The University of Surrey is to use Cambridge Cell Networks (CCnet) ToxWiz software to assist its research into drug and chemical safety.
The software predicts toxic bi-products of drugs, and works out the mechanisms that contribute to a chemical's toxicity. It contains a network of more than 2,500 annotated pathways and clusters that links genomics and proteomics data with biochemical pathways and cellular information.
This will provide the toxicologists with information about the on- and off- target mechanisms of action of compounds, which could minimise the amount of animal testing necessary. It uses novel algorithms to predict toxic end-points. This approach to predictive toxicology offers a new perspective in this field.
