New Approach Methods Training - 2025 Society of Toxicology Satellite Meeting
We regret to inform you that due to federal travel restrictions, the U.S. EPA’s New Approach Methods (NAMs) Training on March 20, 2025, has been cancelled. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. In lieu of this training course, we hope to share virtual materials via email soon.
Please join the EPA NAMs email list for training updates, upcoming trainings, or other similar events. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to EPA-NAMs-Training-Support@icf.com.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s CompTox Chemicals Dashboard and Associated Biological Activity and Hazard Data
Thursday, March 20, 2025, 12:00–4:30 PM
A Society of Toxicology (SOT) Satellite Meeting Organized by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
The session will provide an in-depth demonstration on EPA’s CompTox Chemicals Dashboard (CCD) with a focus on the CCD’s Bioactivity and Hazard Tabs, as well as the underlying data resources populating those tabs, ToxCast’s invitroDB, the Toxicity Value Database, and Toxicity Reference Database. Attendees will learn how to access and interpret the data available through the CCD as well as other means such as EPA’s CompTox and Exposure APIs (CTX APIs), software packages, and databases. CTX APIs enable users to programmatically leverage data from various databases and integrate the data with their workflows.
This session is intended for attendees at all levels of expertise, from risk assessors wishing to gain a better understanding of the CCD and its available data, to scientific developers seeking to expand their skillsets on programmatic access via the CTX APIs for variety of applications. The session will also feature live demonstrations on ways to navigate and incorporate Bioactivity and Hazard data along with additional time for questions and tool mentoring.
CompTox Chemicals Dashboard: EPA developed the CCD to provide public access to chemistry, toxicity, and exposure data for chemicals. This information includes chemical structures, experimental and predicted physicochemical properties, hazard information, biological activity data, and links to relevant websites and applications with supporting information.
Toxicity Forecaster: EPA’s ToxCast program is an accessible resource of biological activity data for thousands of chemicals. Assays currently available in the ToxCast database evaluate chemical effects on specific intended targets such as receptors, enzymes, mRNA expression, and more.
Toxicity Values Database: ToxValDB offers an expansive collection of summary-level information from in vivo toxicology studies and human health risk assessments. ToxValDB compiles toxicity data from multiple public datasets and databases, with an emphasis on quantitative estimates of relevant points-of-departure from in vivo toxicology studies such as those curated in the ToxRefDB.
Toxicity Reference Database: ToxRefDB contains highly curated legacy information from guideline and guideline-like in vivo studies and is one of the many sources provided as summary values in ToxValDB. ToxRefDB has been used in setting benchmarks to predict quantitative points of -departures and building scientific confidence in the performance of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs).
Agenda
Exact times of invited speakers will be finalized closer to the event, as speakers and topics are subject to change.
12:00 PM–12:10 PM
Welcome: Scarlett VanDyke
12:10 PM–3:30 PM
Speaker Presentations:
(Please note: Each presentation will be 40 minutes in length followed by 10 minutes of Q&A)
- CompTox Chemicals Dashboard: Dr. Nisha Sipes
- ToxCast: Madison Feshuk, MS
- ToxValDB: Dr. Chelsea Weitekamp
- ToxRefDB: Madison Feshuk, MS
3:30 PM–4:25 PM
One-on-one Tool Mentoring
4:25 PM–4:30 PM
Closing Remarks: Scarlett VanDyke
Presenters
Nisha Sipes brings a multidisciplinary background in engineering, cell and molecular biology, and computational toxicology, as well as a driven passion to increase translation of our research for adoption and ultimate use. Her postdoctoral training at the U.S. EPA involved analyzing the ToxCast high-throughput screening assays, developing predictive models of developmental toxicity, and evaluating the ToxCast assays with respect to their ability to predict broader in vivo outcomes utilizing the high-throughput toxicokinetic modeling (HTTK) approaches. In her professional role in the National Toxicology Program Division at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Dr. Sipes focused on leveraging in silico methods in HTTK modeling approaches to allow for broader applicability of these approaches to Tox21 chemicals, flame retardants, and potential developmental neurotoxicants. Now back at the EPA, Dr. Sipes aims to facilitate the translation of Center for Computational Toxicology & Exposure’s research for use in decisions and to provide scientific and technical expertise to EPA Program Offices, EPA Regions and outside stakeholder groups with an interest in using CCTE research to inform public health and environmental decisions.
Madison Feshuk is a biologist in U.S. EPA’s Center for Computational Toxicology & Exposure. She supports multi-disciplinary scientific research efforts by developing and applying innovative data science solutions. These efforts are crucial to promote the adoption of NAMs and increase data interoperability to ultimately achieve reductions in animal testing and improve environmental risk assessment and regulatory decision making. Her expertise includes database development and maintenance, data wrangling and analysis, project management, user acceptance testing, and quality evaluation efforts, specifically supporting in vitro chemical screening data in ToxCast’s invitroDB and legacy in vivo toxicity study curations in ToxRefDB.
Katie Paul Friedman is a toxicologist in U.S. EPA’s Center for Computational Toxicology & Exposure within the U.S. EPA. She works with predictive assay and systems biology models to prioritize chemicals and mixtures for further evaluation, with expertise in developmental and endocrine toxicities. One of her goals is to modernize and improve prioritization and risk assessment of environmentally relevant chemicals. As part of her work, Dr. Paul Friedman coordinates and leads endocrine-related computational toxicology research, analyzes high-throughput screening assay datasets, integrates multiple data sources into systems biology models of toxicological relevance for endocrine function, and develops case studies that illustrate the utility of high-throughput screening data for prioritization and risk assessment tasks.
Chelsea Weitekamp is a biologist and Assistant Center Director for Research Translation and Program and Regulatory Support in the U.S. EPA’s Center for Computational Toxicology & Exposure. Throughout her tenure at EPA, Dr. Weitekamp has supported multiple human health assessments of environmental chemicals within the Office of Research and Development. In her current role, she provides technical support to stakeholders and collaborates with partners to develop and implement case studies that utilize NAMs in evaluating the potential human health effects of chemicals. In addition, she is the project lead for ToxValDB, a large compilation of human health relevant toxicology data that is employed in many approaches to develop, evaluate, and/or validate NAMs.