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ciDirector's Comments: Daniel A. Casciano, Ph.D.
It was essential for us to integrate the new technologies with the traditional toxicological tools we had been developing and validating mainly for preclinical studies. It became evident to me that these emerging technologies finally provided us with the means to determine the relevance of the rodent surrogate bioassays we had been using because they were applicable to evaluating the human. I felt if these surrogates were not as predictive as we’d like, these new tools would help guide us in the development of new surrogates. We finally could become major players in understanding toxicology in humans and assist the FDA in designing more meaningful clinical studies. To accomplish this, we needed to build an infrastructure that could support the development of methodology in genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and bioinformatics. Using supplemental funds, the infrastructure was developed and recruitment of trained staff was begun. We were extremely fortunate to be able to recruit highly talented individuals to lead in these specific areas. This was due to our international reputation in the toxicological community and the infrastructure we had in place. In order to be successful, we needed a strong computer science and informatics staff to help us translate the myriads of data produced using these technologies into biological significance. Fortunately we had statisticians in Biometry interested in the challenge, and we had in place a skilled computational science staff that were well hidden under the veil of the Endocrine Disruptor Knowledge Base. I think that the most important contribution of my administrative career, in my opinion, was the recognition that systems toxicology was the next discipline that needed to be integrated into the fabric of the NCTR.
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