ALTERNATIVE Project

Workshop on ”Materials and Technologies enabling 3D Models for standardised in-vitro toxicology studies”
2023-05-26 10:00 - 16:30 (Europe/Berlin)
During this event, three presentations of ALTERNATIVE partners and Sister Project LIFESAVER are planned.
The workshop will take place in Politecnico di Torino. The main goal this event is to showcase intermediate ALTERNATIVE results to regulators, researchers, industry and other stakeholders, initiating a dialogue with them about their requirements for exploiting ALTERNATIVE outcomes.
The event also stimulates the creation of a cluster of researchers/institutes which will collaborate in the advancement of 3D models, through different competences.
The draft programme is attached.

Contributors are:
Elvesys, which is also partner in the sister project “LIFESAVER”, so they will present the advancement of their work in both projects.
Invited researchers active in the field of tissue/organ modeling: some of these are currently leading projects funded by EU
ALTERNATIVE advisory board, Valerie Zuang,(JRC) and Isabella De Angelis (Istituto Superiore di Sanità)

Keywords:
research and innovation networks, regulation of chemicals

Webinar on “Evaluation of chemical-induced cardiotoxicity: challenges and progress”
2023-02-23 12:00 - 13:30
Brief summary: (purpose, learnings and how it supports the ALTERNATIVE)
The objectives of this webinar are to raise awareness about the cardiotoxicity induced by environmental chemicals and to highlight the challenges/knowledge gaps in assessing cardiotoxicity for regulatory purposes. Additionally, the non-animal based methods that are being developed in H2020 European project ALTERNATIVE and their collective regulatory acceptance in light of current difficulties will be presented and discussed. We anticipate audiences from a wide range of areas and inputs received during the discussion session will be used to effectively realize the ultimate goal of the project ALTERNATIVE, which is to develop a novel platform to detect the cardiotoxicity of chemicals in a robust and cost effective manner.
Agenda:

Epidemiological evidence for cardiotoxicity induced by chemicals (20 min)
The ALTERNATIVE project and regulatory uptake of ALTERNATIVE platform (30 min)
Computational tools to assess cardiotoxicity (20 min)
Next steps and discussion (20 min)

Speakers/collaborating partners
Dr. Nunzia Linzalone (Institute of Clinical Physiology, Italy)
Dr.Martin Paparella (Medical University Innsbruck, Austria)
Dr. Alexandra Schaffert (Medical University Innsbruck, Austria)
Mr. Edoardo Luca Vigano’ (Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, Italy)
Dr.Birgit Mertens (Sciensano)
Dr. Sivakumar Murugadoss (Sciensano)
Who should attend this: regulatory and scientific experts in the fields of risk assessment, environmental health, epidemiology, toxicology, cardiology, new approach methods, next generation risk assessment
registration link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/evaluation-of-chemical-induced-cardiotoxicity-challenges-and-progress-tickets-531905061357

Workshop on 5D in Vitro Models: A step closer to Humans
2022-12-16
The H2020 project ALTERNATIVE is glad to invite you to a Workshop on 5D Vitro Models: A step closer to Humans, organized by POLITECNICO DI TORINO and IVTECH, which will take place on 16th December 2022 .
This Workshop will cover information on:
1) Commercially available technology for 3D and dynamic in vitro models
2) Focus on IVTech technology
3)Case of study
There is no fee for this event however Registration is mandatory. For enquiry and other related information contact: s.quaglio@ivtech.it – 3757104033
To know more about the workshop click here.

Online Workshop on Models for Toxicology
2022-12-06 10:00 - 11:30
The H2020 Green Deal project ALTERNATIVE is glad to invite you to the first Online Workshop on Models for Toxicology organised in the context of the cluster activities of the Green Deal Support Office, which will take place on 6th December 2022 from 10.00 to 11.20 CET.
The first Online Workshop on Models for Toxicology aims to bring together several European project partners and coordinators and the Green Deal project coordinators working on Models for Toxicology, as well as policy officers from the European Commission (DG RTD) and relevant project officers from the Executive agencies (REA, CINEA, HADEA). During the event, presentations of the ALTERNATIVE and PANORAMIX EU research projects and round tables for broadening models context will take place.
Please register HERE by 1st December 2022 to attend the workshop.
A detailed agenda of the webinar and any supporting documentation will be shared with you in due course. Should you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact at vozzi@ifc.cnr.it

ALTERNATIVE contributes to a session at EUSAAT conference 2022, 26-28. September
2022-09-26 08:00 - 2022-09-28 17:00
ALTERNATIVE contributes to a session on” Non-Animal-Methods for cardiac toxicity” at EUSAAT conference. This session will be co-charied by Martin Paparella (Medical University Innsbruck/Austria), Birgit Mertens (Sciensano/Belgium). This annual congress provides an opportunity to share scientific experience on alternatives to animal use in the life sciences, to get updated on the EU 3Rs policy and to discuss new concepts of implementing the 3Rs in academic education at the European and the international level.

