ICCVAM agencies convened workshops and webinars during 2018 and 2019, summarized in the table below, to foster collaboration and provide information about alternative testing methods.
Meeting Date and Location | Sponsoring Agency (and partner organization) | Meeting Title (with link to page if available) | Meeting Summary |
---|---|---|---|
Mar 27, 2018 – Dec 12, 2019 | FDA (SOT) | Colloquia on Emerging Toxicological Science: Challenges in Food and Ingredient Safety | Since 2014, SOT and the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition have presented colloquia on high-quality, cutting-edge, future-oriented toxicological science topics. Many of the colloquia focus on alternatives to animal use. The series is continuing into 2020. |
Apr 11 – 12, 2018 | NICEATM | Predictive Models for Acute Oral Systemic Toxicity | This workshop presented in silico models to predict acute oral toxicity endpoints of regulatory interest. Participants also discussed developing a consensus model to integrate the submitted models, as well as next steps to encourage the appropriate use of these models in regulatory contexts. |
Aug 9, 2018 | FDA | What We’re Doing to Advance In Silico Medicine at FDA | The webinar provided an overview of in silico modeling and simulation approaches used by FDA’s Office of Device Evaluation. |
Sep 10, 2018 | FDA | Human Dermal Safety Testing for Topical Drug Products | This workshop addressed the current state and future directions for collection of human data on potential skin toxicity of topically applied medications. Participants considered the impact of human skin toxicity studies on drug labeling and discussed alternative approaches to providing information about skin toxicity. |
Sep 18 – 19, 2018 | NICEATM (PETA International Science Consortium Ltd.) | The Monocyte Activation Test for Pyrogen Testing of Medical Devices | The workshop focused on use of the monocyte activation test as a standalone release test to replace animal use when satisfying biocompatibility and sterility testing requirements for medical devices. |
Sep 27 – Dec 6, 2018 | NICEATM | The Utility of Zebrafish Models for Toxicology | This webinar series examined three case studies that illustrate the utility of zebrafish models for toxicology. |
Oct 16 – 17, 2018 | NICEATM (International Alliance for Biological Standardization – North America) | Implementing Nonanimal Approaches for Human and Veterinary Vaccine Testing: Achieving Scientific and Regulatory Success for Rabies and Beyond | This workshop brought together scientific and regulatory leaders from government, academia, and industry to develop recommendations for advancing alternative methods for human and veterinary rabies vaccine testing. |
Nov 7, 2018 – Nov 14, 2019 | EPA (PETA International Science Consortium Ltd., Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine) | Webinar Series on the Use of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) in Risk Assessment | These webinars discussed skin sensitization testing, dosimetry modeling of inhaled substances, respiratory sensitization, and fish toxicity. The series will continue in 2020. |
Mar 6, 2019 | NIEHS and EPA | Converging on Cancer | This workshop aimed to provide a clear path forward for evaluating the interactions between environmental exposures and cancer biology using the latest tools in toxicology and identifying knowledge gaps that require research attention. |
May 2, 2019 | FDA | Decision-making in Non-animal Cosmetic Safety Assessment | The webinar introduced a new stakeholder collaboration with the goal of globally implementing non-animal cosmetic safety assessment by 2023. Webinar speakers discussed applicable risk assessment principles and relevant case studies. |
May 3, 2019 | EPA (ASCCT, ESTIV) | New Computational Tools from EPA | EPA scientists provided overviews of the CompTox Chemicals Dashboard and the EPA’s generalized read-across (GenRA) application. |
May 14 – 31, 2019 | NIEHS and EPA | New Approaches and Alternatives for Toxicity Testing | The NIEHS Superfund Research Program hosted a webinar series highlighting research that may be useful as new approaches and methodologies for toxicity testing. |
Jun 6 – 7, 2019 | NIEHS (National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine) | Leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to Advance Environmental Health Decisions | This workshop explored emerging applications and implications of artificial intelligence and machine learning in environmental health research. Speakers highlighted the use of these technologies for characterizing sources of pollution, predicting chemical toxicity, estimating human exposures to contaminants, and identifying health outcomes. |
Oct 24 – 25, 2019 | NIEHS (National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases) | Tissue Chip Platforms as Tools for Testing Biocompatibility and Biotoxicity of Biomaterials | Topics discussed included the design and validation of tissue chip platforms for assessing biomaterial properties, and applying tissue chip platforms to prediction of in vivo responses of tissues and organs to biomaterials |
Oct 30 – 31, 2019 | NICEATM (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine) | Mind the Gaps: Prioritizing Activities to Meet Regulatory Needs for Acute Systemic Lethality | Participants in this workshop considered approaches available for assessing acute lethality associated with chemicals and chemical mixtures, with the goal of designing comprehensive strategies to predict toxicity while avoiding animal tests. |
Dec 3, 2019 | NICEATM (PETA International Science Consortium Ltd.) | Developing Strategies to Increase the Use of Recombinant Antibodies | Experts from academia, biotechnology, government, and animal welfare organizations discussed using non-animal derived antibodies in research, diagnostics, and biotechnology. |
Dec 17, 2019 | EPA | First Annual Conference on the State of the Science on Development and Use of New Approach Methods (NAMs) for Chemical Safety Testing | Experts from EPA, other government agencies, academia, and industry discussed application of NAMs to a variety of toxicity areas. Breakout groups considered topics including reference data and building scientific confidence. |