I have now posted the detailed program for the eCheminfo predictive toxicology and ADME 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 download a copy of the program from here as a pdf:
Download ECheminfoPredictiveToxBrochure-OX810-web1
During the workshop we will apply a variety of design, informatics and modelling methods to predictive toxicology problems guided by workshop leaders with expertise in the approaches used. A case study approach will additionally be followed so that groups can work together throughout the week on their case study problems. The case studies will also be developed virtually before the workshop week with support extended afterwards for further work including experimental testing of interesting results and hypotheses developed. The virtual aspects of the case study work will additionally be supported by the Synergy and OpenTox infrastructures and related Collaboration Pool and pilot collaboration study.
Case studies will focus on the development of innovative integrated testing strategies applied to the problem of predicting the toxicity of a molecule. Such strategies are becoming an increasingly important part of drug design strategies so as to remove toxic liabilities as early as possible in the design processs. REACH legislation is also requiring organisations in coming years to carry out a more extensive safety testing of all chemical ingredients in a variety of products ranging from consumer products to food to agrochemicals. Related to this activity is the relatively unsatisfactory use of animal experiments to predict human toxicity, which are not only complex and expensive, but also often do not predict human effects well, if at all.
Hence new approaches combining computational modelling, in vitro assays, systems biology, stem cell technology etc. are required.
We will apply techniques to the study of existing knowledge (e.g., from adverse events, biological literature, pathway models etc.) to help support mechanism-based hypotheses and strategies. Modelling techniques based on data-mining, database searching, and read-across will be applied to chemical categories. Integrated QSAR-based models supported by the new OpenTox infrastructure will be used to build properly validated models including estimation of applicability domain. We will also research ADME and kinetics properties of structures as relevant to their toxicity profiles. We will attempt to predict primary metabolities based on P450 metabolism simulation and model the potential toxicities of metabolites. Population-varied physiologically-based ADME Simulations will be carried out for in vitro-in vivo extrapolation, exposure estimation and to study the variation across individuals and populations. We will also apply workflow techniques to the combination of methods and Bayesian networks to the evolution of weight of evidence based consensus predictions.
The most promising strategies and predictions developed will be used to design experimental human toxicity-oriented in vitro assays which will be run after the workshop as part of the virtual case study extension work. Both computational and experimental work will be documented according to industry best practices in a collaborative electronic laboratory notebook. We will attempt to develop new combined in silico - in vitro strategies superior to existing approaches which should help advance the field and industry testing and regulatory needs.
Through the time spent working and discussing together combined with the availability of a variety of leading software and expert support from workshop leaders, workshop participants should take home ideas and learning to help accelerate their own projects related to safety design and risk assessment. The location and atmosphere in Oxford is also an ideal background for networking, getting to know your peers and joining the ongoing eCheminfo community of practice activities. As is often common with eCheminfo gatherings the workshop usually attracts a variety of backgrounds including industry, academia and government research instititutes and from many different countries. We also welcome the participation of non-modelling specialists from different areas of chemistry, biology and toxicology to participate and bring an interdisciplinary interaction to the collaborative group work.
I hope you can join us!
Barry
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