December 2016
Trends in Regenerative Medicine: Repigmentation in Vitiligo Through Melanocyte Stem Cell Mobilization
December 28, 2016Vitiligo is the most frequent human pigmentary disorder, characterized by progressive autoimmune destruction of mature epidermal melanocytes. Of the current treatments offering partial and temporary relief, ultraviolet (UV) light is the most effective, coordinating an intricate network of keratinocyte and melanocyte factors that control numerous cellular and molecular signaling pathways. Read the full article....
EPA Announces Start of Voluntary Pilot Program to Reduce Animal Testing
December 22, 2016On December 20, 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)announced the start of a pilot program to evaluate the usefulness and acceptability of a mathematical tool (the GHS Mixtures Equation), which is used in the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). EPA states that the goal of the pilot program is to “evaluate the utility and acceptability of the GHS Mixtures Equation as an alternative to animal oral and inhalation toxicity studies for pesticide formulations.”...
Dutch Government Announces Plan to Phase Out Animal Safety Testing by 2025
December 22, 2016PETA UK and PETA Netherlands staff attended a meeting in Hague last week at which Dutch Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Martijn van Dam announced his intention for the Netherlands to end the use of animals in safety tests for chemicals, food ingredients, pesticides, veterinary medicines, and vaccines by 2025. This means that mice, rats, rabbits, and other animals will no longer have these substances forced down their throats or injected into their bodies, causing sickness, convulsions, diarrhoea, haemorrhaging,...
Director of CFDA, National Institute for Food and Drug Control (NIFDC) Visits IIVS
December 15, 2016Composed of 11 technical institutes, the NIFDC is responsible for the registration and post market surveillance of drugs, traditional Chinese medicines, medical devices, food and cosmetics. In addition to inspecting and testing these products for safety, the NIFDC publishes National Reference Standards for testing methods (such as the newly published standard for the In Vitro 3T3 NRU Phototoxicity test) and provides technical assistance and guidance for provincial control institutes. Dr. Li Bo, Director of the NIFDC, visited IIVS to gain a...
First Non-Animal Test Method Accepted by China FDA
December 1, 2016IIVS and stakeholders around the world welcomed the announcement last month by the CFDA that data from a non-animal test method can now be used to substantiate the safety of cosmetics made in China. The test, known as the In Vitro 3T3 NRU Phototoxicity Test (OECD Test Guideline 432), measures a chemical's potential to cause harm after exposure to light. The announcement came shortly after the 4th annual training of CFDA provincial regulators by IIVS scientists in Hangzhou, China. These annual...
PETA Int’l Science Consortium Announces Chance to Win a $100,000 Award
November 29, 2016PETA is accepting proposals to award a VITROCELL® exposure system—valued at up to $100,000—to researchers who will use it to avoid testing on animals. The VITROCELL exposure system can be used to deliver aerosolized test substances to human lung cells to predict human health effects more accurately than tests on animals. DEADLINE: March 30, 2017. The PETA International Science Consortium is also purchasing similar equipment for IIVS in support of our efforts to replace animals in inhalation testing. Read more....
What Does China’s Approval of the First Contemporary Non-Animal Testing Method Mean for Cruelty Free Cosmetics?
November 22, 2016IIVS' work with the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) and its subsidiary body, the National Institute for Food and Drug Control (NIFDC) has paid off with the recent approval of the T3 Neutral Red Uptake Phototoxicity Test, the first non-animal test method that can be used for safety tests in cosmetics sold in China. This article references IIVS's work with the CFDA and NIFDC over the last several years to provide training and education around non-animal methods for safety...
Decoding and Modulating the Color of Human Skin
November 22, 2016The constitutive color of human skin varies widely across the globe, from the very pale as in Celtic skin to the very dark present in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa. There is a biologic player “hard at work” producing the pigments that generate great variations in human skin color and is the protagonist of this article. It is the melanocyte. Read the full article. ...
IIVS Holds Workshop for University of Maryland Students
November 21, 2016IIVS hosted its fourth annual toxicology workshop for students from the University of Maryland College Park chapter of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES UMD). The workshop, held on Nov. 19 at IIVS in Gaithersburg, MD, featured a combination of lectures, demonstrations and hands-on laboratory sessions introducing the students to the concepts of adverse outcome pathways and approaches to predict skin sensitization, in vitro test methods using tissue engineered models, and assays addressing ocular irritation. The workshop concluded with a career...