Industry, small and medium-sized enterprises and academia are coming together, through the NC3Rs CRACK IT program, to solve three challenges faced by the pharmaceutical and chemical industries; all of which should reduce the number of animals used in scientific research. Nine research and development consortia have been awarded up to £100,000 each, as part of […]
Author: Marilyn Matevia, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) 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 addition to proposals for refinement methods, CAAT invites proposals for […]
Author: Sonja von Aulock, ALTEX The Ministry of Rural Affairs and Consumer Protection of Baden-Württemberg is accepting applications for research funding to a total of € 400,000 and for the 3Rs prize for exceptional contributions to reducing or refining animal experiments in research or education, which carries prize money of € 25,000. Eligible research projects […]
Author: Jessica Sandler, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Three years after the extended one-generation reproductive toxicity test (EORGTS) – which has the potential to halve the number of animals used in reproductive tests – was accepted by the OECD, the EORGTS has been incorporated into the REACH Annexes. At the same time, however, […]
Author: Marilyn Matevia, HSUS Version 3.3.2 of the OECD QSAR Toolbox has been released. The new version includes new scientific features and bug fixes. Release notes, change log, and update manual all available here: http://www.qsartoolbox.org
(This is an updated version of the feature that appeared in the recent AltTox Digest.) AltTox Management Team and Editorial Board members will be at the Society of Toxicology’s 2015 meeting in San Diego. Here is a partial list of posters, presentations, and workshops they will offer. Editorial Board member Ian Kimber will deliver the […]
Author: Marilyn Matevia, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) The International Foundation for Ethical Research (IFER), a program of the National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS), is now accepting pre-proposal applications for its 2015-2016 Graduate Fellowships. Applications are due no later than 5:00 pm CDT on Monday, April 20, 2015. IFER Graduate Fellowships are one-year […]
Author: Marilyn Matevia, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) The Alternatives Research and Development Foundation (ARDF) is soliciting proposals for its 2015 Alternatives Research Grant Program. Grants of up to $40,000 are available to support individual projects of scientific merit and feasibility with potential to significantly reduce or replace laboratory animal use. Preference […]
Author: Sherry Ward, AltTox Source: EFSA “News in brief” (http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/press/news/150212a.htm) February 12, 2015 EFSA and the World Health Organization (WHO) have published the draft conclusions and recommendations of their joint workshop on the Threshold of Toxicological Concern approach. The report is now open for public consultation until 29 March. The aim of the three-day expert […]
Posted: February 13, 2015 The exponential proliferation of biomedical data in scientific literature and public databases make systematic reviews more necessary than ever. At the same time, a corresponding proliferation of powerful computing aids to search, aggregate, and evaluate this literature make systematic reviews increasingly thorough and useful. In the field of toxicology especially, systematic […]
Author: Marilyn Matevia, HSUS From the OECD: “The OECD has just published two new Test Guidelines on human health hazard endpoint skin sensitisation. Skin sensitisation refers to an allergic response following skin contact with the tested chemical, as defined by the United Nations Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (UN GHS). Test […]
Posted: February 6, 2015 In an effort to help expand the acceptance of alternative methods for acute toxicity testing, EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs has released a new draft guidance document. The agency is accepting comments on the draft guidance for 60 days, until March 10, 2015. With the rapid advances in science and continual […]
Researchers from West Virginia University and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and health (NIOSH), who elucidated toxicity pathways involved in mouse pulmonary exposures to multi-walled carbon nanotubes in previous publications, have now begun to investigate the use of in vitro cellular models for assessing nanoparticle toxicity. In a recent publication in the journal Toxicology, […]
Author: Marilyn Matevia, HSUS “Draft Test Guidelines; Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program Test Guidelines (Series 890); Three Tier 2 Non-Mammalian Tests; Notice of Availability and Request for Comment Pages 5107 – 5109 [FR DOC # 2015-01836] SUMMARY: EPA is announcing the availability of three draft test guidelines for public review and comment that are being added […]
