Tox News: Newsflash, April 2025

Take part in our stakeholder engagement survey on new approach methodologies. If you are involved in the development and application of replacement technologies for toxicity testing or the submission and assessment of data for regulatory decision making, this is your opportunity to tell us your priority areas and unmet needs that if addressed would facilitate the use of new approach methodologies in safety assessment.

British Toxicology Society Congress

7 – 9 May 
Liverpool, UK 
The whole Tox team will be attending BTS congress this year, please come and see us at our booth in the exhibition space. 

Dr Natalie Burden will be co-chairing Symposium 1, Progress in regulatory protection of the marine/aquatic environment, and also delivering a talk on The need for guidance to support vitellogenin measurements in OECD Test Guidelines.

Dr Elisa Passini will be presenting a poster – Routine urinalysis in toxicology studies: are we missing 3Rs opportunities? (P35).

Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Europe 35th annual meeting

11 – 15 May  
Vienna, Austria 
If you are attending the 35th annual SETAC Europe meeting, come and say hello to Dr Natalie Burden and Dr Amy Marriott at booth 46 in the exhibition space. 

Natalie is organising and co-chairing a meeting of the SETAC Endocrine Disruptor Testing and Risk Assessment Interest Group on Monday 12 May and co-chairing sessions on endocrine disruption assessment and in silico new approach methodologies on Tuesday 13 May. 

European Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society Congress

3 June
Bratislava, Slovakia
Dr Fiona Sewell will be delivering a talk on Considerations for dose level selection for developmental and reproductive toxicity studies: 3Rs and scientific perspectives, at the 53rd Congress of the European Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society (EEMGS), hosted by the Czech and Slovak Society for Mutagenesis and Carcinogenesis (CSSMC). 

Association of Inhalation Toxicologists Annual Conference

3 – 5 June
Milton Keynes, UK
Mark Blee will be giving an overview of NC3Rs Toxicology work programme, with a focus on implementing the 3Rs within safety assessments for human health.  

Our recent paper published in Toxicology Research summarises the results of a cross-sector survey to understand the current use of microsampling in toxicology studies and the barriers to its wider uptake.

The use of blood microsampling (<50ul) in place of conventional blood sampling (200-300ul) contributes to both reduction and refinement, and has additional scientific and financial benefits. Microsampling can reduce the total number of animals used by negating the need for satellite groups and maximizing the data collected from individual animals. It is a suitable refined technique for any species, as it is less invasive and minimises the blood volume taken from the animals.

Our survey found that many organisations use microsampling, but to variable extents. Some use the technique only in non-GLP studies, while others have adopted it routinely across many, or all, rodent toxicity studies. Common barriers to the wider use of microsampling were reluctance to change or the resources required, and challenges associated with validating a new method. There are opportunities to further reduce and refine animal use across all sectors by wider adoption of microsampling. For example, we found microsampling was commonly used for small molecules, but less frequently for large molecules and cell/gene therapies.