The Ferryman

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

Collaborative Development of Predictive Toxicology Applications

I enclose here an abstract and copy of the presentation for the Plenary Lecture "Collaborative Development of Predictive Toxicology Applications" that I presented in Istanbul on 6 July 2009 at the Fifth International Symposium on Computational Methods in Toxicology and Pharmacology Integrating Internet Resources (CMTPI 2009).

Presentation

Download OpenTox-CMTPI 2009 Presentation 90706

Abstract

Collaborative Development of Predictive Toxicology Applications

Barry Hardy*^a, Christoph Helma^b, Nina Jeliazkova^c, Romualdo Benigni^d, Stefan Kramer^e, Andreas Karwath^f, Haralambos Sarimveis^g, David Gallagher^h, Vladimir Poroikovⁱ, Sunil Chawla^j, Sylvia Escher^k

This lecture will provide a perspective on the growing significance of community and collaboration approaches in predictive toxicology.  In part these challenges are technical and involve progressing issues related to cross-organisational, enterprise and application interoperability. Additional challenges include the development and application of best practices related to knowledge management, culture, organizational and industry development.

The EC-funded FP7 project “OpenTox” (www.opentox.org) is developing an Open Source-based predictive toxicology framework that provides a unified access to toxicological data and (Quantitative) Structure-Activity Relationship i.e., (Q)SAR models. OpenTox provides tools for the integration of data, for the generation and validation of (Q)SAR models for toxic effects, libraries for the development and integration of (Q)SAR algorithms, and scientifically sound validation routines. OpenTox will support the development of applications for non-computational specialists in addition to interfaces for risk assessors, toxicological experts and model and algorithm developers.

OpenTox is relevant for the implementation of REACH as it allows risk assessors to access experimental data, (Q)SAR models and toxicological information from a unified interface that adheres to European and international regulatory requirements including OECD Guidelines for validation and reporting.  The OpenTox framework is being populated initially with data and models for chronic, genotoxic and carcinogenic effects. These are the endpoints where computational methods promise the greatest potential reduction in animal testing required under REACH. Initial research has defined the essential components of the framework architecture, approach to data access, schema and management, use of controlled vocabularies and ontologies, web service and communications protocols, and selection and integration of algorithms for predictive modelling.  The initial results of this research and next steps will be discussed.

OpenTox has been initiated as a collaborative project involving a combination of 11 different enterprise, university and government research groups to design and build the initial framework.  Additionally numerous organizations with industry, regulatory or expert interests are being included from the start in providing guidance and direction.  The goal is to expand OpenTox as a community project enabling additional expert and user participants to be involved in developments in as timely a manner as possible. To this end, our agreed upon intention is to carry out developments in an open and transparent manner from the early days of the project, and to open up discussions and development to the global community at large, who may either participate in developments or provide user perspectives.  Cooperation on data standards, data integration, ontologies, integration of algorithm predictions from different methods, and testing and validation all have significant collaboration opportunities and benefits for the community.  Additionally, practices for building effective collaborations from the OpenTox community approach will be discussed.

About OpenTox

OpenTox - An Open Source Predictive Toxicology Framework, www.opentox.org, is funded under the EU Seventh Framework Program: HEALTH-2007-1.3-3 Promotion, development, validation, acceptance and implementation of QSARs (Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships) for toxicology, Project Reference Number Health-F5-2008-200787 (2008-2011).

Project Partners

Douglas Connect^a, In Silico Toxicology^b, Ideaconsult^c, Istituto Superiore di Sanita'^d, Technical University of Munich^e, Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg^f, National Technical University of Athens^g, David Gallagher^h, Institute of Biomedical Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciencesⁱ, Seascape Learning^j and the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology & Experimental Medicine^k

Advisory Board
European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods, European Chemicals Bureau, U.S Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Food & Drug Administration, Nestle, Roche, AstraZeneca, LHASA, Leadscope, University of North Carolina, EC Environment Directorate General, Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development, CADASTER and Bayer Healthcare

*Contact Address: Dr. Barry Hardy, OpenTox Project Coordinator and Director, Community of Practice & Research Activities, Douglas Connect, Baermeggenweg 14, 4314 Zeiningen, Switzerland

 

InnovationWell 2009 Program

The fifth InnovationWell Community of Practice InterAction Meeting will take place from October 13-16, 2009 at Bryn Mawr College near Philadelphia, PA. This year's program has sessions on:

Translational Bioinformatics: Bridging Bioinformatics and Biomedical Informatics in Translational Medicine, chaired by Jake Chen (Indiana University)

Systems Biology and Biomarkers, Chaired by Darius Dziuda (Central Connecticut State University)

Modeling of the Blood–Brain Barrier in Drug Discovery and Development, Chaired by Roméo Cecchelli (Université d'Artois, France)

Predictive Toxicology: Combining in vitro and in silico Techniques in Predictive Toxicology Applications, Co-chaired by Richard Judson (US EPA) and Vladimir Poroikov (Institute of Biomedical Chemistry of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences)

Pre-Conference workshop
We will also hold a pre-conference forum on October 12 on Collaboration in Discovery and Development, Co-chaired by Peter Gates (Johnson & Johnson PR&D) and Barry Hardy (Douglas Connect).

Full details of the conference program including abstracts and speaker bios can be seen at:
http://innovationwell.net/comty_conferences
 
Or you can download a copy of the program as a pdf here:

Download InnovationWell-BM09-90812