NAM-Driven Computational Pipelines for Safety and Regulatory Framework

Dr. Andy Nong: 

Dr. Andy Nong is the new Director of Computational Toxicology at ScitoVation. Dr Nong has been developing computational research to advance alternative risk assessment approaches.  He leads a group of scientists at ScitoVation that provides various research solutions ranging from transcriptomic analysis, Biological/PBPK modeling, and custom computational applications.  Prior to arriving at ScitoVation in summer of 2022, Dr Nong was Acting Manager and Principal Research Scientist at Health Canada Environmental Health Sciences and Research Bureau. Dr Nong received his PhD in Public Health from the University of Montreal. He also was a Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Investigator at the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology/The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences.  He has author/co-author of over 50 publications including peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and once served on the Board of Editors of the Journal of Applied Toxicology.  In addition to his research activities, Dr Nong is the former past president for the Society of Toxicology Biological Modeling Speciality Section.   He also has been involved in expert committees such as the National Academies of Sciences (NAS), World Health Organisation International Programme on Chemical Safety (WHO/IPCS), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and European Union Reference Laboratory for alternatives to animal testing (EURL-ECVAM).

Abstract:

With the growing production of non-animal testing results for compounds, regulatory science has been evolving to apply these new alternative methods in a public health context. Integration of new and existing scientific information while providing human health context has been a role taken by computational approaches.  In this presentation, we will learn about different computational pipelines that can complement a tier assessment approach for various forms of data such as in vitro screening tests or animal studies. Key concepts on automation, method standardization, and model acceptance will be discussed through our computing products. We will draw examples from our new physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling platform ScitoSim in addition to our toxicodynamic transcriptomic analysis and visualizer package. ScitoSim provides users access to a library of pre-assembled PBPK models to extrapolate different forms of dose metrics. Our transcriptomic pipeline gives users an automated analytical process for high throughput data analysis. With these computational products, we will investigate on how to integrate exposure and toxicity data in a quantitative approach while providing a standardized reporting template.  The aim of this webinar is to understand computational approaches that follow community best practices and are uniformly applied to data, ensuring unbiased in terms of quality control assessments, statistical analyses, and data normalization across compounds and experiments.  

About ScitoVation:

ScitoVation helps clients assess chemical compound safety using innovative science, next-generation technology, and professional expertise. ScitoVation is known for partnership, flexibility, and proven success in its work to develop safer and more effective pharmaceuticals, food ingredients, agricultural chemicals, commodity chemicals and consumer products. A spin-off of the former The CIIT and The Hammer Institutes for Chemical & Drug Safety Sciences, ScitoVation is an industry leader of New Approach Methods (NAMS) for chemical/drug discovery & development in the rapidly evolving global regulatory landscape.