Strategic Design of Alternative Methods to Reduce Animal Testing

The McKim Conferences on Predictive Toxicology will host a special workshop on opportunities for streamlining the array of toxicity tests used in assessments of carcinogenicity.  Evaluating short-term in vitro and in vivo data often assumes that alternative test methods have global chemical domains, and the resulting ambiguities tend to propel testing toward the expensive, long-term rodent carcinogen assay.  This retreat will consider a hypothesis-testing framework for organizing short-term evidence of low-incident in vivo risks and more efficient cancer assessments. Participation will be by invitation only, but registration for a limited number of observers will begin in March.

The 2008 McKim Conference provided illustrations of why QSAR models for complex effects endpoints required a knowledge of toxicity pathways in order to simulate the adverse effects of chemicals in animal tests. The 2008 McKim Conference also provided the basic structure of a visualization system for toxicity pathways which describes the biological effects linkages across different levels of biological organization. The International QSAR Foundation has created Effectopedia as a web-based tool to assist in the acquisition of biological response mechanisms and the associated biological knowledge bases which must be associated with these mechanisms to describe the most likely toxicity pathway. The next McKim Conference will be a "traveling" conference to demonstrate the use of Effectopedia with QSAR models and solicit expert volunteers to participate in compiling a biological database that is useful in modeling adverse effects across species and levels of biological observation. For more information on Effectopedia, please watch this website for announcements of the McKim Conference venues.

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The 2007 McKim Conference reviewed the paradigm shift that is needed to improve the efficiency of hazard assessment and the role of chemical categories in beginning a transition to the hypothesis-driven paradigm. Further, the conference examined the IQF conceptual framework for predictive toxicology and the new QSAR models for estrogen receptor binding. Finally, the conference discussed the integration of QSAR and system biology as an approach for identifying the key molecular initiating events needed to predict the hazards of chemicals.

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This annual conference in Duluth, Minnesota, will link QSAR models and advanced animal extrapolation models to extend existing animal test databases to hundreds of untested chemicals, to other animal species, and to different toxicity endpoints. The McKim Conference invites a small group of experts to discuss the major gaps in toxicological models and outline experimental approaches to bridge those gaps. The McKim Conference offers an opportunity for other researchers to observe and participate in the discussion. In addition, the McKim Conference seeks to stimulate student research by highlighting innovative student research projects in QSAR and toxicological modeling.

The 2006 McKim Conference will be held on June 27-29 at the U.S. EPA conference facilities in Duluth Minnesota. The agenda and registration materials are provided.

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