1. Home
  2. News & Events
  3. FDA Meetings, Conferences and Workshops
  4. Eco-NAMs Webinar Series | QSARs to Predict Aquatic Toxicity - 09/17/2026
  1. FDA Meetings, Conferences and Workshops

Meeting | Virtual

Event Title
Eco-NAMs Webinar Series | QSARs to Predict Aquatic Toxicity
September 17, 2026

Date:
September 17, 2026
Time:
8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. ET

The Eco-NAMs Webinar Series aims to present the most informative and up-to-date science on new approach methodologies (NAMs) for ecotoxicity assessments. Each webinar features presentations by experts, followed by a discussion period. The webinar series provides an open forum for scientists from academia, industry, non-government organisations, regulatory authorities, and other interested parties, including the public, to learn about and discuss various ecotoxicity NAMs topics.

The Eco-NAMs webinars are held quarterly. Links to past webinars are available at Eco-NAMs Webinars Series. The webinar series is co-organised by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the Health and Environmental Sciences Institute Global (HESI Global), the NIES, PETA Science Consortium International e.V., the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (U.S. FDA).

The fourth webinar in the Eco-NAMs series is on QSARs to predict aquatic toxicity. The webinar will be held on 17 September 2026 at 8:00 a.m. EDT. Registration and more information are available at QSARs to predict aquatic toxicity.   

The webinar will feature a joint presentation by Dr. Kelsey Vitense, mathematical statistician, and Dr. William Eckel, senior science advisor at the U.S. EPA as well as Dr. Koichi Ohno, Director of the Center for Environmental Regulatory Science and Head of the Research Office for Environmental Risk Science at the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Japan.

Dr. Vitense and Dr. Eckel will present on the use of Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR) models in ecotoxicological hazard assessments for pesticides. They evaluated the predictive accuracy of three existing models (ECOSAR, TEST, FishTox) for acute responses in fish, specifically for pesticide parent structures and their degradates. In addition, they developed a fourth model, Toxicity Model for Predicting Pesticide Lethality (TMPPL), using a machine learning algorithm with pesticide data, which outperformed the other models. Reasons for the top predictive performance will be discussed. TMPPL and ECOSAR can both be used in the evaluation of parent and degradate relative toxicities to identify pesticide residues of concern.

Dr. Ohno will introduce KATE, a QSAR system for ecotoxicity prediction developed by the NIES in Japan. His presentation will focus on KATE’s structure-class-based approach, the reliability of the toxicity test data used, KATE’s predictive performance mainly for fish toxicity, and its regulatory use in Japan for assessing the toxicity of general industrial chemicals. Dr. Ohno will also show how some substructures based on the Resistance Action Committee classification of pesticides are flagged during the structural classification process.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this webinar series are those of the presenters and do not necessarily represent the official views or policies of the U.S. government, the EMA and the NIES. The U.S. FDA, U.S. EPA, EMA and NIES involvement in this webinar series does not imply official endorsement of, or responsibility for, the opinions, ideas, data, products, or services presented.

Guidance for troubleshooting in LiveWebinar can be found at the bottom of the Eco-NAMs webinar series webpage.
 

Back to Top