3Rs Science Prize 2022: Call for submissions

The Call for submissions for EPAA’s 3Rs Science Prize 2022 has been launched.

The €10,000 prize is granted every two years to a scientist with an outstanding contribution to 3Rs. EPAA wants to promote positive contributions from industry or academia and encourage more scientists to focus their research on the 3Rs goals. Scientists working on relevant methods for regulatory testing (e.g. safety, efficacy, batch testing) providing an outstanding contribution to the use of the 3Rs may apply for the prize.

The call is available online on the EPAA website and can be accessed via the link:

https://ec.europa.eu/growth/calls-expression-interest/3rs-science-prize-2022-call-submissions_en

Applications should be sent to  grow-epaa@ec.europa.eu by Monday 3 October 2022 at 12:00 (noon) Brussels time.

http://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/chemicals/epaa/

3Rs student grants 2022: Call for submissions

The EPAA has published its call for the 2022 3Rs Student grants . The purpose of the grants is to sponsor students to participate in the major 3Rs events in 2020.

One full grant (1000 EUR) and one half grant (500 EUR) will be awarded for each of the eligible events.

You can find more information about the grants here: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/calls-expression-interest/3rs-student-grants-2022-call-submissions_en

http://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/chemicals/epaa/

EURL ECVAM Status Report 2021 on Alternative Methods published

The European Union Joint Research Centre for Alternatives to Animal Testing (EURL ECVAM) has issued its 2021 ‘Status Report on the Development, Validation and Regulatory Acceptance of Alternative Methods and Approaches’.

The 2021 EURL ECVAM status report describes research, development and validation activities, as well as initiatives that promote the uptake and use of non-animal methods and approaches in science and regulation. The principle of the Three Rs, i.e. Replacement, Reduction and Refinement of animal use in basic, applied and translational research, as well as for regulatory purposes is firmly anchored in EU legislation, with full replacement of animal testing being the ultimate goal. New approach methodologies including a variety of innovative technologies, such as in vitro methods using 3D tissues and cells, organ-on-chip, computational models (including artificial intelligence) and ‘omics (genomics, proteomics, metabolomics), are developed, evaluated and integrated in assessment frameworks with a view to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of hazard and risk assessment of chemicals and products in a variety of regulatory contexts. Important activities to promote the development and use of non-animal approaches are also pursued in the areas of basic and applied research, where most of the animals are used, as well as for education purposes.

Download and read the full report here:

Sources:

EUROoCS Conference 2022 update

The registration is open now, please use the following link.
Deadline Early Bird Registration: 15 June 2022

Important note:
Only EUROoCS members who paid their membership fee can benefit from discount for the EUROoCS 2022 conference. No EUROoCS member yet? Please first register as a new member.

Abstract submission
Deadline Extended: 30 April 2022

Your abstracts should be limited to a 1-page format according to the following template:
EUROoCS 2022 Abstract Template

Please upload your abstract via the following link.
Notice to authors: 1 June 2022
More information here

The Program for the social event is ready, read more on the annual meeting page

ERC Consolidator Grant ‘Phoenix’ for Maria Tenje and collaborators

Maria Tenje, professor at Uppsala University, Sweden receives funding for her project PHOENIX, an ERC Consolidator Grant in physical sciences and engineering. Focus is on developing novel microfluidic tools for high-throughput and fully controlled organoid generation. Organoids are self-assembled 3D cell models that can be used as alternatives to animal testing for drug development and basic biomedical research.


In PHOENIX, Maria Tenje will further expand the droplet microfluidics toolbox that her lab has pioneered during the last ten years, to gain control of the cellular architecture of the organoids by using integrated acoustics. For the project, she will collaborate with researchers from Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and researchers at Karolinska Institute and Lund University in Sweden.

Maria Tenje, Uppsala University, Sweden

More information:

https://erc.europa.eu/news/erc-2021-consolidator-grants-results

Workshop OoC in Paris: France federates its OoC community

On February 23rd  and 24st, 2022, the plenary meeting for the structuring of the OoC sector in France was held in Paris, organized by BioValley France (BVF), Institut Curie/IPGG and the CEA-IRIG (Interdisciplinary Research Institute of Grenoble). This event is a continuation of the digital directory of French experts in OoC set up by BVF (https://www.biovalley-france.com/fr/territoire/france/organe-sur-puce/ ).

These 2 days gathered about 95 people, 65 of which were in person, which was a great opportunity for human interaction and everyone enjoyed it! Peter Loskill, the chair of EUROoCS introduced this 2-days Workshop with a keynote to give an overview of OoC and associated applications. Berend van Meer illustrated the Dutch success story of national infrastructure structuring by presenting hDMT (https://www.hdmt.technology) and NOCI (https://noci-organ-on-chip.nl/). French researchers, clinicians, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, as well as representatives of the Ministry and standardization committees, were able to discuss in round tables the means to be implemented in this new field in France and the positioning of OoCs in the value chain from research to clinical and industrial applications.

French OoC Workshop Organizers : Jean-Dominique Guitton et Marie-Charlotte Lechner (BioValley France) / N-Picollet Dhahan (CEA-IRIG) / Stéphanie Descroix (Institut Curie/IPGG)

This French national OoC sector, in synergy with EUROoCS, will reinforce the visibility and competitiveness of France and the EU in the deployment and adoption of OoC technologies for tomorrow’s medicine. The annual conference in July 2022 EUROoCS in Grenoble (France) (https://euroocs.eu/annual-meeting/) will be the opportunity to highlight this national community in full structuring while drawing up a state of the art of the recent advances of the field.

