The Evidence-based Toxicology Collaboration (EBTC) was formed to
translate the principles and approaches of Evidence-based
Medicine/Health Care to toxicology (http://www.ebtox.com/).
Open approaches to standards, data, software and ontology as promoted by the OpenTox Community (http://www.opentox.org/) can make a valuable contribution to the development of EBTC case studies applying systematic reviews in toxicology.
I will join Thomas Hartung and Sebastian Hoffmann at an EBTC session at EuroTox 2013 to discuss the development of systematic reviews in toxicology, which would be facilitated by a toxicology ontology.
I expect we will also communicate further details on this collaborative effort virtually to the community and look forward to hearing from those who have interest in this initiative.
Evidence-based Toxicology Collaboration
EuroTox 2013, Interlaken, Switzerland
13.00-14.00, Monday, September 2
Room: Grimsel 1+2
Chair: Thomas Hartung, USA
Evidence-based approaches, which were pioneered in medicine, provide the means to transparently, objectively, and consistently assess the evidence bearing on questions in medicine or other fields of science. The EBTC comprises stakeholders in academia, industry, and government seeking to strengthen decision-making in safety sciences, and thereby enhance confidence in the process by which scientific evidence is assessed. The EBTC is primarily interested in assessing the performance of the toxicological test methods and addressing questions about the safety of substances to human health and the environment. The EBTC’s efforts are timely, as there is growing interest in applying systematic reviews in toxicology, which would be facilitated by a toxicology ontology, as well as a growing recognition that new test assessment approaches are needed, for example in the context of composing and assessing integrated testing strategies.
Evidence-based Toxicology (EBT) and the EBT Collaboration: Sebastian Hoffmann, Germany
EBT and Integrated Testing Strategy: Thomas Hartung, USA
Toxicology Ontology Development supporting Evidence-based Approaches in Predictive Toxicology: Barry Hardy, Switzerland