Chapter 2: Introduction to QSAR and Other In Silico Methods to Predict Toxicity Check Access

The philosophy of this book is to guide the reader through the different aspects of science involved in generating and using in silico techniques to make predictions for toxicity. The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of how the different sections of the book link together to enable such predictions to be made. The chapter serves as an overall introduction to QSAR and in silico techniques, outlining how to go about generating and using the models. The text is supplemented by a flowchart providing guidance on the individual steps to be undertaken. This general overview is expanded upon in subsequent chapters of the book which provide a more detailed analysis of each individual step in the model building process. The chapter focuses on how to develop a QSAR for a toxicological endpoint. However, the methods described are equally applicable to developing QSARs for other endpoints, such as predicting drug activity or pharmacokinetic/toxicokinetic properties. The use of other in silico techniques, such as category formation and read across are also introduced in the chapter.