Author: Gilly Stoddart, PETA International Science Consortium, Ltd. The PETA International Science Consortium Ltd., Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, NTP Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods, and Chemical Watch are pleased to invite you to a webinar discussion on acute systemic toxicity. This webinar is the fifth in a series of six […]
Author: Marilyn Matevia, HSUS A training session on the development of AOPs will take place on 16 June 2015 at the OECD Headquarters in Paris. The training team, a subgroup of the Extended Advisory Group on Molecular Screening and Toxicogenomics (EAGMST), has developed a hands-on training that addresses principles, best practices and weight of evidence […]
Author: Jamie Derita, Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing Newbie Upcoming Class in Baltimore: Revolution in Toxicology 101 February 24-25, 2015 Mt Washington Conference Center 5801 Smith Avenue Baltimore, MD 21209 REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! Toxicology is undergoing revolutionary change in the early 21st century. It’s not easy, however, to achieve an overview of these […]
The use of systematic review is gaining widespread regulatory use as a means of integrating, evaluating, and translating existing evidence on a variety of human health issues, and for potentially reducing the need for additional studies. The authors of a recent publication in Environmental Health Perspectives note that there is also “increasing interest in applying […]
Author: Sherry Ward, AltTox The application deadline of February 24, 2015 is approaching for Horizon 2020 program’s call for proposals, “New approaches to improve predictive human safety testing” (PHC-3-2015) (https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal4/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/9078-phc-33-2015.html#tab1). “Scope: Proposals should capitalise on advances in all relevant fields of science to understand complex biological pathways of toxicological relevance and to identify early markers […]
Author: Sherry Ward, AltTox Both events are free but have registration limitations. NCATS Assay Guidance Workshop for High-Throughput Screening and Lead Discovery: http://www.ncats.nih.gov/news-and-events/events/events.html Fifth AIMBE/NIH Workshop on Validation and Qualification of New In Vitro Tools and Models for the Pre-clinical Drug Discovery Process http://www.nibib.nih.gov/news-events/meetings-events/fifth-aimbenih-workshop-validation-and-qualification-new-vitro-tools-and
Author: Horst Spielmann, Free University Berlin, Professor for Regulstory Toxicology & retired from ZEBET at the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment Next FRAME Training School announced The next FRAME Training School will be held at the University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal on 30 March – 1 April 2015. Training School Background FRAME runs regular training […]
Author: Catherine Sprankle, ILS/Contractor supporting NICEATM The NTP Office of Heath Assessment and Translation (OHAT) at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has released a handbook describing standard operating procedures for implementing systematic review in OHAT evaluations. The handbook also includes OHAT’s tool for assessing study quality, or “risk of bias,” that applies a […]
Author: Catherine Sprankle, ILS/Contractor supporting NICEATM The National Toxicology Program (NTP) is seeking to increase awareness and familiarity within the research community with high-throughput screening efforts and associated data and tools, and to foster the training of postdoctoral fellows and new and early-stage investigators in this area. As part of this effort, NTP will provide […]
Author: Catherine Sprankle, ILS/Contractor supporting NICEATM A free workshop on “Validation and Qualification of New In Vitro Tools and Models for the Pre-clinical Drug Discovery Process” will be presented at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on February 12. The workshop is being organized by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) in […]
Author: Catherine Sprankle, ILS/Contractor supporting NICEATM A draft U.S. Environmental Protection Agency document describing a “Process for Establishing and Implementing Alternative Approaches to Traditional In Vivo Acute Toxicity Studies” is now available for comment. The document describes a transparent, stepwise process for evaluating and implementing alternative methods of testing for acute oral, dermal, and inhalation […]
This article appeared in the January 2015 issue of the NIEHS newsletter, Environmental Factor and is reprinted here with permission. Posted: January 15, 2015 Finding alternatives to animal testing Federal agencies work to reduce the use of animals in research and testing. Methods that use fewer or no animals, or that reduce animal pain and […]
