Webinar on software tool for celiac disease risk assessment of proteins
30 June 2022, 16:30 – 18:00 (CEST)
Summary
According to the EFSA GMO Panel guidance document on allergenicity, an HLA-DQ peptide modelling approach should be applied, on a case-by-case basis, to assess the capacity of novel proteins in food and feed to cause celiac disease. To this end, EFSA is developing a software tool aiming to predict the capacity of peptides to bind to HLA-DQ2 and/or HLA-DQ8 proteins.
The aim of this public webinar was to present the draft software tool developed so far available at the following email address: https://r4eu.efsa.europa.eu/app/predq. At the webinar, the first speaker provided a presentation on the aim of the overall project and the approaches used for the development of the tool. The second and last speaker explained the functionalities of the software tool itself.
Around 60 participants attended the webinar representing risk assessment bodies, research institutes, industry, NGOs and other national competent authorities from Europe and worldwide.
The webinar ended with a dedicated live Q&A session, during which contributors and speakers answered orally to about 40 questions submitted by participants.
The draft software tool now enters into a testing phase running till April/May 2023. During this period, frequent improvements of the tool are expected. The scientific community and public at large is encouraged to provide feedback on the tool via the ‘contact’ EFSA link available here – we count on your precious help.