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Two teams are starting work to solve the Wings of Change CRACK IT Challenge and develop new approach methodologies* (NAMs) to evaluate the potential risks that chemicals such as pesticides pose to birds.
Large numbers of birds are used in avian toxicity studies to assess the potential of chemicals in the environment to cause acute and chronic toxicity in bird species. There is an unmet need to develop and integrate alternative approaches into testing strategies to reduce reliance on in vivo studies. In silico, in vitro and in ovo approaches could replace the use of some birds for internal screening of chemicals in development and for regulatory environmental risk assessments.
In the proof-of-concept phase of the Challenge, teams will spend nine months analysing existing avian toxicity data to inform their strategy for model development. We have made two awards to multi-disciplinary teams led by:
- Dr Stephan Schaller – ESQlabs GmbH, Germany.
- Dr Jo Nyffeler – Helmhotz Centre for Environmental Research, Germany.
Later this year the teams will be able to apply for up to £1.5M of further NC3Rs funding to build on the proof-of-concept phase to develop and integrate NAMs into a framework to reduce the number of animals used for regulatory risk assessment. The Wings of Change Challenge is supported by six international Sponsors** and Partners*** from industry and non-profit sectors. They will provide advice and guidance to teams as the Challenge gets underway and share their expertise and resources to support NAMs development in the second phase.
*We use the term new approach methodologies specifically to refer to full and partial replacement approaches for assessing chemical or drug toxicity.
**The Challenge Sponsors are BASF, Bayer Crop Science, Corteva and Syngenta. The Sponsors defined the Challenge, with a view to using the approaches developed. They will support its success by collaborating with the winning team and providing in-kind contributions (typically in Phase 2) such as expertise in avian toxicity testing and in-house testing of approaches developed.
***The Challenge Partners are the American Chemistry Council and the Health and Environmental Sciences Institute. Partners provide additional resources to help deliver the Challenge, including access to a network of potential North American-based collaborators offering their resources to the Challenge winner in Phase 2