This multidisciplinary conference provides a forum for both internationally established and young researchers to exchange advanced knowledge on Toxicology. The congress will be comprised of keynote lectures given by world-renowned scholars, in addition to oral and poster sessions. State of the Art developments in different fields of Toxicology, new methodologies and developing expertise will be covered during presentations. 

This colloquium will bring together experts dealing with epigenetics and human health, animal health and environmental risk assessment of chemicals. There will be an open scientific debate on where we stand regarding knowledge of epigenetics mechanisms and the potential use and integration of epigenetic data in chemical risk assessment. Participants at the colloquium will critically discuss whether epigenomics data should be integrated into risk assessments, and whether this would improve hazard identification and characterisation, and make a meaningful contribution to the risk assessment process. A further objective aims at addressing molecular mechanisms, methods to investigate epigenetic effects in vitro and in in vivo, the use of epigenetic biomarkers and identifying existing data gaps and research needs.  

After this one day training, the participants will have developed basic knowledges on pyrogens and endotoxins mode of action as well as a strong focus on the upcoming regulatory testing requirements. Moreover, a wide range of samples will be tested by the participants such as complex matrices, spiked pharmaceuticals (e.g. Antibiotics), water samples and medical devices.

Les thèmes principaux retenus pour les 10 JS RFMF sont les applications de la métabolomique/fluxomique dans les domaines de l’environnement (applications en écotoxicologie, en métabolomique environnementale ou en microbiologie), de la santé (applications cliniques et suivi thérapeutique, recherche de biomarqueurs) et des Agro-ressources et l'agro-alimentaire. Les deux langues utilisées lors des JS du RFMF sont le français et l'anglais.

The aim of this course is to introduce the principles of translational safety as a tool to bridge preclinical and clinical safety assessments as well as safety management throughout the clinical phase of drug development. Lecturers and students will discuss the strengths and limits of these approaches and will have insight into the overall strategy of clinical safety evaluation prior to drug approval. Case studies from the development of successful new drugs as well as from discontinued compounds are used to illustrate the process of developing safe medicines. Also regulatory requirements from the major target markets are presented and discussed.

The principal themes of the academic programme of the Congress are: Household product safety; Aerotoxic syndrome; e-cigarettes – the good, the bad and the ugly; Toxic aspects of ammunition; Clinical toxicology of cannabis and cannabinoids; Current challenges of opioids; Advances in critical care of poisoned patients: imaging and treatment; Risk communication - detection, assessment, management and communication of risk in mass human toxic exposures. Interspersed within these will be panel discussions, pro-con debates, and also sessions for discussing recent papers and publications.

With the move in the EU Regulatory Environment to animal testing being the action of last resort, this is sure to be an informative event and an area of interest for everyone involved in chemicals, biocides or agrochemical registration. Topics include an overview of alternative test methods, skin and eye irritation, skin sensitisation, carcinogenicity and mutagenicity, in silico methods and future moves to further replace animals in regulatory testing.

The field of occupational toxicology covers the use of chemicals in a workplace setting and includes the study of both raw materials and process emissions as possible hazards to human health. Work-related exposures are studied by use of inhalation and skin exposure monitoring as well as biomarkers of exposure, susceptibility and effect, usually as part of epidemiological exposures. Results of such studies and also from experimental exposure studies contribute to the setting of workplace standards to prevent work-related intoxications and occupational disease. See course flyer.

REACH EU regulation was adopted to improve the protection of human health and the environment from the risks that can be posed by chemicals, while enhancing the competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry. It also promotes alternative methods for the hazard assessment of substances in order to reduce the number of tests on animals. In this context, this training intends to discuss in depth case studies using in silico tools in order to perform hazard/risk assessment fit for REACH dossiers.

Every day, we are exposed to a mixture of substances via food, the air and our skin. Much progress has been made in developing methods for assessing the risk to public health of such exposure to multiple chemicals. EFSA and the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) will hold a symposium that aims to present and discuss the state of the art of such methods. It will focus on the following topics: The state of play regarding implementation of cumulative risk assessment of pesticides in Europe. Enhancing knowledge on efficient toxicity testing of chemical mixtures while reducing animal testing. How new testing technology will improve understanding of mixture toxicity and human risk assessment.