Tzutzuy Ramirez
BASF SE, Experimental Toxicology and Ecology, Ludwigshafen, Germany
Mardas Daneshian
Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing – Europe (CAAT-Europe), University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
Hennicke Kamp
BASF SE, Experimental Toxicology and Ecology, Ludwigshafen, Germany
Frederic Y. Bois
Royallieu Research Center, Technological University of Compiegne, Compiegne, France
Malcolm R. Clench
Biomedical Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK
Muireann Coen
Imperial College London, London, UK
Beth Donley
Stemina Biomarker Discovery Inc., Madison, USA
Steven M. Fischer
Agilent Life Sciences Group, Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, USA
Drew R. Ekman
U.S. EPA, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Ecosystems Research Division, Athens, GA, USA
Eric Fabian
BASF SE, Experimental Toxicology and Ecology, Ludwigshafen, Germany
Claude Guillou
Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Institute for Health & Consumer Protection, Ispra, Italy
Joachim Heuer
Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Department of Scientific Services, Berlin, Germany
Helena T. Hogberg
Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT), Baltimore, USA
Harald Jungnickel
Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Department of Product Safety, Berlin, Germany
Hector C. Keun
Imperial College London, London, UK
Gerhard Krennrich
BASF SE, GVC/S Scientific Computing, Ludwigshafen, Germany
Eckart Krupp
Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GmbH, Genetic & Investigative Toxicology, Frankfurt, Germany
Andreas Luch
Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Department of Product Safety, Berlin, Germany
Fozia Noor
Biochemical Engineering, Saarland University, Saarbruecken, Germany
Erik Peter
metanomics GmbH, Berlin, Germany
Bjoern Riefke
Bayer Pharma AG, Investigational Toxicology, Berlin, Germany
Mark Seymour
Syngenta, Jealott’s Hill International Research Centre, Berkshire, UK
Nigel Skinner
Agilent Technologies, London, UK
Lena Smirnova
Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT), Baltimore, USA; Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Department of Product Safety, Berlin, Germany
Elwin Verheij
TNO Quality of Life, Zeist, The Netherlands
Silvia Wagner
metanomics GmbH, Berlin, Germany
Thomas Hartung
Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing – Europe (CAAT-Europe), University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany; Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT), Baltimore, USA
Bennard van Ravenzwaay
BASF SE, Experimental Toxicology and Ecology, Ludwigshafen, Germany
Marcel Leist
Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing – Europe (CAAT-Europe), University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany; Doerenkamp-Zbinden chair for in vitro toxicology and biomedicine, Konstanz, Germany
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Abstract
Metabolomics, the comprehensive analysis of metabolites in a biological system, provides detailed information about the biochemical/physiological status of a biological system, and about the changes caused by chemicals. Metabolomics analysis is used in many fields, ranging from the analysis of the physiological status of genetically modified organisms in safety science to the evaluation of human health conditions. In toxicology, metabolomics is the -omics discipline that is most closely related to classical knowledge of disturbed biochemical pathways. It allows rapid identification of the potential targets of a hazardous compound. It can give information on target organs and often can help to improve our understanding regarding the mode-of-action of a given compound. Such insights aid the discovery of biomarkers that either indicate pathophysiological conditions or help the monitoring of the efficacy of drug therapies. The first toxicological applications of metabolomics were for mechanistic research, but different ways to use the technology in a regulatory context are being explored. Ideally, further progress in that direction will position the metabolomics approach to address the challenges of toxicology of the 21st century. To address these issues, scientists from academia, industry, and regulatory bodies came together in a workshop to discuss the current status of applied metabolomics and its potential in the safety assessment of compounds. We report here on the conclusions of three working groups addressing questions regarding 1) metabolomics for in vitro studies 2) the appropriate use of metabolomics in systems toxicology, and 3) use of metabolomics in a regulatory context.
