title: Advancing Risk Assessment through the Application of Systems Toxicology.
abstract: Risk assessment is the process of quantifying the probability of a harmful effect to individuals or populations from human activities. Mechanistic approaches to risk assessment have been generally referred to as systems toxicology. Systems toxicology makes use of advanced analytical and computational tools to integrate classical toxicology and quantitative analysis of large networks of molecular and functional changes occurring across multiple levels of biological organization. Three presentations including two case studies involving both in vitro and in vivo approaches described the current state of systems toxicology and the potential for its future application in chemical risk assessment.
authors.affiliation: Predictive Safety Testing Consortium, Critical Path Institute, Tucson, AZ, USA.
authors.forename: John Michael
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Sauer
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins University, Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT), Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD USA.
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kleensang
authors.affiliation: PMI Research and Development, Neuchatel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Manuel C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Peitsch
authors.affiliation: Harvard University and Michigan State University Institute for Integrative Toxicology, Andover, MA 01810.
authors.forename: A Wallace
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Hayes
keywords: Risk assessment; Systems toxicology