Author: Catherine Willett, HSUS The Management Team at AltTox would like to express our deep shock and sadness at the sudden loss of a great friend and colleague and AltTox Editorial Board member, Ed Carney. Ed was a leading reproductive toxicologist who contributed enormously to the fields of predictive toxicology and toxicokinetics. He was an […]
Author: Sherry Ward, AltTox Funding Opportunity Announcement: Predictive Multiscale Models for Biomedical, Biological, Behavioral, Environmental, and Clinical Research (PAR-15-085): http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-15-085.html Purpose The goal of this interagency funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to support the development of multiscale models to accelerate biological, biomedical, behavioral, environmental and clinical research. The NIH, ARO, DOE, FDA, NASA, NSF, and […]
Author: Marilyn Matevia, HSUS Reminder from ICCVAM: “ICCVAM TO PRESENT WEBINAR ON REVERSE TOXICOKINETIC MODELS ICCVAM is presenting a webinar on ‘Reverse Toxicokinetics: Using In Vitro Data to Estimate Exposures that Could Be Associated with Adverse Effects In Vivo’ on January 27. The webinar will focus on the development and application of reverse toxicokinetic models […]
Author: Marilyn Matevia, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) On behalf of the AltTox Management Team, congratulations to AltTox Editorial Board member Ian Kimber, who has received the 2015 SOT Distinguished Toxicology Scholar Award! http://toxchange.toxicology.org/p/bl/et/blogid=0&blogaid=1368&source=6
Author: Jessica Sandler, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals PETA is pleased that the EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) has taken the next step in establishing a process for accepting alternative approaches to animal testing when evaluating pesticide toxicity by releasing a draft document entitled “Process for establishing & implementing alternative approaches to […]
Author: Marilyn Matevia, HSUS From SOT, a reminder that the Late-Breaking Abstract Submission Site closes January 12: “Your abstract must be submitted online by 11:59 pm EST on the posted deadline. Please select the Late Breaking Submission option in the submission section of the website [https://sot2015.abstractcentral.com/]. (The “Abstract Submission” option applies to the October deadline […]
Author: Sherry Ward, AltTox A new feature on the FDA.gov website provides the ability to search for all draft and final FDA guidance documents from this location: http://www.fda.gov/RegulatoryInformation/Guidances/default.htm?source=govdelivery&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery “You can search for documents using key words, and you can narrow or filter your results by product, date issued, FDA organizational unit, type of document, subject, […]
Author: Sherry Ward, AltTox Today’s NIH news release, “Seeking single cells’ secrets” (http://www.nih.gov/news/health/dec2014/nimh-30.htm), describes grants awarded in 2014 supported by the NIH Common Fund’s Single Cell Analysis Program (SCAP) (http://commonfund.nih.gov/Singlecell/index). The funded research topics were summarized in the news release as follows: One group of projects is validating and refining already established technologies for studying […]
Author: Horst Spielmann, Free University Berlin, Professor for Regulstory Toxicology & retired from ZEBET at the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment The following Environment, Health and Safety publication is now available from the Series on Testing and Assessment Title: Guidance document for describing non-guideline in vitro test methods (No.211) http://www.oecd.org/chemicalsafety/testing/seriesontestingandassessmentpublicationsbynumber.htm This guidance document is intended […]
Editor’s note: ECHA’s Tiiu Bräutigam interviewed Robert Landsiedel (BASF, Germany) and Wim de Jong (National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, the Netherlands) for this article in the December issue of the ECHA Newsletter. Our thanks to ECHA for permission to republish the article for AltTox readers. You can read the entire December issue, […]
Almost £400,000 has been awarded across four research projects working to better understand the basic biology of human asthma – without the use of traditional mammalian models. The latest of the NC3Rs strategic award schemes has challenged scientists to approach asthma research questions in a completely novel way, encouraging them to seek alternatives to the […]
Author: Jessica Sandler, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals http://investing.businessweek.com/research/markets/news/article.asp?docKey=600-201412111108M2______EUPR_____bb8100000f54c8f2_3600-1 London – In a landmark decision that could save millions of animals from suffering and death in laboratory experiments, the European Ombudsman has determined that the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), the agency responsible for overseeing the largest animal testing programme in the world, is […]
