Join us on April 30, 2019 to learn and discuss the Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) framework. The AOP framework is a collaborative tool that applies an innovative approach for collecting mechanistic knowledge from various sources that can eventually support chemical safety assessment. The following questions will be addressed: What is the AOP framework and why […]
AOP Hands-on Training: Building the Foundation for Predictive Toxicology Wednesday, March 13, 2019 4:30 PM–6:30 PM Hilton Baltimore, Paca Room 401 West Pratt St, Baltimore, MD 21201 The Human Toxicology Project Consortium (HTPC) and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) invite you to deepen your understanding of the Adverse Outcome Pathway framework. Following an […]
Attending the the Society of Toxicology’s annual meeting this March? Join the Human Toxicology Project Consortium (HTPC) and the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) at our annual satellite meeting on advancing 21st century toxicology activities. The meeting provides an informal setting for interested stakeholders to update one other on this important topic. A […]
The next workshop in the “Beyond Science and Decisions” series, “Beyond Science and Decisions: From Problem Formulation to Dose-Response Assessment,” will take place February 26 and 27, 2019, at the offices of Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in Austin, Texas. The “Beyond Science and Decisions” workshop series continues and expands upon the discussion set forth […]
NTP announces a workshop, Converging on Cancer, to be held April 29-30, 2019. The workshop will address using systems biology and knowledge of cancer pathways to better understand how environmental chemicals lead to cancer. The workshop will take place at the William Jefferson Clinton East Building, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., beginning at 9:00 […]
The Humane Society International will present a symposium on Global Harmonization of Vaccine Testing on March 19, 2019, in Rome. This event will bring together experts to discuss the elimination of abnormal toxicity tests and target animal batch safety tests for batch release of biologicals and immunologicals for human and veterinary use, a milestone that […]
Posted: September 5, 2017 The US Food & Drug Administation’s (FDA) is working to modernize and improve drug safety and efficacy assessment methods by developing and implementing new scientific approaches. Three ongoing FDA programs are described below, and in one case, an additional modification is suggested. Cardiotoxicity Testing and the CiPA Initiative Current methods required […]
Posted: April 23, 2017* An assembly of around 1000 scientists, policy-makers, and animal advocates from around the world will have the opportunity to come together from August 20-24, 2017 in Seattle, Washington for the 10th World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences. The deadline of April 24, 2017 for abstract submission […]
If you are attending the Society of Toxicology’s annual meeting in Baltimore next month, the Human Toxicology Project Consortium (HTPC) and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) invite you to deepen your understanding of the AOP Wiki and gain experience entering an Adverse Outcome Pathway in a structured, hands-on seminar Tuesday evening, March 14. […]
If you’re planning to attend the Society of Toxicology conference in Baltimore this March, please join the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT), the Human Toxicology Project Consortium (HTPC), and the Human Toxome Project Consortium for the annual satellite meeting on 21st century toxicology activities and related efforts, Thursday, March 16 from noon to […]
As in previous years, AltTox Editorial Board and Management Team members will be at the annual meeting of the Society of Toxicology (Baltimore, Maryland) to share research with thousands of other toxicologists. AltTox Editorial Board and/or Management Team members are co-authors of the following posters (listed by abstract #/poster board #): 1209/333: Systematic Reviews as […]
Posted: February 20, 2017 Convergence of the BRAIN Initiative and the Human Cell Atlas Identification of all of the cell types in the human brain is an important part of the BRAIN Initiative, and the growing number of researchers using single cell transcriptomics to identify cell sub-populations in the human brain is providing insight into […]
Laura Henning, IIVS The Institute for In Vitro Sciences (IIVS) is proud to announce its 20th anniversary as an international leader in the in vitro (non-animal) testing field. Founded in 1997, IIVS is unique in its position as a high quality testing laboratory while also offering technical and educational resources to increase the use and […]
Sonja von Aulock, ALTEX Scientists from the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) around Andrea Gissi and Kimmo Louekari have published an analysis of data in the REACH registration database that supports the use of sub-acute toxicity results, together with other relevant information, to cover the acute toxicity standard requirements for REACH registration in a weight of […]
Posted: October 31, 2016 An international group of renowned researchers met in London on October 13-14, 2016 to discuss building the Human Cell Atlas. But, you might ask, what is the big deal about a new database to catalogue all of the types of cells in the human body? It is a big deal, and […]
Francois Busquet, CAAT Academy The CAAT Academy training program for 2017 has been published. The following sessions will be offered: Organs-on-a-chip @MIMETAS, Leiden (NL) In vitro skin & eye models – Part 1 @VUB, Brussels (BE) Liver models and AOP @Biopredic International, Rennes (FR) EDC in vitro models @Biodetection Systems, Amsterdam (NL) ADME @KUL, Leuven […]
Posted: September 25, 2016 In late July, Beta Bionics, a Boston startup developing an artificial pancreas device for type I diabetes, became the first company to raise $1 million from 775 different investors using the new crowdfunding rules (Rosenblum, 2016). By August 13, three U.S. companies were reported to have reached the annual $1 million […]
