Chemical toxicity testing: transatlantic cooperation
The IHCP's High Throughput Screening (HTS) facility is equipped with sophisticated robotic platforms for reliable and rapid testing of chemicals on cell cultures
The JRC Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (IHCP) and the National Centre for Computational Toxicology (NCCT) of the United States Environmental Protection Agency have signed an agreement to facilitate exchange of research materials and results useful for the development of integrated methods for predicting chemical toxicity.
The NCCT, through its ToxCast programme, is generating toxicological profiles of hundreds of reference chemicals using a comprehensive array of automated high throughput screening assays. The intention is to use this unique dataset to build computational models to identify chemicals that may have adverse effects on human health and the environment, and to establish priorities for more in-depth testing. This endeavour fits well with the work programme of the IHCP in the area of chemical safety, where efforts are focused on the design and evaluation of integrated testing strategies for predicting chemical toxicity, by combining chemical-grouping approaches, computational modelling and in vitro testing.
06/10/10