Abstract submision for EUROoCS 2022 now open (extended)

Abstract Submission extended to April 30 2022

Abstract submission for EUROoCS 2022, held on 4-5 July 2022 in Grenoble France, is now open via https://euroocs2022.insight-outside.fr/abstracts/

Submitted abstracts will be selected either for an oral presentation or for the interactive poster session.

Deadline for abstract submission:    30 April 2022
Deadline for abstract selection:        1 June 2022

Scientific program committee
Xavier Gidrol (chair, CEA, France)
Fabrice Navarro (chair, CEA, France)
Dries Braeken (EUROoCS Board/ imec, Belgium)
Madalena Cipriano (University of Tübingen, Germany)
Stephanie Descroix (University of Paris Institut Curie, France)
Suzy Fitzpatrick (EUROoCS Regulatory Advisory Board/FDA, USA)
Jochen Kühnl (EUROoCS Industrial Advisory Board/Beiersdorf, Germany)
Martin Raasch (EUROoCS Board/Dynamic42, Germany)
Maria Tenje (University of Uppsala, Sweden)
Janny van den Eijnden-van Raaij (EUROoCS Board/ hDMT, The Netherlands)

Registration
Special reduced fees will be available to members of EUROoCS.
To become a member of EUROoCS click here.

EUROoCS members:
– Seniors: 250 € (+ 50 € late registration after 15 June 2022)
– Students: 150 € (+ 50 € late registration after 15 June 2022)

Non-society members:
– Seniors: 350 € (+ 50 € late registration after 15 June 2022)
– Students: 200 € (+ 50 € late registration after 15 June 2022)

More information about registration will become available soon. For more information on the venue and program see the event website.

Contribute to the Tumor Lymph Node-on-Chip End Users Questionnaire!

‘Tumor and Lymph Node-on-Chip for cancer studies’ (Tumor-LN-oC) is a Horizon 2020 EU project coordinated by the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS) of the National Technical University of Athens and led by Professor Ioanna Zergioti who is the Principal Investigator. The consortium comprises 11 partners from the Industry and the Academia from 9 different EU countries.

Tumor-LN-oC aims to offer a comprehensive solution for a robust, automated tumor-lymph node-on-chip platform that will connect primary surgically removed human tumors and LN tissue from the same cancer patient. This will allow studying the interaction of primary tumors with lymph nodes, identifying their chemical signature, and offering personalized treatment relying on molecular characterization of lymph node metastasizing cells.
During the course of the project, there will be interaction both with the Regulatory Bodies and the stakeholders in order to understand the end-user requirements and to comply with the existing regulatory/legislative framework. For this reason, a short questionnaire has been prepared on end-users’ requirements and needs for an Organ-on-Chip (OoC) platform for metastasis diagnosis and drug testing.

The Tumor-LN-oC platform is targeting the monitoring of complex processes such as tissue crosstalk and metastasis and will serve as a platform for parallel preclinical testing of drugs for individual patients aiming at Precision Medicine approaches. The survey includes questions related to the operation, the analysis time, the cost and other information that in the end will co-shape the platform that will be developed during the course of the project.

If you or anyone you know would be interested in contributing, please fill out the form and don’t hesitate to get in touch with the project coordinator (https://tumor-ln-oc.eu). Thank you for your participation!

Prof Ioanna Zergioti, Project Coordinator

Open technology platforms for emerging medical domains

Last November the Health.E lighthouse released two white papers on open technology platforms for emerging medical domains with Organ-on-Chip of course being one of them.

In the first whitepaper emerging medical domains are identified. In the latest whitepaper the specific problems and challenges related to open platforms for medical  devices are discussed.

Open technology platforms that can be used for multiple applications by multiple end-users have resulted in an enormous pace of innovation in the electronic industry. Unfortunately, the medical device industry is still very much relying on non-scalable point solutions.

The lighthouses are an instrument initiated by the European ECSEL/KDT funding program

to streamline and focus European initiatives / projects in certain key areas, and one of them is Health.

It is the mission of the Health.E lighthouse to accelerate innovation in medical devices by promoting the development and adoption of open technology platforms in the medical domain.

Next to the published whitepapers, the lighthouse is organizing a public symposium the 8th/9th March 2022 where industry, SMEs, RTOs, and policy makers will share their views and experiences in relation to the development and deployment of open technology platforms for medical devices. If you are interested in this topic or perhaps want to show your open technology platform in a booth, you are welcome to participate and join us! Participation is free of charge but does require registration.

Emulate Liver-Chip able to correctly identify 87% of drugs that caused drug-induced liver injury to patients

In a recent study now available on BioRxiv, researchers assessed the performance of 780 human Liver-Chips across a blinded set of 27 known hepatotoxic and non-toxic drugs. In line with the IQ MPS guidelines, the tested drugs included seven matched pairs that demonstrate the chip’s ability to distinguish toxic drugs from their less-toxic structural analogs. Furthermore, the study demonstrated that the Emulate Liver-Chip was able to correctly identify 87% of the tested drugs that caused drug-induced liver injury in patients despite passing through animal testing. At the same time, the Liver-Chip did not falsely flag any drugs as toxic, supporting its use in toxicology screening workflows. In comparison, published data for 3D hepatic spheroids shows a sensitivity rate of 42% and a specificity rate of 67% for the same drug set.

The study also included an economic evaluation indicating routine use of the Emulate Liver-Chip to identify liver toxicity risk in small-molecule drug development could generate approximately $3 billion per year by driving an increase in research and development productivity.

Source: Emulate

https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.12.14.472674