Toxicology and risk assessment are experiencing a paradigm shift from classical animal testing to mechanistically focused disciplines based on integrated in vitro/in silico approaches. Large databases and highly sophisticated methods, algorithms and tools support this transition; however, since these services are developed independently by different groups worldwide, they lack a standardised way to access the data or run modelling workflows.

To overcome this fragmentation, OpenRiskNet is creating an open e-Infrastructure to provide resources and services to a variety of communities requiring risk assessment (chemicals, cosmetic ingredients, therapeutic agents, nanomaterials, etc.) OpenRiskNet combines existing data sources and analysis, modelling and visualisation services and provides them in a harmonised way to a variety of communities requiring chemical risk assessment, including chemicals, cosmetic ingredients, therapeutic agents, and nanomaterials.

“Mechanistic toxicology is a very data- and method-hungry process extracting pieces of evidence from many different experiments and knowledge collections,” says Dr. Thomas Exner, Chief Scientific Officer, Edelweiss Connect. “To support this, OpenRiskNet is building a platform which allows the researcher and risk assessor to concentrate on the science instead of searching for the data and appropriate analysis and modelling software.”