ORCHESTRA is an EU project sponsored under the 7th Framework Program., pursuing the main objective of disseminating and exploiting the activities of ongoing EU research concerning in silico (QSAR, read-across, etc.) models for (eco)toxicology.
This area is multidisciplinary, because it deals with environmental science, health, chemistry and information technology. Projects from these different areas will be analyzed and used with the aim of extracting their message and their results on “in silico” models. A network will be established to promote a dialogue between model providers and stakeholders, which may get benefit from in silico models (as alternative to animal models).
The Consortium of ORCHESTRA involves experts in dissemination (including professional communicators), experts in IT, experts in chemistry and toxicology, and a service center for the application of REACH regulation (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/reach/reach_en.htm). The challenge of the project is in transferring out of academic research a more comprehensive scientific vision in the process of safety assessment of chemical substances, and to make the public aware of the availability and results of methods alternative to the animal use.