Register for BMDS Training Workshop at SRA 2024

Benchmark Dose Modeling training will be given at the 2024 Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) Conference in Austin, TX.  Registration for SRA is now open, with early bird rates available till October 31. The SRA conference runs from December 8-12.

This year, the full-day Benchmark Dose Modeling training will cover EPA’s updated BMDS Online and its companion applications BMDS Desktop and pybmds, all scheduled for release in Fall 2024.  The workshop will also include instruction on the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) application ToxicR, an R-based Bayesian modeling platform.

Please register at the SRA site if you wish to sign up for this workshop.  Early registrations help us meet registration goals to ensure the workshop is not cancelled.

Fall 2024 BMDS Releases

In Fall 2024, EPA will release the following suite of BMDS applications:

  • A new version of the browser-based BMDS Online, which enables users to run BMDS on any computer with access to the internet. This year’s update includes models previously available only in the Excel-based BMDS 3.3cancer model and a nested dichotomous model for developmental toxicity data.
  • BMDS Desktop, a Python-based version of BMDS Online that enables offline use of BMDS and replaces the Excel-based BMDS 3.3. (BMDS Excel will remain available for download but will no longer be updated.)
  • pybmds, which enables users to run dose-response analyses in a scripting environment, along with running high-throughput or batch analyses of thousands of individual datasets. The pybmds application is intended for the advanced user with some development experience.

NIEHS’s R-based ToxicR

NIEHS has further expanded dose-response capabilities through the release of its R-based ToxicR Bayesian modeling platform.
ToxicR “untethers” BMDS and other models from standard parameterizations, expanding capabilities for research applications.

Workshop Goals & Activities

The first part of the all-day workshop will cover:

  • Dose-response analyses commonly performed in human health risk assessments
  • How to conduct dose-response modeling of dichotomous, continuous, cancer, and developmental toxicity response data using BMDS Online, BMDS Desktop, and pybmds
  • Introduction to pybmds features that allow for scripted batch processing, advanced graphics, and custom BMD analyses

Following these introductory analyses, participants will move on to the use of Bayesian models for dose-response analyses, including the application of a Bayesian framework for model averaging using ToxicR.

Participants will explore model averaging approaches for dichotomous and continuous data, including new model averaging capabilities for continuous data using the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) suite of continuous models currently only available in ToxicR.

Demonstrations of ToxicR will include:

  • Hands-on exercises in ToxicR and its many features.
  • Research functionality and modeling capacities.
  • Modifying prior assumptions and performing sensitivity analyses to investigate the default prior’s effect on a given analysis.

Requirements for the Workshop 

Participants need to bring their own laptops, with the following software installed:

  • For BMDS Online: 
    • A modern internet browser (Google Chrome is preferred)
  • For BMDS Desktop and pybmds (available in late September/early October; release will be announced on this web site and to the BMDS mailing list): 
  • For ToxicR: 

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Last updated on October 10, 2024