BASF to research on alternatives to animal testing on behalf of the European Chemicals Agency

Number of animal experiments required for safety assessments of chemical substances to be further reduced

07-Feb-2024 - The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has contracted a consortium that includes BASF to conduct scientific studies on the reliability and relevance of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) as alternatives to animal testing and to promote the use of such methods in the future. The aim of the contract ...

Where do toxins from tobacco attack DNA?

In the future, this could make it easier than ever to determine the safety of many chemical substances

24-Feb-2023 - It is known that toxins in tobacco smoke can change our DNA – but where exactly in the genome they do this has been a mystery. A new approach developed by researchers at ETH Zurich now brings light into the darkness. In the future, this could make it easier than ever to determine the safety of ...

Animal-free safety testing of novel medicines, chemicals, and consumer products

Spin-off from the Leiden University Medical Center opens US office and production facility to accelerate growth

21-Mar-2022 - Toxys BV, a Dutch biotech company that offers a broad spectrum of innovative in vitro toxicology solutions for the safety assessment of novel medicines, (agro)chemicals, cosmetics, and food ingredients, announces the opening of a sales office in New York (NY) and a production facility in ...

Green chemistry needs more green toxicology

Sustainable bioeconomy: Development of environmentally friendly bio-shampoos and plant protection agent technologies

16-Feb-2022 - With the early assessment of sustainable, newly developed chemicals and products it is possible to assess a potential risk of toxic substances being released at a later point in product cascades. This has been revealed in a proof-of-concept study jointly coordinated by Goethe University Frankfurt ...

Fungus produces highly effective surfactant

26-Jun-2019 - Mortierella alpina lives in the soil and likes to keep cool. This fungus, which belongs to the zygomycetes, grows best at temperatures of 10 to 15°C and occurs mainly in alpine or arctic habitats. In biotechnology, the fungus has been used for the large-scale production of polyunsaturated fatty ...

Do chemicals make you fat?

The EU research project EDCMET is investigating the effect of endocrine disruptors on metabolism

28-Jan-2019 - January 2019 saw the launch of the EU research project EDCMET, in which scientists from the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) are also involved. EDCMET stands for "Metabolic effects of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: novel testing METhods and adverse outcome path-ways" and is ...

ECETOC Task Force provides new insights

Toxicity testing of microparticles and poorly soluble liquids in the water environment

15-Jan-2019 - A Task Force set up by the European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals (ECETOC) has provided new insights into scientific testing for the impact of undissolved particles in the aquatic environment. ECETOC launched the Task Force in response to increasing concerns among the ...

An effective approach to optimizing medicinal molecules

16-Aug-2018 - The search for new medicinal molecules with predetermined properties is a rather complex, expensive and time-consuming process, especially in oncology. Modern science allows us to accelerate this search through the use of computer technology and the introduction of automated processes. In the ...

Toxicity of carbon and silicon nanotubes and carbon nanofibers

20-Jul-2018 - Nanoparticles with a wide range of applying, including medicine, damage cells of microalgae Heterosigma akashivo badly. This algae species is widely spread in the Russian Far East marine area. The acute toxic effect exhibited at concentrations of 100 mg/l of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and silicon ...

Computers outperform lab rats in detecting toxic chemicals

19-Feb-2018 - UL, the science safety company, and Johns Hopkins University have embarked on joint research that has resulted in findings that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is superior in finding toxic substances to traditional animal testing. Beyond being more effective, UL's Cheminformatics REACHAcross™ ...