www. ecotoxchip.ca Nil Basu1, Doug Crump2, Markus Hecker3, Jessica Head1, Gordon Hickey1, Natacha Hogan3, Steve Maguire1,2, Jianguo Xia1 1-McGill University, Montreal, Canada; 2-Environment and Climate Change Canada, Ottawa; 3-University Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada; 2-University of Sydney, Australia Contact: info@ecotoxchip.ca; www.ecotoxchip.ca; www.ecotoxxplorer.ca ECOTOXCHIP: A TOXICOGENOMICS TOOL FOR CHEMICAL PRIORITIZATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT CHALLENGE • Chemical contamination threatens the health of humans and wildlife globally • Regulatory agencies and businesses are tasked to manage chemicals but are challenged: • many chemicals (e.g., 4.3K in Canada, 84K in USA, 101K in EU) need to be tested within short timeframes; • mandate to monitor many complex environmental samples (e.g., sediment, water, effluents); • testing is costly, time-consuming, and uses many animals; • tests on limited model species poorly predict risk in native species of concern. Urgent worldwide demand for improved testing tools that are more efficient, affordable, flexible, predictive, and less dependent on live animal studies ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Funders: Génome Québec, Genome Prairie, Genome Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Government of Canada, the University of Saskatchewan, and McGill University People: Pascal Poulin (Project Manager), Emily Boulanger, Jenny Eng, Anita Masse (Local Project Managers), several graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and technicians, staff at Génome Québec, Genome Prairie, and Genome Canada Research Oversight Committee: Drs. Nancy Denslow (chair), Kevin Crofton, Daniel Schlenk, Roy Suddaby, and Carole Yauk Core Partners: Government (Environment & Climate Change Canada, US Army Corps of Engineers, US EPA) & Business (SGS AXYS, Qiagen, Shell USA) Global paradigm shift in toxicity testing from historical whole-organism testing to mechanistic studies Human Health: • U.S. National Research Council’s “Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century-Vision and Strategy” • New Approach Methods - NAMs (e.g., toxicogenomic tools, alternative testing strategies) and stakeholder acceptance helping to transform the field Ecological Risk Assessment: • Avian ToxChip qPCR array developed by Environment and Climate Change Canada researchers via commercial partnership: à used to screen and prioritize chemicals; study real-world contaminated sites à embraced by Canadian regulators, environmental monitoring programs, and the scientific community OPPORTUNITY PROJECT DELIVERABLES 1. EcoToxChips for three key vertebrate model species used globally in ecological risk assessment (fathead minnow, Japanese quail, Xenopus laevis; fish, bird, frog); 2. EcoToxChips for three native species of commercial, recreational, and Aboriginal concern (rainbow trout, double- crested cormorant, northern leopard frog); 3. EcoToxXplorer.ca is an online and intuitive data evaluation tool that provides functions to allow users to upload EcoToxChip data and interpret results; and 4. Technical Guidance Document is informed by our GE3LS (social sciences) research and will be a government-vetted resource to advise end-users on how to adopt EcoToxChips. ACTIVITIES & UPDATE (60 month) Deliverable 1: • Currently we have EcoToxChips for Japanese quail (v0.1, v1), fathead minnow (v0.1, v1), and Xenopus laevis (v0.1, v1) • Moving ahead, the goal is to test these in a range of diverse case studies which can be viewed on our project website (http://www.ecotoxchip.ca/case.html) Deliverable 2: • Native species EcoToxChips have largely been designed, with production scheduled for late 2021 Deliverable 3: • Design and use of EcoToxXplorer.ca is well underway (you can use the tool!) • Refinement of algorithms that consider relevant approaches (points of departure, chemo- informatics, gene set signatures) to support interactive data mining and exploration • We are now evaluating different gene prioritization approaches based on this resource Deliverable 4: • T