SUPR
Chipster
Dnr:

NAISS 2023/7-28

Type:

SSC

Principal Investigator:

Penny Nymark

Affiliation:

Karolinska Institutet

Start Date:

2023-05-09

End Date:

2024-06-01

Primary Classification:

30303: Occupational Health and Environmental Health

Secondary Classification:

10203: Bioinformatics (Computational Biology) (applications to be 10610)

Tertiary Classification:

10610: Bioinformatics and Systems Biology (methods development to be 10203)

Allocation

Abstract

We apply Chipster for bioinformatics analysis of large toxicogenomics data sets. The program enables quick and reproducible analysis of a wide variety of omics platforms and enables integration of diverse data sets, which is highly valuable for the systems toxicology research that we perform. Chipster also facilitates generation of automatic easy-to-use workflows for omics-data analysis, which can be distributed among collaboration partners for use. We continue to be involved in national and international Horizon Europe projects (e.g. HARMLESS, PARC, Forska utan Djurförsök project number F2021-0005), where toxicogenomics data related to development of Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs), and to safety assessment of nanomaterials is being considered for integration in new generation non-animal approaches for understanding of disease and risk assessment strategies. Chipster plays a role in our work within the projects and enables efficient implementation of omics data into the research. In addition, the program serves several teaching objectives, including its central role in a yearly 1-week course on bioinformatics for toxicologists (25-30 students/year). The students normally do not have deep knowledge in informatics and programming, which is why the user-friendly interface of Chipster supports efficient teaching of the principles of bioinformatics and toxicogenomics data. Furthermore, during 2023-2024 the program is relevant for application in a guest researchers project and may be relevant for Master thesis projects e.g. focused on the application of bioinformatics-driven development of Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs), which support better understanding of human disease and improved toxicological assessment of chemicals and materials in our society.