In this paper published recently in Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, Marie-Jeanne W.A. Schiffelers and co-authors reconstruct and analyze the process of regulatory acceptance and use of the Extended One Generation Reproductive Toxicity Study as a replacement for the two generation study. (Disclosure: AltTox Management Team member Bas J. Blaauboer is one of the co-authors on […]
Author: Sherry Ward, AltTox Paul Allen has provided $100 million in support to launch the new Allen Institute for Cell Science in Seattle, Washington (http://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/billionaire-paul-allen-pledges-100-million-cell-science-institute-n263601). The Institute will engage in projects that “study the cell as an integrated system” (http://www.alleninstitutecellscience.org/). As their first project, the Allen Cell Observatory intends to develop “novel visual, dynamic, predictive […]
Author: Sherry Ward, AltTox Two stories on cell authentication will air this week on NPR Morning Edition. The first piece lays out the issues around cell authentication and will air live at 5:33am Eastern Time on Tuesday, December 9th, and will be re-aired throughout the morning. The second is a follow-up story on the GBSI […]
Author: Sherry Ward, AltTox This three-part webinar series will provide participants with insightful tips for success on getting a patent or registering a trademark or copyright. Get answers from USPTO and U.S. Copyright Office senior intellectual property experts Elizabeth Dougherty, Anthony Knight, Susan Anthony, Craig Morris, and Sylvester Simpkins. The information shared will help you […]
“Scientists report a new method for establishing whether chemical compounds are safe for human use without ‘in vivo’ testing, based on so-called “molecular initiating events” at the boundary between chemistry and biology. If we can map the adverse outcome pathways of numerous molecules in the way that we have here, we will be able to […]
Author: Marilyn Matevia, HSUS Register now for webinars 3 and 4: “REACHing for alternatives to animal testing A webinar series on modern testing strategies for REACH The PETA International Science Consortium, Ltd., and Chemical Watch are presenting a free webinar series focusing on alternative methods and testing strategies that can be used to meet REACH […]
Author: Marilyn Matevia, HSUS “Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, conducts research to achieve the dual goals of meeting direct human needs for water and maintaining the function and integrity of aquatic ecosystems. The Department of Environmental Toxicology (Utox) invites applications for a Group Leader in Molecular Ecotoxicology (Tenure Track) The […]
Author: Marilyn Matevia, HSUS “To meet the increased demand for risk assessments related to consumer safety, the Directorate General for Health and Consumers has launched a call for expression of interest to appoint experts who will assist the work of the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS). They are appointed in their personal capacity as […]
Author: Martin Stephens, Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing The 2014 Lush Prizes for outstanding work towards non-animal alternatives were recently announced. Congratulations to all the winners, who are listed here: http://www.lushprize.org/. A special congratulations to my colleagues Francois Busquet and Thomas Hartung, who received a lobbying prize for their work advancing alternatives […]
Author: Marilyn Matevia, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) “Cosmetics Regulation animal test ban declared subordinate to REACH registration testing requirements by ECHA” by AltTox Contributing Editor, Sherry Ward Read it here: http://alttox.org/cosmetics-regulation-animal-test-ban-declared-subordinate-reach-registration-testing-requirements-echa/
Published: November 25, 2014 On October 27, 2014, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) published a short article titled “Clarity on interface between REACH and the Cosmetics Regulation” (ECHA/NA/14/46). The ECHA clarification, in full, was the following: “To meet the requirements of the new Cosmetics Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009) cosmetic products are prohibited to be […]
Author: Marilyn Matevia, HSUS Two NIH/NIEHS funding opportunity announcements request applications from small business concerns (SBCs) “to develop medium- to high-throughput assays to evaluate the effects of toxicants on pluripotent or induced pluripotent cells with respect to cell differentiation and the resulting differentiated cell populations. The ability to incorporate genetic diversity in these assays would […]
