Japanese Press Release


Circulated on 17 September 2004
Revised 6 October (tentative)

OECD/IPCS Workshop on Toxicogenomics
13-15 October 2004, Kyoto, Japan

Preliminary Agenda


DAY 1 (Wednesday 13th October)

13h00   1. Welcome Introduction

After the welcoming remarks by Kazuko Kamiya (Japan), Eisaku Toda (OECD) will explain the background, objectives, format and expected outcomes of the Workshop, from the perspectives of the OECD Environment, Health and Safety Programme. Tim Meredith (IPCS) will welcome the participants and mention the linkage between OECD and IPCS.

13h20   2. Plenary presentations - setting the scene -

(1) Ecotoxicogenomics - overview of the science.
Jason Snape (United Kingdom) will review the state of the art of this fast growing science. The outcome from the questionnaire will be referred to.

(2) Ecotoxicology - regulatory assessment of chemicals (& toxicogenomics).
Maurice Zeeman (United States) will explain the principles and approaches in assessing environmental effects/risks of chemicals. The topic will include species selection, effects on population and ecosystem, use of dose-response relationship, safety/uncertainty factors, etc.

(3) Lessons from mammalian toxicogenomics.
Lesley Onyon (IPCS) will present the overview of the use of genomics in human health effects/risk assessment, referring to the outcome from the IPCS Workshop in November 2003.

(4) Validation issues.
Raffaella Corvi (European Commission) will explain the crucial role of validation for toxicogenomics-based tests and will present the outcome of the ECVAM/ICCVAM Workshop on “Principles for validation of toxicogenomcis-based test systems” December 2003.

(5) Interspecies extrapolation.
Bill Benson (United States) will present the outcome from the SETAC/SOT Workshop on Emerging Molecular and Computational Approaches for Cross-Species Extrapolations, July 2004.

(6) Discussion.

14h50   Coffee break

15h20   3. Plenary presentations - introduction to the issues for the workshop -

(1) Commonalities and differences between ecotoxicogenomics and mammalian toxicogenomics.
Taisen Iguchi will present some specific considerations in ecotoxicogenomics, such as the use of control animals, bioinformatics structures, data exchange, interspecies variety, possibility for testing environmental samples, etc

(2) How genomics could bring about revolution (or evolution) to ecotoxicology.
Jason Snape (United Kingdom) will explore different types of possible uses of genomic methods for chemical assessment. This will include: replacement and refinement of ecotoxicity tests, prioritisation/screening/classification, identifying chemical categories with similar ecotoxicological properties, identifying unknown mode of action, reducing uncertainty in interspecies extrapolation, testing environmental samples, etc.

(3) Functional genomics
Kenneth Ramos (US) will present issues related to functional genomics.

(4) Open Methods of Gene Expression - Applications to Ecotoxicology
Sean Kennedy (Canada) will present the results of some of his recent research that has used Serial Analysis of Gene Expression (SAGE) and Differential Display PCR for determining the effects of environmental contaminants on wildlife.

(5) Database of genomic information
Susanna Sansone (UK) will present the activities of the European Bioinformatics Institute on the development of the database of toxicogenomic data, and issues related to the harmonisation of data structure for the database.

(6) Discussion

17h30   Adjourn for the day

18h00   Welcome reception, at Banquet Room “Swan”

DAY 2 (Thursday 14th October)

09h00   4. Plenary presentations - case studies -

The following speakers will present their experience in applying genomic methods to ecotoxicology, for different species, endpoints, exposure regimes and objectives, including issues related to bioinformatics.
10h00 Coffee break

10h30   5. Breakout session 1

The Workshop will break into the following four groups: Questions to be addressed at these breakout sessions are attached at the end of this agenda. Membership and chairpersons for these groups will be announced later.

13h00   Lunch Break

14h00   5. Plenary feedback from Breakout Session 1

14h30   6. Breakout session 2

17h30   Adjourn for the day

DAY 3 (Friday 14th October)

09h00   7. Plenary feedback from Breakout Session 1

09h30   8. Breakout session 3

13h00   Lunch Break

14h00   9. Plenary feedback from Breakout Session 1

14h30   10. Overall conclusions and recommendations

17h30   Close





Questions for breakout groups

Each of the four breakout groups would approach the questions for the Workshop from a different perspective. While there are some questions that are unique to some groups, many of the questions distributed among the groups are the same, providing the opportunity for expression of ideas from different perspectives. Outcome from the breakout discussion will be reported back to plenary for exchange of different perspectives.