Session-Abstract: Although there is increasing scientific evidence that environmental chemicals may contribute to cardiovascular diseases, cardiotoxicity is not yet specifically assessed for regulatory toxicology. Recent advances in 2D and 3D cardiac model development including molecular and functional read outs, as well as computational approaches to cardiac specific toxicity assessment and kinetic modelling pave the way for the development of Integrated Approaches to Testing and Assessment (IATAs). These need to be mechanistically qualified via Adverse Outcome Pathways. This session will provide an overview on the current development of new methods and approaches for cardiac toxicity.
More information at:https://eusaat.eu/

ALTERNATIVE contributes to XVIth International Congress of Toxicology in Maastricht, the Netherlands, from September 18 to 21, 2022
2022-09-18 - 2022-09-22 | Historical city of Maastricht, 6229 GV, Italy
This congress is jointly organized by the International Union of Toxicology (IUTOX) and the European Society of Toxicology (EUROTOX). It brings together the best toxicological scientists worldwide in the historical city of Maastricht, Netherlands.
The programme will have well-balanced inputs from academia, industry and regulators and will challenge participants to interact and participate in lively debates and discussions. In a smaller side-programme the aim is to step out of the regular conference setting to unite in local pubs and bars with citizens and international students and discuss how toxicological research can contribute to safe products, environmental protection and a more sustainable society.
Further information on the event is available on the ICT 2022 website.
ALTERNATIVE is planning to contribute to the programme.

ALTERNATIVE Partners presents at ESB Bordeaux 2022
2022-09-04 08:00 - 2022-09-08 17:00
ALTERNATIVE partners presents on “Tissue engineering inspired tissue and organ models: recent technological advances and road to the bedside and market” at ESB Bordeaux 2022. This 32nd Annual Conference of the European Society of Biomaterials will take place from September 4 to 8, 2022 in Bordeaux, France. The program includes a keynote on toxicity screening through organ/tissue models and plans to attract key high scientific level contributions with strong translational and intersectorial character. It is inspired by H2020 projects (https://alternative-project.eu; www.evpro-implant.eu/) that gather diversified partners (academia, R&D centers, clinicians, experts in regulation, large and SM enterprises).
More details at https://www.esbbordeaux2022.org/

ALTERNATIVE Partner participate as Exhibitor
2022-07-04 08:00 - 2022-07-05 17:00
ALTERNATIVE partner IVTech participate as Exhibitor at The European Organ-on-Chip Society. The technology will be shown on a stand. The commercial version of MD will be proposed, as well as the evolution as an R&D activity. This event brings together a broad audience including the general public and institutions (government, health foundations, charities), the academic research community (universities, research institutes), the pharmaceutical industry, other industries (cosmetics, chemical, environmental toxicity and food industries), hospitals, medical centers and medical practitioners, patients associations, policy makers and testing centers.

ALTERNATIVE Partners from the National Research Council Of PISA will present “Protocol of the systematic review at the XLV Congress of the Italian Association of Epidemiology”
2022-06-30 08:00 - 2022-07-01 17:00
The Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council (CNR) of Pisa will participate at the XLV Congress of the Italian Association of Epidemiology (IAE) “Decision-making in a context of uncertainty: the role of epidemiology” will take place in Padua from 29 June to 01 July 2022 (https://www.epidemiologia.it/xlvi-convegno-aie-2022/). This congress intends to reflect on the role that epidemiology has played and can and must play in orienting decisions – at different levels – towards the promotion of public health without escaping the challenge of the complexity of the phenomena but rather equipping itself to recognize (and dealing with) the theme of uncertainty.

During the three-day event, CNR team members will present the systematic review and meta-analysis protocol in an electronic poster format. This review aims to provide a sound basis for selecting toxic chemicals and pollutants to contribute with the epidemiological evidence to the in-vitro testing protocol within the EU-funded ALTERNATIVE Project.
In this context, the team will exchange ideas and information on the ALTERNATIVE project, focusing on the specific research questions and the knowledge gap, which the systematic review will address.
