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Lhasa Limited announces the launch of Wiki Kaptis, resulting from AOP-Wiki collaboration

It is with great excitement that Lhasa Limited announces the launch of free tool, Wiki Kaptis.

Wiki Kaptis is the result of an ongoing collaboration between Lhasa Limited and AOP-Wiki.

The Adverse Outcome Pathway Wiki (AOP-Wiki) serves as the primary public repository of qualitative information for the international Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) development effort coordinated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

AOPs represent a formalised knowledge framework for capturing mechanisms leading to toxicity. AOPs start with a molecular initiating event (MIE) and through additional key events (KEs), lead to an Adverse Outcome (AO). Each sequential KE (including the MIE and AO) are connected to each other through key event relationships (KERs). Formally, each KE should be measurable and therefore can be linked to a relevant assay. AOPs are increasingly being used to rationalise mechanisms of toxicity. An understanding of AOPs and relevant assays available to measure KEs is more important than ever, with the current drive towards new approach methodologies (NAMs) for toxicity assessments – such as in vitro assays.

Lhasa has developed a tool to support risk assessment in the context of AOPs, Kaptis. Kaptis contains Lhasa AOPs, which have been written and highly curated by Lhasa scientists, using a broad range of available AOP knowledge sources. Assay data has been associated with the relevant KEs. KEs can be shared between individual AOPs and where this happens, an AOP network has been created. As such, Lhasa has developed the necessary experience to build AOPs as a network.

The new, freely available Wiki Kaptis application displays AOPs from only the AOP-Wiki source. A shared aim of this ongoing collaboration and Wiki Kaptis is, to improve AOP-Wiki knowledge visualisation and interrogation. This has been achieved through Wiki Kaptis functionality that displays an AOP network from a AOP-Wiki KE of interest, within Wiki Kaptis, allowing Wiki Kaptis users to easily understand the collateral impact of a KE, outside of a single AOP. A secondary objective, as a result of the creation of an AOP networks is to reveal new emergent pathways. Such new pathways have been realised, from existing AOP-Wiki knowledge as a result of the AOP network creation, where a KE is present in more than one AOP, unknown relationships can be discovered.

If you are interested in viewing this AOP network, access Wiki Kaptis for free. Wiki Kaptis will also soon be accessible directly through the AOP-Wiki website.