Participants are invited to consider these questions prior to the workshop, and submit any views or related materials to the Secretariat (eisaku.toda@oecd.org) before the Workshop as appropriate.

1. Biological
  1. What are common issues that face human and ecological risk analysis
  2. How can integration of cross-species genomic analyses be used to address common issues and provide solutions?
  3. What types of genomic and/or proteomic data will be most useful to develop interconnections between the human and ecological risk paradigm?
  4. What organisms should receive the greatest priority for sequencing? Will the availability of comparative genomics maps for model species assist future sequencing efforts? Will we need to sequence multiple species? How will other methods assist in bridging the knowledge gap until sequence data becomes available?
  5. What organisms should receive the greatest priority for sequencing? Will the availability of comparative genomics maps for model species assist future sequencing efforts?
  6. In the evaluation of genomic responses, will it be possible to distinguish toxic response from compensatory or adaptive responses? If so, how?
  7. What regulatory decisions could genomic-based methods support, and how? (Replacing existing toxicity tests? As an additional endpoint? Reducing uncertainty in inter-species extrapolation? Supporting QSARs and categorisation of chemicals?) What validation approaches are appropriate for these regulatory uses?
2. Technical
  1. What are common issues that face human and ecological risk analysis?
  2. How can integration of cross-species genomic analyses be used to address common issues and provide solutions?
  3. What needs to be done to apply molecular and computational toxicological information to human and environmental risk assessment?
  4. What are the different technologies available for ecotoxicogenomic studies (e.g. DNA microarrays, SAGE)? What will be the greatest use of genomic technologies in ecotoxicology? Why?
  5. In the evaluation of genomic responses, will it be possible to distinguish toxic response from compensatory or adaptive responses? If so, how?
  6. Will we need to sequence multiple species? How will other methods assist in bridging the knowledge gap until sequence data becomes available?
  7. What organisms should receive the greatest priority for sequencing? Will the availability of comparative genomics maps for model species assist future sequencing efforts?
  8. What regulatory decisions could genomic-based methods support, and how? (Replacing existing toxicity tests? As an additional endpoint? Reducing uncertainty in inter-species extrapolation? Supporting QSARs and categorisation of chemicals?) What validation approaches are appropriate for these regulatory uses?
  9. What types of genomic and/or proteomic data will be most useful to develop interconnections between the human and ecological risk paradigm?
3. Regulatory
  1. From the standpoint of ecological and human risk assessment, what genomics technologies (e.g., gene arrays, proteomics, etc.) will be of greatest value? Why?
  2. What are common issues that face human and ecological risk analysis?
  3. What types of genomic and/or proteomic data will be most useful to develop interconnections between the human and ecological risk paradigm?
  4. How can regulators use genomic information if submitted?
  5. What regulatory decisions could genomic-based methods support, and how? (Replacing existing toxicity tests? As an additional endpoint? Reducing uncertainty in inter-species extrapolation? Supporting QSARs and categorisation of chemicals?) What validation approaches are appropriate for these regulatory uses?
  6. In the evaluation of genomic responses, will it be possible to distinguish toxic response from compensatory or adaptive responses? If so, how?
  7. How can regulators have confidence in the data from genomic-based methods?
  8. How can the transparency in the technology be warranted? What can manufacturers of genomic instruments do to improve confidence in the technology?
  9. How should issues of intellectual property right be taken into consideration in the regulatory use of genomic-based methods?
4. Bioinformatics
  1. Are ecotoxicogenomics data unique from other toxicogenomic data?
  2. Are the bioinformatics structures set up to handle data for mammals sufficient to address the needs of scientists working in ecotoxicogenomics? Is the MIAME/ENV scheme suitable for ecotoxicity?
  3. What informatic structures are required to facilitate comparative genetics and comparative genomics?
  4. What bioinformatics tools have you found valuable? Why?
  5. What needs to be done to apply molecular and computational toxicological information to human and environmental risk assessment?
  6. What types of genomic and/or proteomic data will be most useful to develop interconnections between the human and ecological risk paradigm?How should issues of intellectual property right be taken into consideration in the regulatory use of genomic-based methods?
  7. How should issues of intellectual property right be taken into consideration in the regulatory use of genomic-based methods?
  8. How can integration of cross-species genomic analyses be used to address common issues and provide solutions?





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