New Technologies Newsletter

SIG Leaders: Patricia Escobar and Brinda Mahadevan

The New Technologies SIG breakfast meeting, "New Tools to Detect Mutagenicity/Immunotoxicity" was held on Monday, October 20, 2008 and over 30 participants  from academia, government and industry attended.  The meeting was opened by the SIG chairs Brinda Mahadevan and Patricia Escobar with an update on activities of the SIG and its critical components for the new EMS mission statement.  Input on the mission statement and other activities of the SIG from the SIG breakfast attendees was also captured through a survery. 

The survey was a success as the feedback allowed the chairs to provide the SIG mission statement, contact volunteers to work on the SIG web page and organize future SIG related activities.  The survey and discussion was followed by two very interesting scientific presentations.

The first speaker was Dr. Andrew  J. Olaharski, from the Discovery and Investigative Safety, Roche, Palo Alto, CA, who presented on "Utilizing kinase inhibitory profiles to predict in vitro micronucleus assay results". 

This was followed by a presentation by Dr. Paurene Duramad, from the Toxicology & Safety Assessment, Genentech, South San Francisco, CA , titled "Developing Biomarkers of Immunotoxicity".

In addition to the breakfast meeting, the New Technologies SIG organized a workshop titled "Omics - Applications and Impacts on Genotoxicity Assessment" on Saturday, October 18, 2008.  There were over 50 registered participants and a special issue in the journal Mutation Research on topics covered at the workshop is in the works. 

We have worked with the Program Committee for the active representation of this SIG in scientific symposia/workshops for the 40th Annual Meeting of EMS in St. Louis, Missouri, October 24-28, 2009  with a great outcome.  We are proud to present the following as organized/endorsed events by the New Technologies SIG at the  EMS Annual meeting in October 2009.

1. Symposium session titled  "Genetic Toxicology in the 21st Century" chaired by Drs. Raymond Tice and Brinda Mahadevan, 1-3:30 p.m. on Monday, October 26, 2009.
2. Symposium session titled "Nanotechnology: An Insight on the Toxicology of Nanoparticles" chaired by Drs. Patricia Escobar and David DeMarini, 3:15-5:15 p.m., Wednesday, October 28, 2009.
3. Interactive workshop titled "Bacterial Mutagenicity Screening for Discovery Support and Drug Candidate Selection" 8:30-12 Noon, Saturday, October 24, 2009.     

This workshop would:

Facilitate the discussion on several bacterial mutagenicity screening platforms and strategies followed across the pharmaceutical industry. 
Focus on the different assays used in early drug development to understand the value of each individual assay and its advantages. 
Provide an opportunity to share and learn about the sensitivity/specificity of the mutagenictiy screening assays with reference to proprietary/internal compounds and their concordance /predictivity in GLP Ames. 

Ultimately, how the data from the screening assays are being utilized and the recommendations of assays for early and late discovery genetic toxicology screens will also be presented.  Look for the details of the workshop in the preliminary program and we strongly encourage you to register for the workshop and obtain a wealth of unpublished information on screening strategies followed across pharmaceutical companies in early drug development and lead optimization processes .  

We are preparing the agenda for the New Technologies SIG breakfast meeting at the EMS meeting in St. Louis Missouri. So, those interested in assisting with this and other activities of the SIG including suggestions for speakers, please contact Brinda Mahadevan (brinda.mahadevan@spcorp.com) or Patricia Escobar (patricia.escobar@boehringer-ingelheim.com).