Biomedical subjects

William D Pennie

Publications and source records attributed to William D Pennie.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2002

Custom cDNA microarrays; technologies and applications.

Technologies designed to characterise genes and their products on a discovery scale are now having an impact on many areas of biology, including toxicology. A number of platforms exist which measure changes in expression of potentially thousands of genes simultaneously. These approaches, when applied to toxicology, are termed 'toxicogenomics' and promise to greatly facilitate mechanism-based research on toxicant action with the longer term possibility of assisting in the identification of potential toxicity issues earlier in the development of new pharmaceutical, agrochemical and chemical products. An example of such a platform developed in our laboratory is ToxBlot II, a custom microarray containing cDNAs representing 12564 human genes chosen on the basis of their potential relevance to a broad range of toxicities. ToxBlot II can assist in characterising many outcomes including processes as diverse as immune system response, receptor biology, signal transduction, protein modification, membrane transport, growth and development, metabolism, oxidative stress and regulation of the cell cytoskeleton. Furthermore, ToxBlot II allows the simultaneous expression profiling of genes representing entire cellular pathways, facilitating a very detailed investigation of potential mechanisms of toxicity. Our laboratory is applying this and other custom microarrays to many areas of toxicology, including endocrine disruption, receptor biology, stress response and the effect of toxicants on immune function. Such approaches can be particularly valuable when used in conjunction with 'functional genomics' such as transgenic or knockout models.

Data Interpretation, Statistical↗

PubMed2002

Use of genomics in toxicology and epidemiology: findings and recommendations of a workshop.

The sequencing of the human genome has revolutionized biology and led to an astounding variety of technologies and bioinformatics tools, enabling researchers to study expression of genes, the function of proteins, metabolism, and genetic differences within populations and between individuals. These scientific advances are making an impact in the medical research community and hold great promise for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases. This developing field also holds great promise for improving the scientific basis for understanding the potential impacts of chemicals on health and the environment. A workshop sponsored by the International Council of Chemical Associations was held to review the state of the science in the application of genomics technologies in toxicology and epidemiology. Further, consideration was given to the ethical, legal, and regulatory issues and their influence on the direction and application of genomics technologies to environmental health research. Four overarching themes emerged from the workshop: Genomics technologies should be used within a framework of toxicology and epidemiology principles and applied in a context that can be used in risk assessment; effective application of these technologies to epidemiology will require suitable biologic samples from large and diverse population groups at the relevant period of exposure; ethical, legal, and social perspectives require involvement of all stakeholder communities; and a unified research agenda for genomics technologies as applied to toxicology, epidemiology, and risk assessment is urgently needed for the regulatory and scientific communities to realize the potential power and benefits of these new technologies.

Animals↗