The Lhasa Symposium is to feature presentations by representatives of several major regulatory bodies from around the globe including the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), European Chemicals Bureau (ECB), US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Japanese National Institute of Health Sciences (NIHS) and the Italian National Institute of Health.

Leeds, UK April 22nd, 2008 – All speakers will be presenting on current approaches to toxicity prediction, including Dr Edwin Matthews of the US FDA who will be giving an overview of toxicity prediction methodologies from a pharmaceutical regulatory perspective. Also relevant to the area of medicine, Dr Romauldo Benigni of the Italian National Institite of Health will present strengths and limitations of models and databases for the prediction of genetic and carcinogenic toxicity.

Focusing on the areas of industrial chemical toxicity and environmental risk assessment, Dr Akihiko Hirose of the NIHS will be speaking on emerging areas and technologies covering toxicity biomarkers in predictive systems. In addition Dr Ann Richard will be explaining how the US EPA is currently broadening the foundations for improved toxico-chemoinformatics through the application of computational chemistry in the area of environmental toxicology. Dr Andrew Worth of the ECB will also present on in-silico toxicity prediction tools & Guidance developed by the European Chemicals Bureau.

The Lhasa Symposium will also feature presentations from several industry and academic speakers, and to conclude the event a panel discussion session will explore future needs and challenges in toxicity prediction. Expert panellists will invite audience participation and offer views and opinions from regulatory, commercial and academic perspectives.

The Lhasa Symposium will take place on December 8^th and 9^th at the University of Cambridge, UK. For further information and to register please visit www.lhasasymposium.com .

About Lhasa Limited:

Lhasa Limited (http://www.lhasalimited.org) is an independent, not-for-profit organisation registered in the UK as an educational charity. 

Developing original knowledge from both public and private data sources whilst maintaining complete confidentiality, Lhasa Limited provides widely used and respected reasoning and information software that supports decision making in drug discovery, personal care, agrochemical and other chemical developments:

·         Derek for Windows for predicting toxicity

·         Meteor for predicting metabolic fate

·         Vitic toxicological database and data management system.

Lhasa Limited promotes the use of integrated in-silico systems to minimise downstream testing, reduce costs and shorten development lead times. Through an ability to amass and share both publicly held and confidential information, Lhasa Limited aims to be trusted as the world leader for knowledge and data sharing in chemistry and the life sciences.