For decades, plants, animals and humans have been greatly affected by chemicals. According to numerous studies, the increasing incidence of cancer, infertility, diabetes, endocrine disorders, obesity, and deformities is the direct result of the chemicals we use on a daily basis, such as herbicides, pesticides and synthetic hormones. Even more frightening is the fact that some chemicals can trigger changes in the body that may not show up for decades.
Authorities' Response
Recently, authorities in the US have launched a new project that focuses on potential eco-toxicological effects associated with the use of chemicals. These effects are gathered under Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP), which delivers an analytical framework capable to support comprehensive risk assessments based on properties of chemicals, macro-molecular interactions and cellular/organ/organism response.
To collect and manage the information required to run such assessments, scientists can use industry-specific IT solutions, such as ERP systems. These systems along with anticipated new capabilities are expected to help scientists build and control various AOP projects. Now, the question is how the future of ERP will affect AOP development and management.
Software Solutions That Support AOPs
ERP solutions capable to support AOPs are important for expanding the use of toxicological data for chemical risk assessments and regulatory applications. With these solutions, information can be obtained in real time from 'in vitro' or 'in vivo' studies, or virtually, from computer systems. Already providing user-friendly, widely accessible, open-source interfaces, ERP systems promise to offer more functionality for collaborative sharing of established AOPs and rapid development of new AOPs.
To help scientists achieve the best results, ERP developers focus on real-time data collection, accurate record keeping, superior monitoring and traceability, advanced testing, interactive graphical representation and communication, and compliance with internationally accepted standards more than ever before. Here is the impact that future trends in ERP will probably have on AOP.
- AOP Development and Management: Delivering fully integrated solutions that can operate across multiple sites, ERP systems already offer an ideal collaboration platform for international AOP development teams. However, future ERP systems are expected to better assist scientists in collecting, recording and managing the information required to develop AOPs. In addition, leveraged built-in functionality, drop-down menus, drag-and-drop graphical components, automatic cross referencing and user-friendly tables are some of the tools that scientists will be able to use in order to manage AOPs. ERP developers also work on applications that will allow researchers to link AOP projects to critical elements, such as chemical and molecular initiating events, biological objects, analysis methods, life stages and adverse outcomes.
- Regulatory Compliance: Embedded with research-specific add-ons, future ERP applications will make possible full compliance with internationally accepted standards regulating the use of chemicals. Since concerns about the adverse effects of chemicals have been raised everywhere in the world, governments have switched focus from responding to actual adverse outcomes to preventing them. It's believed that more advanced testing, analysis and interpretation capabilities that are going to become part of future ERP upgrades will enable scientists to virtually determine the effects of particular chemicals on plants, humans and animals, so that unwanted events can be prevented. New ERP analysis tools will help researchers better understand chemicals' mode of action, which could lead to further development of alternative screening strategies for a more accurate estimation of the impact of chemical substances on the environment.
- Cost Reduction: Currently, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) spends millions of dollars each year for researching the impact of chemicals on humans. But, the future of enterprise resource planning will change this. Since forward-looking ERP systems will make possible virtual testing and analyzing, fewer plants, animals and laboratory supplies and equipment pieces will be needed. Thus, ERP solutions have the potential to reduce the costs associated with AOP projects.
Since obtaining a high level of detail is critical to develop structure-based toxicological alerts according to the characteristics and effects of certain chemicals, ERP solutions making available special measurement techniques, information structuring methods and common databases that facilitate collaboration are expected to play a key role in AOP development and management. Fortunately, future ERP developments promise to offer more and more support for collecting, tracking and managing information underlying each AOP, so that the best regulatory decisions can be made.
