What is chemoinformatics?

What is chemoinformatics?

What is chemoinformatics? The health and environmental effects of chemicals are increasingly relevant to the general public, regulatory agencies, academia, and industry. Thanks to the evolution of computational techniques, we have powerful tools for data management and complex mathematical calculations. In this context, chemoinformatics, one of the most relevant fields in the New Approach Methodologies,  arises as the combination of computational methods that are used to transform and analyse chemical data, as well as to determine the relationship between the chemical structure and the function of molecules and, taking advantage of this knowledge, to design new compounds or optimize compounds of interest. Frank K. Brown, who coined the term “chemoinformatics” […]

Alternative methods

Alternative methods

What are alternative methods to animal testing? According to the recent estimates, in the European Union alone, approximately ten million vertebrate animals are slaughtered for different experimental purposes (i.e., scientific, toxicological, regulatory, etc.). This is so because the efficacy of many chemical substances – e.g., pharmaceuticals, pesticides, food excipients, cosmetics, etc.- has traditionally been determined through the use of living beings. In addition, a good part of the regulatory entities that authorize the commercialization of new products require very detailed studies of the potential toxic effects of these products on humans and the environment. Types of experimental animals used in the EU.    The high number of slaughtered animals has a moral component and […]