Chemical Society: Dr. Michelle Hooth - The U.S. National Toxicology Program’s Evolving Strategies for Evaluating Substances of Public Health Concern

The U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP) is an interagency program whose mission is to evaluate substances of public health concern by developing and applying tools of modern toxicology and molecular biology.  The NTP has a broad research portfolio and has studied over 2,500 substances including industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals, environmental contaminants, dietary supplements, and occupational chemicals.   NTP has traditionally relied on in vivo toxicology and carcinogenicity assays in rodents, which range from acute to chronic in duration and assess a wide variety of biological endpoints for possible effects on human health.  In recent years, the NTP has expanded its capabilities to examine the developmental, reproductive and neurobehavioral toxicity of substances.  In addition to its current portfolio of toxicological studies, the NTP is working to make toxicology research more efficient, allowing for a much greater number of substances to be tested, for information to be generated more rapidly, and to predict human health hazards more precisely.  The NTP also conducts literature-based evaluations to identify and characterize cancer or non-cancer hazards from environmental exposures. This seminar will provide an overview of the toxicology and carcinogenicity studies conducted by the NTP and some of the challenges and accomplishments as the program explores ways to develop and integrate more rapid, mechanism-based predictive screens.