National Center for Computational Toxicology

A Federal Advisory Committee for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research and Development

Background
The National Center for Computational Toxicology (NCCT) became operational on February 20, 2005.  On April 25-26, 2005, the BOSC Computational Toxicology Subcommittee held its first public meeting at the Office of Research and Development’s (ORD) Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina facility, where the majority of NCCT staff is located.  This meeting was intended as the first of several consultative reviews of the Center’s progress, and was prospective in nature, due to the newness of the Center.  The Subcommittee developed a letter report from the April meeting which addressed six charge questions that concentrated on the NCCT’s strategic goals; its collaborations, and connectedness to the rest of the Agency and to outside scientists; its staffing plan; and its thematic choices.  The letter report was finalized by the BOSC Executive Committee and transmitted to ORD in July 2005.  A formal response of the NCCT to the review was provided to the BOSC at their September 2005 Executive Committee meeting. 

The Subcommittee met again in a June 2006 review to continue to provide the NCCT with advice on the progress the Center had made, since Spring 2005, in fulfilling its mission and strategic goals.  The subcommittee addressed nine charge questions, which touched on the new extramural bioinformatics centers, effectiveness of Center work in Agency research, use of computational tools, feedback on the first generation computational toxicology implementation plan, effectiveness of Center communication of research, outcomes, and responsiveness to stakeholder needs.  A letter report was finalized by the BOSC Executive Committee and transmitted to ORD in December 2006.  A formal response of the NCCT to the review was provided to the BOSC at their January 2007 Executive Committee meeting. 

In December 2007, the Subcommittee met to discuss progress the NCCT had made with respect to five NCCT activities: ToxCast™; Information Management/Information Technology (IM/IT) - Informatics; Virtual Liver; Developmental Systems Biology; and Arsenic Biologically-Based Dose Response Model.  A letter report was finalized by the BOSC Executive Committee and transmitted to ORD in September 2008.  A formal response of the NCCT to the review was provided to the BOSC at their February 2009 Executive Committee meeting.  That response included more details on progress with informatics (ACToR, DSSTox, ToxRefDB), chemical prioritization (ToxCast and ExpoCast), and systems modeling (v-Liver™ and v-Embryo™); and an explanation of the disinvestment in arsenic research. 

September 2009 Review
The purpose of the September 2009 review is to provide the NCCT and broader ORD Computational Toxicology Research Program (CTRP) with 1) advice/recommendations on the progress the CTRP has made in the past four and a half years in fulfilling its mission and strategic goals; and 2) advice/recommendations on whether the NCCT should continue as an established organization beyond its original five-year charter. In particular, the subcommittee will address the following questions:

• Charge Question 1: What is your evaluation of the progress the CTRP has made in achieving its original goals and objectives, and whether it has efficiently utilized available resources?
• Charge Question 2: To what extent and how effectively has the CTRP utilized internal and external partnerships to foster its goals?
• Charge Question 3: What evaluation can you provide relative to the contributions of the CTRP to the advancement of transforming the field of toxicity testing?
• Charge Question 4: To what extent do the ORD intramural projects, the extramural STAR centers, and the five stated CTRP management priorities described in the FY09-12 implementation plan combine to efficiently support the goal of providing high throughput decision support tools for screening and assessing chemical exposure, hazard and risk to human health?
• Charge Question 5: The NCCT was established as an organization with a five-year charter ending in February 2010, which would continue dependent on: 1) meeting established goals; and 2) having continuing mission-critical goals and objectives. What recommendation(s) can you provide the Agency regarding continuation of the NCCT as an established organization, and the criticality of its goals and objectives to EPA?

For more information about the EPA BOSC Program please visit www.epa.gov/osp/bosc/index.htm