Food
Our services for the food Industry
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QSAR and read-across supporting the safety assessment of substances (e.g. food contaminants, food contact materials).
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Computational toxicology assessment of potential genotoxicity.
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Tools that we employ are:
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Leadscope Model Applier
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Lhasa (Derek and Sarah)
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Other (VEGA/OECD QSAR Toolbox/T.E.S.T./Toxtree)
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Endpoints that we predict include:
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Carcinogenicity
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Mutagenicity
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Genotoxicity
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Skin Sensitization
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Acute Toxicity
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Reproductive toxicity
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Developmental toxicity
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Neurotoxicity
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Target organ toxicity (e.g., liver, urinary tract, lung, cardiac)
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Other (e.g., environmental toxicity)
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Training on in silico toxicology methods and their integration in a safety assessment process is provided.
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In Silico Toxicology
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In silico toxicology (also referred to as computational toxicology) aims at predicting toxicity generally from chemical structure.
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In silico toxicology includes category formation (grouping) and read-across, Structure-Activity Relationship (SAR), Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR), and Expert Systems.
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In silico toxicology methods play a crucial role to generating additional information for complementing and ultimately enhancing or supporting a risk assessment, including an understanding of the structural and/or mechanistic basis that may contribute ideas for the rational design of new chemicals, development of a testing strategy or an overall weight-of-evidence evaluation.
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References:
Myatt, G. et al. (2018). In silico toxicology protocols. Regul Toxicol Pharmacol, 96, 1-17.
Bassan A. et al. (2018). Final report on the update and maintenance of OpenFoodTox: EFSA's Chemical Hazards Database EN-1438.
Bassan A. et al. (2014). Further development and update of EFSA’s Chemical Hazards Database, EFSA supporting publication EN-654.
Bassan, A. et al. (2012). Reports on toxicokinetics, toxicity and allergenicity data on substances to be evaluated as acceptable previous cargoes for edible fats and oils. EFSA Supporting Publications EN-274.
Bassan A., Worth A. P. (2007). Computational Tools for Regulatory Needs. In: Ekins S. (eds) Risk Assessment For Pharmaceutical And Environmental Chemicals, , Wiley & Sons, Inc.