Springer A Systems Biology Approach to Advancing Adverse Outcome Pathways for Risk Assessment

Social pressure to minimize the use of animal testing, the ever-increasing concern on animal welfare, and the need for more human-relevant and more predictive toxicity tests are some of the drivers for new approaches to chemical screening. This book focuses on The Adverse Outcome Pathway, an analytical construct that describes a sequential chain of causally linked events at different levels of biological organization that lead to an adverse health or ecotoxicological effect. While past efforts have focused on toxicological pathway-based vision for human and ecological health assessment relying on in vitro systems and predictive models, The Adverse Outcome Pathway framework provides a simplified and structured way to organize toxicological information. Within the book, a systems biology approach supplies the tools to infer, link, and quantify the molecular initiating events and the key events and key event relationships leading to adverse outcomes. The advancement of these tools is crucial for the successful implementation of AOPs for regulatory purposes. From the Back Cover Social pressure to minimize the use of animal testing, the ever-increasing concern on animal welfare, and the need for more human-relevant and more predictive toxicity tests are some of the drivers for new approaches to chemical screening. This book focuses on The Adverse Outcome Pathway, an analytical construct that describes a sequential chain of causally linked events at different levels of biological organization that lead to an adverse health or ecotoxicological effect. While past efforts have focused on toxicological pathway-based vision for human and ecological health assessment relying on in vitro systems and predictive models, The Adverse Outcome Pathway framework provides a simplified and structured way to organize toxicological information. Within the book, a systems biology approach supplies the tools to infer, link, and quantify the molecular initiating events and the key events and key event relationships leading to adverse outcomes. The advancement of these tools is crucial for the successful implementation of AOPs for regulatory purposes. About the Author Natàlia Garcia-Reyero Vinas received her BS in Biology from Universitat de Girona, and her MS and PhD from Universitat de Barcelona, in Barcelona, Spain. She is now a researcher at the US Army Engineer Research & Development Center Environmental Laboratory. Her research focuses on environmental pollutants and their effects on aquatic species while trying to elucidate their mechanisms of action using ecotoxicogenomics and a systems biology approach. Cheryl A. Murphy received her BSc in Marine Biology from Dalhousie University, Canada, her MSc in Physiology and Cell Biology from University of Alberta, Canada and PhD in Oceanography and Coastal Sciences from Louisiana State University. She is now an Associate Professor at Michigan State University, in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. Her research focuses on environmental pollutants and stressors and their effects on aquatic species while trying to link subtle molecular and subcellular responses to population relevant endpoints that are crucial for ecological risk assessment.