Author: Mitchell Gaydash
A Laboratory Method to Measure Skin Surface Staining by Cigarette Smoke
October 20, 2023Exhaled or side-stream cigarette smoke (CS) may visually stain a consumer’s skin over time. Tobacco heating prod- ucts (THPs) and e-cigarettes (ECs) have reduced staining potential because they do not produce side-stream aerosols and their exhaled aerosols have significantly reduced levels of toxicants, particles and odour. Here we assess discolour- ation of porcine skin in vitro after exposure to particulate matter (PM) or aerosols from CS (3R4F), two THPs (glo and glo sens) and an EC (iSwitch Maxx). PM was...
Ensuring the quality of a test system using the principles of Good In Vitro Method Practices (GIVIMP): A case study of cryopreserved human precision-cut lung slices
October 10, 2023Human precision-cut lung slices (hPCLS) are a highly relevant 3-dimensional model of the lung. They offer native architecture and cells of the lung tissue including respiratory parenchyma, small airways, and immune competent cells involved in inflammatory and sensitization processes. The scarcity of human lung tissue available for research and the inability to conduct larger scale testing has limited the use of hPCLS as a test system for routine, high-throughput testing. To overcome this barrier, IIVS has refined the methodology behind...
Key Recommendations from GIVIMP for Test System Suppliers
October 10, 2023The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) guidance document on Good In Vitro Method Practices (GIVIMP) details a set of quality standards to improve both the quality of and confidence in newly developed, and routinely executed in vitro methods. An important part of (and a source of potential high variability in) any method is the test system. Microphysiological Systems (MPS), including organ-on-a-chip platforms have been used in novel methods for many years. Despite their potential benefits, there are several...
Webinar Series on In Vitro Phototoxicity Testing
September 20, 2023Thank you for joining us for a two-part webinar series on in vitro phototoxicity testing co-organized by the Institute for In Vitro Sciences (IIVS) and PETA Science Consortium International. Part 1 included a methodological overview on phototoxicity assays, and Part 2 covered case studies from industry applying the methods. Webinar 1: In Vitro Phototoxicity Testing Part 1: Methodological Overview Presenters: Allison Hilberer, MS, IIVS and Satomi Onoue, PhD, University of Shizuoka Webinar 2: In Vitro Phototoxicity Testing Part 2: Application Case Studies Presenters: Gretchen...
IIVS Partners with SkynFuture to Further In Vitro Research Techniques
September 18, 2023IIVS is pleased to announce a partnership with SkynFuture, a cosmetics and skincare brand within the UniAsia cosmetics company. IIVS and SkynFuture will collaborate to develop and optimize human-relevant research and testing methods to assess the safety and efficacy of skincare products, and conduct training and other activities to advance non-animal test methods in China. ...
Incorporating GIVIMP Recommendations into Method Development, Use, and Transfer
August 30, 2023The demand for toxicology data from human-relevant, New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) continues to increase. Fortunately, the scientific community has responded with new tools based on human tissues and cells. The creators of these systems and test methods utilizing them have invested in their development and also in studies designed to demonstrate their relevance, reproducibility, and transferability. Despite these efforts, scientific confidence in these methods at the regulatory level remains comparatively low. In order to bridge the gap between development and...
August 2023 Newsletter
August 24, 2023ToxTracker is a unique, stem-cell based assay which takes advantage of a Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) reporter system to identify hazard and mode-of-action (MOA) of potentially genotoxic materials. On July 20th, IIVS was formally awarded ToxTracker Certification by Toxys, a Dutch Biotechnology company and the developers of the assay....
IIVS Acquires Licenses to Work with DEA Schedule I Materials
July 29, 2023IIVS is pleased to announce that our lab has acquired the necessary State and Federal licenses required to work with several materials and compounds listed on DEA Schedule 1. These include cannabis and Δ9-THC and related cannabinoids (DEA Drug Codes 7360 & 7370). Our state-of-the art exposure systems include the Vitrocell® VC-1 and Cloud which able to generate smoke and nebulize liquid formulations and permit IIVS to evaluate controlled substance-containing products for many respiratory endpoints, such as cytotoxicity, inflammatory response...
Multiscale Stiffness of Human Emphysematous Precision-Cut Lung Slices
May 22, 2023IIVS is excited to announce a new publication in Science with co-authors at Boston University and Mechanobiologix (Newton, MA, USA)! Abstract: Emphysema is a debilitating disease that remodels the lung leading to reduced tissue stiffness. Thus, understanding emphysema progression requires assessing lung stiffness at both the tissue and alveolar scales. Here, we introduce an approach to determine multiscale tissue stiffness and apply it to precision-cut lung slices (PCLS). First, we established a framework for measuring stiffness of thin, disk-like samples....