Current toxicological research concentrates on identifying hazards of
chemical compounds and assessing the risks of human exposure. These assessments are based on toxicological tests, mostly using animals as models for man. Despite decades of experience, this risk assessment is still hampered by uncertainties.
The Netherlands Toxicogenomics Centre (NTC) aims to employ toxicogenomics to increase the basic understanding of toxicological
mechanisms. Its mission is to develop new methods that better chart the risks of chemical compounds and simultaneously offer an alternative to the current practice of animal testing.
A first series of four research projects started in 2004. Three of them are all geared to developing alternatives to current animal testing. One of the projects is a bioinformatics project method for processing data flows from the toxicogenomics projects. It also focuses on the development of new bioinformatics tools.
2006 saw the launch of a second series of projects, focusing on the development of genomics approaches towards important toxicological endpoints, such as carcinogenicity and immunotoxicity. Also in 2006, six short-term postdoc projects were launched to evaluate the potential of combining microarray-based technologies with other genomics technologies, such as proteomics.
NTC is a collaboration of the leading Netherlands institutions in the area of toxicology: RIVM, RIKILT, Leiden University, LUMC, Wageningen University, Erasmus MC and Maastricht University.
