Caliper Life Sciences Receives $1.1 Million Order from EPA
Caliper Life Sciences, Inc. has received a $1.1 million task order under the United States Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) ToxCast screening program.
Lab Manager provides guidance and resources to help laboratory leaders run their labs like a business. We are the only publication specifically focused on all aspects of running a lab.
Caliper Life Sciences, Inc. has received a $1.1 million task order under the United StatesEnvironmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ToxCast™ screening program. This task orderwas issued pursuant to a contract that Caliper was awarded by the EPA in April 2007 underthe ToxCast program. The contract provides for up to $69 million of screening servicesthroughout five years, although the specific dollar value is subject to the actual volume oftesting requested by the EPA as well as continued government funding for the ToxCastprogram. To date, Caliper has received task orders under this EPA contract totaling approximately $3.6 million, including the new $1.1million task order. This new task orderwas anticipated and the work associated with this order is expected to be substantiallycompleted during the third quarter of 2008.
Caliper works with the EPA under the ToxCast initiative to develop new approaches toidentify chemical compounds that are potentially toxic to the environment. Caliper uses invitro biochemical assays, which have been validated in the pharmaceutical drug discoveryindustry, to help predict how chemicals like pesticides will interact with the environment, humans and animals. During the initial phase, Caliper tested 320 well-known chemicals
through more than 230 in vitro assays. The new task order will support further screening ofthis initial set of 320 compounds.
Once the first phase of the ToxCast program is complete, the EPA is expected to begin screening a broader class of compounds to expand the database of bioactivity signaturesdeveloped in the first phase. Based on these efforts, the ToxCast screening program willprovide the EPA with an efficient tool for rapidly and efficiently screening compounds andprioritizing further toxicity testing. The ultimate goal is to identify a set of predictive in vitroassays that can supplement or replace in vivo tests currently used for regulatory approval ofnew environmental chemicals.