Katherine Groff, PETA International Science Consortium Ltd. PETA’s Regulatory Testing Department is seeking a Corporate Liaison to join its growing team. This person will work with major corporations to replace and reduce animal testing. A successful candidate will attend corporate meetings and scientific conferences and maintain expertise in nonanimal test methods and international regulatory requirements. […]
Francois Busquet, CAAT Dates: September 22-23, 2016 Location: Vienna, Austria, Evercyte Laboratories This 2-days training will give a comprehensive overview of the most relevant and robust 2D and 3D kidney cell culture models and in vitro applications for the assessment of kidney-associated cytotoxicity. Webinar will be available during the training but for the presentations only. […]
Posted: August 25, 2016 In 2007 the National Research Council (NRC) published the seminal report, Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century: A Vision and a Strategy, which envisioned using information derived from human-based assays and models to provide a more efficient, predictive, and less costly system for assessing the effects of xenobiotics on human health. […]
Kate Willett, HSUS The OECD has published a Guidance Document on Considerations for Waiving or Bridging of Mammalian Acute Toxicity Tests. From the introduction: The OECD Guidelines for the Testing of Chemicals are continually evolving to reflect changing assessment practices. Acute toxicity tests are an area of focus for developing alternative assays to address animal […]
Posted: July 1, 2016 The Human Connectome Project The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) celebrated the completion of the first phase of their Human Connectome Project this month with a one-half day symposium on June 20 (available now by videocast). The Human Connectome Project (HCP), launched in 2009, is part of the NIH Blueprint […]
Posted: May 31, 2016 One of our content updates this month is an updated version of AltTox’s Table of Validated & Accepted Alternative Methods (“Table”). This Table, which provides a comprehensive list of alternative methods endorsed as scientifically valid by ICCVAM (United States), EURL ECVAM (European Union), and/or JaCVAM (Japan), has become one of the […]
Contributor: Pascaline Clerc, HSUS Deadline for preproposals: May 16, 2016 The Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) is soliciting projects that focus on the implementation of the NAS Report, Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century: A Vision and a Strategy in the following areas: Proposals Relating to Toxicology: Maximum grant amount is […]
Posted: April 25, 2016 Around 10,000 different proteins have been identified in each of eleven examined human cell lines (Beck et al., 2011; Geiger et al., 2012). These cellular proteins are not sloshing around in a chaotic fashion, but are highly organized into sub-cellular domains or compartments, and their activities are part of one or […]
The publication of a study by Coleman and colleagues (2015) that evaluates the SenCeeToxTM as a possible in vitro alternative for assessing skin sensitization in medical devices was recently named “Best Published Paper” by the Society of Toxicology Medical Device Specialty Section. Skin sensitization tests are among the tests recommended by regulatory agencies, such as […]
Introduction Nanotechnology encompasses a wide variety of nanosized materials, or nanomaterials (NMs), which are defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as materials with any external dimension in the nanoscale or having internal structure or surface structure in the nanoscale (ISO, 2011). There is a large number of NMs in the global marketplace with […]
Posted: April 1, 2016 The National Toxicology Program (NTP), an interagency program under the National Institutes of Environmental and Health Sciences (NIEHS) is organizing, April 26-27, 2016, the workshop, Addressing Challenges in the Assessment of Botanical Dietary Supplement Safety. The workshop will convene experts from government, industry, and other organizations to discuss the “challenges” and […]
Contributor: Marilyn Matevia, HSUS An announcement from the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC): “The Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) is initiating a horizon scanning effort to advance the science and application of the Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) framework. This horizon scanning approach will allow us to identify and begin to address […]
Contributor: Marilyn Matevia, HSUS The AltTox.org team will be at the annual Society of Toxicology meeting in New Orleans next week, sharing an informational booth with our site co-sponsor, the Human Toxicology Project Consortium. If you are planning to be there, please stop by booth #1704 to say hello and enter our t-shirt raffle! A […]
Contributor: Marilyn Matevia, HSUS (Reposted from the January AltTox Digest) The Human Toxicology Project Consortium (HTPC) and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) will co-sponsor a “hands-on seminar,” Creating an Adverse Outcome Pathway in the AOP Wiki, Tuesday, March 15 from 5:00 PM–7:00 PM in the Belle Chasse Room of the Hilton New Orleans […]
Contributor: Marilyn Matevia, HSUS You can still register for ASCCT’s upcoming webinar on Integrating In Silico Predictions with Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) Modeling, being presented this coming Monday, Feb 29, 2016 at 2:00 PM EST. Because of high demand, the organizers have added capacity and they encourage registrations: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4614615489276420098 The webinar will cover two applications […]
Contributor: Kate Willett, HSUS March 1, 2016 10am – 4pm US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Wiley Building 1A003 CFSAN Auditorium 5100 Paint Branch Parkway College Park, MD 20740 Co-hosted by the US Food and Drug Administration Center for Food Safety and Advanced Nutrition (FDA-CFSAN) and the Center […]
Researchers from the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and the Bioinformatics Institute at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore have reported significant breakthroughs in the development of an animal-free approach for predicting the toxicity of drugs and other substances to the human kidney (i.e., nephrotoxicity). The proximal tubule cells (PTCs) of […]
