Citation:

LaLone, C., G. Ankley, S. Belanger, M. Embry, G. Hodges, D. Knapen, S. Munn, E. Perkins, M. Rudd, Dan Villeneuve, M. Whelan, C. Willett, X. Zhang, AND M. Hecker. Advancing the adverse outcome pathway framework An international horizon scanning approach. SETAC Asia Pacific, Daegu, SOUTH KOREA, September 16 - 19, 2018.

Impact/Purpose:

Input on a particular topic from stakeholders with a variety of backgrounds and geographic locations can lead to new ideas to advance a science field. A horizon scanning exercise, used to collect questions pertinent to a specific topic, can be useful in gathering information from a broad group of people, with the intent of gathering new ideas. In this case, horizon scanning was used to understand how researchers and regulators perceive the status and future directions for the adverse outcome pathway (AOP) framework. The results of the horizon scanning exercise were used as a means to guide discussion topics at an expert workshop. The AOP framework helps scientists gather information about a biological pathway in a consistent format that can be useful for making regulatory decisions about the importance of that pathway and effects to organism upon its disruption by chemical and non-chemical stressors. Advancing the ability to use biological pathway information for regulatory decision-making was the driving force in creating the framework, therefore it was important to ask the greater scientific and regulatory community to identify limitations or challenges they believe need attention to achieve this goal. Experts were then used to rank and prioritize the submitted questions and identify those most critical to the success of the AOP framework in aiding research and regulatory decision-making. This research directly supports the Chemical Safety for Sustainability Research Program Project 17.01: Adverse outcome pathway discovery and development.

Description:

The US EPA is developing more cost effective and efficient ways to evaluate chemical safety using high throughput and computationally based testing strategies. An important component of this approach is the ability to translate chemical effects on fundamental biological processes like enzyme activities, gene expression, and basic cellular functions into what those effects mean to human health or ecosystem sustainability. The adverse outcome pathway (AOP) framework was developed to facilitate that translation. The current work focuses on identifying and beginning to address critical needs in advancing the AOP framework for both research and regulatory decision making.

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