At UL Research Institutes’ Chemical Insights, we provide unbiased research on chemicals and their risks to human health. Historically, our work has centered on understanding chemical exposures stemming from consumer products as well as indoor and outdoor environments. As global chemical production continues to grow, having doubled from 2000 to 2020, it is more important than ever to enhance our scientific knowledge base and address increasingly complex chemical safety questions. To confront this pressing public health challenge, we have expanded our capabilities and opened two new research Centers: the Center for Chemical Informatics & Screening and the Center for Scientific Computing & Data Management. These Centers were developed to create more rapid ways to evaluate the safety of different chemicals and share this data to inform decision-making among key stakeholders, including the general public, policymakers, regulatory agencies, and public health officials. Together, they strengthen our ability to deliver timely, actionable insights on both longstanding and emerging chemical safety challenges.

Currently, only 3-10% of chemicals in commerce or most likely to result in human exposure have traditional exposure and hazard assessments. This is because conventional toxicity and exposure testing relies on animal studies, which require significant time, resources, and specialized expertise. The Center for Chemical Informatics & Screening was established to develop and apply computational and experimental methods, called new approach methods (NAMs), to understand the potential human health effects of thousands of chemicals. By combining computational modeling and informatic approaches with high-throughput screening, these methods enable large-scale, automated analysis of chemical and biological data. Integrating these data-driven techniques with rapid, non-animal testing allows the Center to close critical chemical data gaps more quickly, supporting earlier hazard identification and stronger public health protection.

Translating scientific discoveries into meaningful public impact is core to our mission, so producing new data is just the beginning. Our new Center for Scientific Computing & Data Management was established to develop state-of-the-art data management solutions and digital tools to make information accessible and actionable. This includes processing data from public repositories and documents and integrating it with results from our research for a comprehensive dataset. The Center ensures high-quality data by standardizing metadata to harmonize information from diverse sources and enable quality tagging. Altogether, this creates the reliable foundation needed for predictive models and decision-support tools that convert complex research into clear insights for non-experts and allow third parties to leverage the data for further scientific advancements.

Together, the newly added Center for Chemical Informatics & Screening and Center for Scientific Computing & Data Management create a powerful, integrated research ecosystem that will:

• Accelerate chemical safety evaluations
• Improve scientific understanding for thousands of data-poor chemicals
• Strengthen transparency and accessibility of chemical information
• Support regulatory, public health, and policy decision-making with high-quality data and tools

The opening of these Centers represents a significant leap forward in our commitment to advancing chemical safety research and empowering stakeholders with the science needed to protect public health.

To explore these advancements further, Russell Thomas, Ph.D., our vice president and executive director, moderated a webinar featuring the Centers’ directors Katie Paul Friedman, Ph.D., and Stephen Edwards, Ph.D., titled “Computational Toxicology Capabilities to Advance Chemical Safety.” The webinar recording, included below, offers an in-depth look at the full spectrum of our new capabilities and how this work is shaping the future of chemical safety.  

We look forward to sharing the new insights and discoveries that emerge from these Centers as they grow and evolve.