Posted: February 17, 2016 At a kick-off meeting in January, the EU launched ToxRisk, a six-year, public-private partnership with 30 million euro in funding, and a mandate to eliminate animal testing in chemical safety assessment. The international consortium is comprised of 39 member institutions – including universities, research institutions, regulatory agencies, and large and small […]
Contributor: Marilyn Matevia, HSUS A recording of the January 27 SOT In Vitro and Alternative Methods Specialty Section webinar, “Use of Integrated Approaches to Testing and Assessment (IATA) To Facilitate Regulatory Use of Non-Standard Testing Methods,” is now available here. The webinar featured two presentations: Introduction to the concept of Adverse Outcome Pathways and IATA […]
Contributor: Marilyn Matevia, HSUS The SOT In Vitro and Alternative Methods Specialty Section will host a webinar on Use of Integrated Approaches to Testing and Assessment (IATA) To Facilitate Regulatory Use of Non-Standard Testing Methods on Wednesday, Jan. 27, at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Catherine Willett, Ph.D., of the Humane Society of the United States […]
Contributor: Marilyn Matevia, HSUS The Humane Society family of organizations (The Humane Society of the United States/HSUS and Humane Society International/HSI) is looking for a Science Communications Officer to advance HSI/HSUS global efforts to stimulate a shift in bioscience research and drug discovery toward human biology-based technologies and models for safety, efficacy and human disease; […]
Contributor: Marilyn Matevia, HSUS Press release from the EPA, announcing a team challenge to “find new ways to incorporate physiological levels of chemical metabolism into HTS assays”: Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), and NIH’s National Toxicology Program (NTP) within […]
Microelectrode arrays (MEAs) are described by Shafer (2011) as “groups of extracellular electrodes that are 10-30 microns in diameter and can be utilized in vivo or in vitro. For in vitro uses, an MEA typically contains up to 64 electrodes and can be utilized to measure the activity of cells and tissues that are electrically […]
Contributor: Marilyn Matevia, HSUS A news item in the Triangle Business Journal announces that the Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences has closed. The article notes that a local health consulting company, SciMetrika, has acquired the assets of one Hamner division, the Institute for Chemical Safety Sciences (ICSS), and will “house” these in ScitoVation, “a wholly […]
Contributor: Ashley Felder, PCRM The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is looking for a director with a background in medicine or the life sciences, a passion for animal welfare, and strong leadership and communication skills. The Director of Research Policy will develop and implement strategies to save human and animal lives by replacing the use […]
Posted: December 28, 2015 For the final “In the Spotlight” article of 2015, we asked AltTox Editorial Board members to identify what they saw as the most significant development for non-animal chemical safety testing, in the realms of technology or policy. Here is what some of them had to say. Bas Blaauboer: “An important step […]
In a recent paper in PNAS, Michael P. Schwarz and co-authors describe a method for creating structurally complex, 3D neural constructs for neurotoxicity testing, by co-culturing human embryonic stem cell-derived neural progenitor cells, endothelial cells, mesenchymal cells, and microglia/macrophage precursors. The resulting neural constructs more closely replicate human brain tissue than monocultures or animal-derived cells, […]
Contributor: Marilyn Matevia, HSUS Six organizations, including NC3Rs, have published a “roadmap” to facilitate the UK’s development and embrace of non-animal technologies, Advancing Predictive Biology. In a recent blog post, NC3Rs Chief Executive Dr. Vicky Robinson provides context to the project: The roadmap is part of a wider collaboration between the six partners which has […]
Contributor: Kate Willett, HSUS The Silent Spring Institute is looking for research scientists in data science and informatics, chemistry/biochemistry and biomonitoring, and molecular biology or endocrinology. The Institute is seeking candidates for three position postings: a versatile data scientist, machine learning expert, or statistician to tackle big data problems in environmental health and breast cancer […]
Contributor: Solmaz Spence, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Workshop Title: The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Emerging Science for Environmental Health Decisions Workshop, Environment and Health: What’s the Human Microbiome Have to Do With It? Date: January 14-15 2016 Location: Washington, D.C., and via webcast The microbiome—the collection of bacteria, viruses […]
Contributor: Sue A. Leary, Alternatives Research & Development Foundation (ARDF) ARDF is pleased to announce that its 2015 Alternatives Research Grant Program has made its selections. ARDF has awarded $220,000 to scientists developing alternative methods in a variety of areas of medical research, testing, and education. Congratulations to awardees: April Davis, PhD and William Lee, […]
Contributor: Amar G. Chittiboyina, PhD, National Center for Natural Product Research To add structural information to the existing in chemico methods, an NMR-based method is proposed for probing the reactivity and classification of the potential electrophiles (E) using a model thiol, DCYA. The major advantage of the NMR method is the quantitation of the actual […]
Contributor: Kristie Sullivan, PCRM The 17th International Conference on QSAR in Environmental and Health Sciences takes place June 13-17, 2016, in Miami Beach, Florida. The abstract deadline is December 4, 2015; early bird registration ends March 1, 2016. Since 1983, this meeting has been an important international gathering in the field of Environmental and Health […]
