Submitted by Ivan Rusyn and Rusty Thomas, Chairpersons of the 2015 Continuing Education (CE) PM13 course.
Remember how much excitement there was ten years ago about genomics data in toxicology? The former Director of a major governmental institute, in a promotional video touting the wonders of toxicogenomics, has said (paraphrasing), “I guarantee you that in five years we will not be performing animal cancer bioassays, as genomics data from in vitro experiments would provide all the information necessary to make decisions about chemical’s safety.” Shouldn’t we be there yet?
Perhaps the bar for the expectations was set too high, the cost of the experiments was too much, the reproducibility of the results was uneven, and the knowledge necessary to interpret the data was not commonplace. A decade later, the field of genomics is shifting to novel technology platforms, the familiarity of the toxicologists in dealing with complex big data has improved, and the costs and throughput are pushing the ‘omics to the forefront of the next generation of data streams.
This course is designed to offer a fresh perspective on this field from the point of view of a decision-maker. Where can one use these data to make a decision about chemical safety? How to choose the experimental platform to “fit the purpose?” Can genomics be used for dose-response analysis? Toxicogenomics Meets Regulatory Decision-Making: How to Get Past Heat Maps, Network/Pathway Diagrams, and ‘Favorite’ Genes has been designed to help you navigate these real-life questions. Do not delay, register for the PM13 CE course today! Access a full listing of the CE courses at the 2015 SOT Annual Meeting website.