EPA ToxCast Panel

The National Center for Computational Toxicology (NCCT) has entered into a multiyear contract with Caliper Discovery Alliances & Services (CDAS) to profile biological activity of a large collection of environmental chemicals. The objective of the project is to generate data to support ToxCast, a chemical prioritization project being developed by NCCT. The goal of ToxCast is to use computational methods to build models to predict potential for toxicity of environmental chemicals.

It is estimated there are more than 10,000 environmental chemicals from several EPA programs that need prioritizing for further testing. For example, antimicrobials, inert pesticide ingredients, high-production-volume chemicals, drinking water contaminant candidates, endocrine disruptor, etc., generally have limited toxicological data available for hazard and risk assessments. ToxCast™ is being developed to provide a means to efficiently and quantitatively prioritize these chemicals for detailed toxicological evaluation based on computational models using chemical descriptors and biological activity profiling fingerprints. Caliper will provide in vitro screening on a EPA selected subset of these chemicals through a array of diverse biological targets including Cytochrome P450s, GPCRs, Nuclear Receptors, Ion Channels, Transporters, Kinases, Phosphatases, an other Enzymes. More specifically, this application is focused on bringing the sophisticated drug discovery tools initially developed by Caliper to service the pharmaceutical industry to define and characterize the broad and extensive universe of pesticidal (and environmental) chemistries. HTS technology optimized for drug discovery is now being re-calibrated and re-focused on to applications in toxicological screening of environmentally relevant chemical agents.

For additional information on Caliper’s EPA ToxCast panel phone at 410.712.4410 or email at CDASinvitro@caliperls.com.