A Look Back at 2020

Despite the many challenges we all faced in 2020, the PETA Science Consortium International e.V. made great strides in advancing non-animal toxicity test methods that improve human health and the environment. Take a look at some of our highlights of the year.

We published the following six papers:

    1. Costin G-E, Hill E, Brown J, Clippinger AJ. Qualification of a non-animal vaginal irritation method admitted as nonclinical assessment model (NAM) in the Incubator Phase of the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) Medical Devices Development Tool (MDDT). Toxicol In Vitro. 2020; 62:104680.
    2. Wenzel EV, Bosnak M, Tierney R, Schubert M, Brown J, Dübel S, Efstratiou A, Sesardic D, Stickings P, Hust M. Human antibodies neutralizing diphtheria toxin in vitro and in vivo. Sci Rep. 2020; 10(571): doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-57103-5.
    3. Groff K, Allen D, Casey W, Clippinger AJ. Increasing the use of animal-free recombinant antibodies. 2020; doi: 10.14573/altex.2001071.
    4. Barosova H, Maione AG, Septiadi D, Sharma M, Haeni L, Balog S, O’Connell O, Jackson GR, Brown D, Clippinger AJ, Hayden P, Petri-Fink A, Stone V, Rothen-Rutishauser B. Use of EpiAlveolar lung model to predict fibrotic potential of multiwalled carbon nanotubes. ACS Nano. March 2020: doi: 10.1021/acsnano.9b06860.
    5. Paparella M, Scholz S, Belanger S, Braunbeck T, Bicherel P, Connors K, Faßbender C, Halder M, Lillicrap A, Liska R, Schirmer K, Stoddart G, Thomas P, Walter-Rohde S. Limitations and uncertainties of acute fish toxicity assessments can be reduced using alternative methods. 2020; doi: 10.14573/altex.2006051.
    6. Luijten M, Corvi R, Mehta J, Corvaro M, Delrue N, Felter S, Haas B, Hewitt NJ, Hilton GM, Holmes T, Jacobs MN, Jacobs A, Lamplmair F, Lewis D, Madia F, Manou I, Melching-Kollmuss S, Schorsch F, Schutte K, Sewell F, Strupp C, Willem van der Laan J, Wolf DC, Wolterink G, Woutersen R, Zvonar Z, Heusinkveld H, Braakhuis H. A comprehensive view on mechanistic approaches for cancer risk assessment of non-genotoxic agrochemicals. Regul Toxicol Pharmacol. 2020; 104789.

In addition, we have submitted five other papers on pyrogen testing, acute systemic toxicity testing, eye irritation testing, and inhalation toxicity testing that are undergoing peer review and we are working on several others.

We hosted seven webinars:

  • Webinar Series on the Use of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) in Risk Assessment co-hosted with the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
    • NAM Webinar 5: CATMoS: Development and Use of the Collaborative Acute Toxicity Modeling Suite
    • NAM Webinar 6: Use of Non-Animal Skin Sensitisation Test Methods
    • NAM Webinar 7: Identification of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) for Placement on the TSCA Section 4(h)(2)(C) List: A Proposed NAM Nomination Form
  • Applications and Benefits of Animal-Free Recombinant Antibodies co-hosted with the US National Toxicology Program Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods (NICEATM) and the European Union Reference Laboratory for alternatives to animal testing (EURL ECVAM)
    • Antibodies Webinar 1: Animal-free antibodies against diseases: Rapid response to fight COVID-19
    • Antibodies Webinar 2: Scientific and economic benefits of animal-free antibodies
    • Antibodies Webinar 3: Application of animal-free antibodies
    • Antibodies Webinar 4: Accessibility of recombinant antibodies

We gave more than a dozen poster and oral presentations.

We chaired various conference sessions, including co-chairing a Society of Toxicology Continuing Education Course on “In Vitro Approaches to Assess the Toxicity of Inhaled Substances” and co-chairing a session at the Toxicology Forum titled “Assessing Carcinogenicity: Hazard Identification, Classification, and Risk Assessment“. We also continue to serve on the US Scientific Advisory Committee on Alternative Toxicological Methods (SACATM), a federally chartered committee that advises the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM) and NICEATM.

We continue to participate in standards-making organisations, such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (through the International Council on Animal Protection in OECD Programmes) and the International Organization for Standardization. The Science Consortium is a stakeholder accredited by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and observes the Competent Authorities for REACH and CLP (CARACAL). It is a member of the EURL ECVAM stakeholder forum and an observer of the Competent Authorities expert group on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes.

We awarded an early-career scientist our Award for Innovative Approaches in Science to attend the virtual Johns Hopkins University Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing Summer School on Innovative Approaches in Science.

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We look forward to continuing our work in 2021, and we hope to see our regulatory, industry, and academic collaborators in person again soon!

Want to work with us? Click here to view employment opportunities with Science Consortium members.

See our highlights from past years:

2019
2018