Research Project for Alternative Testing - newsletter April 2010
The European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM) has launched an open call to invite laboratories to participate in the initial phase (phase III prevalidation) of the evaluation of three test methods designed for the assessment of the skin sensitisation potential of substances. The three methods are: 1) the Direct Peptide Reactivity Assay, 2) the Myeloid U937 Skin Sensitisation Test (MUSST) and 3) the human Cell Line Activation Test (h-CLAT). Within this project the selected laboratories will work in close contact with multinational companies as well as the European Commission Joint Research Centre.
All relevant information including the technical specifications can be found at: http://web.jrc.ec.europa.eu/callsfortender/index.cfm?action=app.homepage&institute=6
Deadline for submitting an offer: 13/10/2009 23:59
ECVAM, the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods is renewing its Scientific Advisory Structure. An Open Call for the Expression of interest to become a member of the ECVAM Scientific Advisory Committee (ESAC) has been published. For more information: http://ecvam.jrc.ec.europa.eu/index.htm. Deadline is 30 September 2009.
The 19 ESAC members will be in charge of advising ECVAM on all scientific aspects of its work and in particular with regard to the scientific validity of methods that would replace, reduce or refine animal experiments. The ESAC plenary will be supported by specialist experts who will prepare peer reviews of validation reports and provide specialist input to ESAC whenever needed.
There are still places free for the Introduction to Toxicology and Ecotoxicology as the Scientific Basis for Management of Chemical Risk. Its purpose is to explain the purpose and the meaning of various tests, how to interpret the resulting data and how to assess and manage chemical risks. For more information, see the frontpage of www.beltox.be [http://www.beltox.be].
The European Commission has launched today a new website, the so-called 'Tracking System for Alternative test methods Review Validation and Approval (TSAR)', designed to track the development of new alternative test methods which should replace, reduce and refine current animal testing.
The website is managed by the Joint Research Centre's Institute for Health and Consumer Protection.
Website address: http://ihcp.jrc.ec.europa.eu/tsar
For more information, see also: SPEECH/08/574
Data Sector Updating in the field of "Non-animal techniques for the study of percutaneous absorption for the ECVAM 'DataBase service on ALternative Methods to Animal Experimentation' (DB-ALM)"
IVTIP and REACH' an article of IVTIP's chairman about REACH and industry as gathered in IVTIP www.im.microbios.org - International Microbiology (Corresponding authors) Number 8 (1)
The scientific events mentioned in the agenda might be of interest to you. Please contact the organizers for more information.
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Also useful is the site of the Research Directorate-General of the European Commission and the sites related to specific research programmes, i.e. the Quality of Life programme, the Innovation programme or the Human Mobility programme. On all sites, latest, daily updated information and press releases can be found.
For detailed information on EU-funded research projects, please visit the CORDIS database in general or the CORDIS database with information on research projects in particular (use for easy retrieval a project's identification number).