) Structure Activity Relationship ((Q)SAR) models. Chronic and reproductive toxicity, in vivo mutagenicity and carcinogenicity are the endpoints that will require the largest number of test animals within REACH, because no alternative in vitro assays are currently available.

Recent (Q)SAR developments allow a much more accurate prediction of complex toxicological endpoints than a few years ago. This progress has been caused by (i) the development of improved (Q)SAR algorithms and (ii) by the availability of larger and  better curated public databases.

The routine application of these new generation models is however still rare, because

l  Toxicity data has been collected in a variety of different databases.

l  These databases use different formats, that are frequently not compatible with (Q)SAR programs

l  Many databases lack important information for (Q)SAR modeling (e.g. chemical structures)

l  It is hard to integrate confidential in-house data with public data for model building and validation

l  (Q)SAR models have been published in a variety of different formats (ranging from simple regression based equations to full-fledged computer programs)

l  There is no straightforward integration of predictions from various programs

l  There is no commonly accepted framework for the validation of (Q)SAR predictions and many (Q)SAR tools provide limited support for reliable validation procedures

l  The application, interpretation, and development of (Q)SAR models is still difficult for most toxicological experts. It requires a considerable amount of statistical, chemoinformatics and computer science expertise and the procedures are labor intensive and prone to human errors.

The overall objective of the FP7-funded OpenTox is to develop a framework, that provides a unified access to toxicity data, (Q)SAR models, procedures supporting validation and additional information that helps with the interpretation of (Q)SAR predictions. OpenTox will be accessible at three levels:

l  A simple and intuitive interface for toxicological experts, that provides unified access to (Q)SAR predictions, toxicological data, (Q)SAR models and supporting information

l  An expert interface for the streamlined development and validation of new (Q)SAR models

l  An application programming interface (API) for the development, integration and validation of new (Q)SAR algorithms

The OpenTox framework is being developed as an Open Source project to optimize the dissemination and impact, to allow the inspection and review of algorithms and to attract external contributors. Our approach is to closely collaborate with related projects (e.g. OECD QSAR toolbox, CADASTER, Leadscope’s ToxML development), industry users, developers and regulatory authorities to agree on common standards and to avoid duplicated and redundant work.

Do consider joining the OpenTox community effort through signing up on the website!

eCheminfo Virtual Community Activities in Cheminformatics

When I started the eCheminfo community of practice in late 2003 we focused initially on using the approach of virtual conferencing and communications to get the community started.  More recently I have given more attention to developing face-to-face conference and workshop activity and initiating collaborative research. While on this journey it has been personally rewarding to have met and made contact with hundreds of scientists in the international community and to additionally be involved in supporting their networking, career development and research in drug design, discovery and modelling. It has also been rewarding to have just met so many great people and to have had the chance to interact with them, be it on a computer, in a workshop exercise, or on a punt trying to get down the river as we usually do when we are in Oxford.  So far we seem to be better on computer-based physics than boat physics!

And so I have come full circle and can see the need to prioritise the virtual community aspects of eCheminfo further again, to support the continuation of all these worthwhile interactions in the community.  So LinkedIn is one place to start.  I have been on there for some years and we have had a group area, but have not really done much with it.  It has primarily been useful for some introductions between people.  However recent feature additions for discussion, posting of news, job announcements etc. have been added, so it seems worthwhile to try using it more for supporting continuing interactions in the community.  So I am initiating today invitations to the eCheminfo community to join us there for discussion, news and networking on what is happening in the world of drug discovery informatics, cheminformatics, bioinformatics, etc.  Use of the group is intended for scientific and professional exchange purposes only.  As included in our mission we encourage cross-disciplinary cross-sector participation so from medicinal chemists in the pharmaceutical industry through toxicologists in government institutes through PhD students working on their modelling research problems are welcome!

To request joining the eCheminfo LinkedIn group please follow the following link and introduce yourself with a group joining request:

https://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/1173/77EB680070FF/

I also really welcome suggestions from the community there on what you would like to see as further developments in coming years!

Barry

OpenTox Predictive Toxicology Framework

The OpenTox Predictive Toxicology project has now been launched. We welcome collaboration with both developers and users on this project.  A project description follows in the continuation below. Please contact me to discuss collaboration opportunities or your needs in this area.

Barry Hardy

OpenTox Predictive Toxicology eCheminfo InnovationWell cheminformatics chemoinformatics bioinformatics Medicinal Chemistry Computational Chemistry Virtual Screening ADME ADMET QSAR toxicology Molecular Modelling Molecular Modeling pharmaceutical pharma meeting workshop training Critical Path Life Sciences Drug Discovery Research and Development Drug Development Healthcare Innovation Knowledge Management

Schedule for InnovationWell and eCheminfo Autumn 2008 Community of Practice Meeting

I provide below a schedule for the upcoming InnovationWell and eCheminfo Community of Practice meetings at Bryn Mawr.

I also include a location map here which may be useful upon arrival:

Download bryn_mawr_campus_map_douglas_connect_meeting.pdf

[Please follow continuation here to view schedule.]

Chemogenomics eCheminfo cheminformatics chemoinformatics bioinformatics Medicinal Chemistry Computational Chemistry Virtual Screening Molecular Modelling Molecular Modeling pharmaceutical pharma meeting workshop training Oxford Critical Path toxicology Bursary Life Sciences Pharma Drug Discovery Research and Development Drug Development Healthcare Innovation Knowledge Management events