Tox21 Expertise

Tox21 experts have expertise in the following areas:

Large-Scale Screening

  • Assay development
  • Assay design
  • Assay validation (assay screened in triplicate against pharmacologically active compounds and 88 additional compounds selected by the Tox21 Chemical Selection Working Group to evaluate reproducibility and positive control consistency)
  • Assay optimization
  • High-content screening
  • Quantitative high-throughput screening (qHTS)
  • Assay miniaturization (adapted for the qHTS platform)

Genomic Analyses

  • Gene expression profiling (e.g.,  RNAseq and scRNAseq)
  • Epigenetic analysis

Human Cell Model Development

  • Stem cell–derived models of neurons, endothelium and cardiomyocytes
  • Immortalized cell line models of neurons, keratinocytes and renal proximal tubule epithelial cells
  • Genome engineering using CRISPR

Data Analysis

  • Normalization and correction
  • Concentration-response curve-fitting to generate potency and efficacy
  • Classification of curves based on significance of fit (by p-values), completeness of fit and efficacy
  • Reproducibility evaluation
  • Assignment of activity outcomes
  • Concentration-response point-of-departure determination from gene expression data

Data Dissemination

Data available in these public databases encourage independent evaluations of Tox21 findings:

Selected Publications