Environmental Defense Fund, 1875 Connecticut Ave. NW, Ste. 600, Washington, DC 20009, USA.
Dantzker Consulting, LLC, 2613 N. Harrison St., Arlington, VA 22207, USA.
Sci Total Environ. 2017 Sep 1;593-594:634-640. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.03.024. Epub 2017 Mar 29.
Federal agencies are making significant investments to advance predictive approaches to evaluate chemical hazards and risks. Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) believes that engagement with the broader scientific community is critical to building and maintaining a strong biological foundation for these approaches.
On June 18-19, 2015, EDF organized a meeting to 1) foster a conversation between federal scientists advancing predictive approaches and environmental health researchers investigating environmental exposures and neurological outcomes, and 2) explore opportunities and challenges for the use of federal chemical high-throughput in vitro screening (HTS) data in hypothesis-driven research toward, ultimately, improved data for public health decision-making.
The meeting achieved its objectives. Government scientists showcased their chemical testing programs and vision for how emerging data may be used to meet agency missions. Environmental health researchers shared their experiences using federal HTS data, offered recommendations for strengthening federal HTS platforms, and expressed great interest in continued engagement with evolving federal chemical testing initiatives.
The meeting provided an invaluable exchange between two scientific communities with a shared interest in protecting public health from harmful environmental exposures, but who have not sufficiently engaged with each other. Discussions identified opportunities and work ahead for the use of HTS data in hypothesis-driven research. Though the meeting focused on neurological outcomes, the purpose, objectives and experience of the meeting are broadly applicable. EDF strongly encourages more discourse and collaboration between federal and non-government scientists working to understand environmental influences on health outcomes.
联邦机构正在进行重大投资，以推进预测方法，评估化学危害和风险。环境保护基金（EDF）认为，与更广泛的科学界进行接触对于为这些方法建立和维护强大的生物学基础至关重要。
2015 年 6 月 18 日至 19 日，EDF 组织了一次会议，旨在：1）促进推进预测方法的联邦科学家与研究环境暴露和神经发育结果的环境健康研究人员之间的对话，2）探索在假设驱动研究中使用联邦化学高通量体外筛选（HTS）数据的机会和挑战，最终为公共卫生决策制定提供更好的数据。
会议实现了其目标。政府科学家展示了他们的化学测试计划以及如何利用新兴数据来实现机构使命的愿景。环境健康研究人员分享了他们使用联邦 HTS 数据的经验，为加强联邦 HTS 平台提出了建议，并对继续参与不断发展的联邦化学测试计划表现出极大的兴趣。
会议在两个对保护公共健康免受有害环境暴露具有共同兴趣但彼此之间尚未充分接触的科学领域之间提供了宝贵的交流机会。讨论确定了在假设驱动研究中使用 HTS 数据的机会和工作重点。虽然会议重点关注神经发育结果，但会议的目的、目标和经验具有广泛的适用性。EDF 强烈鼓励联邦和非政府科学家之间进行更多的对话和合作，以了解环境对健康结果的影响。
