Report on NEDO's Participation in the 7th World Congress on Alternatives & Animal Use in the Life Sciences
September 11, 2009
The 7th World Congress on Alternatives & Animal Use in the Life Sciences (WC7) was held in Rome, Italy from August 30 to September 3, 2009, and marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of Russell and Burch's book, The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique, which defined animal testing alternatives in the field of life sciences as the 3Rs: reduction, refinement, and replacement. About one thousand scientists, administrators and industry representatives from more than 40 countries participated in the Congress.
During the Congress, much attention was placed on a US National Research Council’s publication, Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century – a Vision and a Strategy (2007) and the subsequent formation of "Tox21 community" in February 2008. With homeground advantage, many experts from the European Center for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM), the first VAM in the world, presented their past results and future plans. "High throughput screening," "integrated testing strategies" and "weight of evidence" were phrases repeatedly used in lectures and presentations. In the final plenary session, reproductive toxicity was identified as an immediate target for R&D efforts.
At a breakout session on high throughput technologies, following presentations by the co-chairs from NIH Chemical Genomics Center (NCGC), USA and the Systems Toxicology Unit of the Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (IHCP), the European Commission, Mr. Takuya Igarashi of NEDO was invited to introduce NEDO’s Strategic R&D of Chemical Risk Analysis Technologies. He concluded his presentation with a five-minute video showing delicate movements of a prototype robotic system developed for a high-throughput cell transformation assay in a NEDO project.
Several scientists involved in NEDO R&D projects on in vitro and in silico alternatives to animal testing for industrial chemicals also made oral or poster presentations at the Congress to share achievements made through these projects.
WC7 confirmed that the direction of NEDO R&D projects on alternatives to animal testing, although small in scale, is consistent with international movements toward non-animal testing and alternative toxicology.
It is hoped that NEDO’s projects will be completed successfully and that the results can be presented as definitive accomplishments at WC8, to be held in August 2011 in Montreal, Canada.
A 20-page e-brochure, which describes the above-mentioned R&D projects, can be downloaded from NEDO's Web site: http://www.nedo.go.jp/english/publications/brochures/pdf/chemrisk/index.html
NEDO's contributions at WC7
During the Congress, much attention was placed on a US National Research Council’s publication, Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century – a Vision and a Strategy (2007) and the subsequent formation of "Tox21 community" in February 2008. With homeground advantage, many experts from the European Center for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM), the first VAM in the world, presented their past results and future plans. "High throughput screening," "integrated testing strategies" and "weight of evidence" were phrases repeatedly used in lectures and presentations. In the final plenary session, reproductive toxicity was identified as an immediate target for R&D efforts.
At a breakout session on high throughput technologies, following presentations by the co-chairs from NIH Chemical Genomics Center (NCGC), USA and the Systems Toxicology Unit of the Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (IHCP), the European Commission, Mr. Takuya Igarashi of NEDO was invited to introduce NEDO’s Strategic R&D of Chemical Risk Analysis Technologies. He concluded his presentation with a five-minute video showing delicate movements of a prototype robotic system developed for a high-throughput cell transformation assay in a NEDO project.
Several scientists involved in NEDO R&D projects on in vitro and in silico alternatives to animal testing for industrial chemicals also made oral or poster presentations at the Congress to share achievements made through these projects.
WC7 confirmed that the direction of NEDO R&D projects on alternatives to animal testing, although small in scale, is consistent with international movements toward non-animal testing and alternative toxicology.
It is hoped that NEDO’s projects will be completed successfully and that the results can be presented as definitive accomplishments at WC8, to be held in August 2011 in Montreal, Canada.
A 20-page e-brochure, which describes the above-mentioned R&D projects, can be downloaded from NEDO's Web site: http://www.nedo.go.jp/english/publications/brochures/pdf/chemrisk/index.html
NEDO's contributions at WC7
- Oral presentations (3)
- August 31, 10:00- Breakout session on high throughput technologies
“R&D of in vitro and in silico alternatives to animal testing under the strategic R&D of chemical risk analysis technologies by NEDO, Japan,” Mr. Takuya Igarashi, NEDO: click here for slides and texts - September 2, 10:00- Breakout session on immunology
“Search for biomarkers to evaluate immunotoxicity of chemicals and to develop cell-based screening methods,” Professor Setsuya Aiba, Tohoku University - September 2, 14:45- Breakout session on genotoxicity and carcinogenicity
“The NEDO project on carcinogenicity,” Dr. Noriho Tanaka, Hatano Research Institute
- Poster presentations (8)
- IN SILICO MODELS
ID ABS 71 “Categorization of chemicals for repeated dose toxicity”
ID ABS 131 “Knowledge base of basic active structures from twenty-eight-day repeated dose toxicity test data in rats”
ID ABS 256 “Development of a support system for evaluating the repeat-dose toxicity of untested chemicals” - IN VITRO TECHNOLOGIES
ID ABS 132 “Development of high-performed prediction system for chemical toxicity in the cell using tricolor bioluminescence probes” - GENOTOXICITY AND CARCINOGENICITY
ID ABS 428 “Bhas 42 cell transformation assay to detect carcinogens using 96-well plates and a robotic system for high-throughput screening” - REPRODUCTION, DEVELOPMENT AND FERTILITY
ID ABS 384 “Development of novel short-term tests for reproductive and developmental toxicity”
ID ABS 385 “The effect of chemical compounds on cultured rat embryos in s-9mix” - IMMUNOLOGY
ID ABS 386 “The pathogenic role of increased hyaluronan production and decreased e-cadherin expression by cytokine-stimulated keratinocytes in spongiosis formation”
