Overview Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic modelling is a method that uses mathematical representations of the body’s biological processes to predict how chemicals are absorbed, distributed, metabolised, and excreted in different tissues and organs. It plays a crucial role in evaluating how chemicals interact with the body, helping researchers to understand how...

Overview This project is focusing its research on developing New Approach Methodologies ( NAMs) to assess how chemicals effect the immune system. This addresses three key areas: organ-specific immune effects, particularly in the respiratory system and related allergic reactions; immune system suppression, measured through its response to vaccination; and improved...

Key messages Identifying toxicological effects of selected enniatins and Alternaria toxins. Providing urgently needed in vitro data for an appropriate risk assessment. Aim to set health-based guidance values for food (and feed). Overview Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by fungi that can contaminate food (e.g. cereal products, fruits, and beverages)...

Key messages Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ( EDCs) can cause long-lasting changes to how our bodies manage energy and fat storage – what scientist call metabolic disruption. Chemicals suspected to trigger these changes are known as metabolism-disrupting chemicals. They may contribute to obesity, type II diabetes, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease...

Overview The European Chemicals Agency ( ECHA) is incorporating international guidelines like the revised OECD Guidance Document 150 into its regulatory processes for evaluating biocides and pesticides for potential endocrine-disrupting effects. However, current testing methods and regulations still fall short when it comes to identifying substances that interfere with the...

Overview New scientific methods, such as New Approach Methodologies ( NAMs), generate a large amount of valuable data, but using this for regulatory and toxicological purposes remains a challenge without a clear and integrated framework. Adverse Outcome Pathways ( AOPs) offer a promising solution. They are organised roadmaps that describe...

Overview Risk assessment traditionally focuses on single chemicals to identify potential adverse effects on human health. However, humans are exposed daily to many multiple chemicals. Evaluating the health risks of these chemical mixtures has become a priority. The exposome approach adds value by studying the total external exposures over a...

Overview This project aims to simplify and improve the process of assessing the environmental risks of plant protection products, such as pesticides. While these assessments have become more complex and resource-intensive, real-world studies still show harmful effects on ecosystems. These findings conflict with European regulations, such as the regulation on...

Overview Although strict regulations govern the use of agricultural pesticides in Europe, field studies have revealed harmful effects on non-target organisms, which include species not intended to be affected by pesticides. This goes against European regulation, which requires that pesticide use does not harm the abundance or diversity of these...

Key messages The scientific basis of the pesticide environmental risk assessment needs to be strengthened, and the regulatory complexity needs to be bechmarked; The validation status of exposure models in the environmental risk assessment of pesticides needs to be improved; Measured and predicted environmental pesticide concentrations have to be contextualized...

Key messages Management of heterogenous data originating from interdisciplinary field like chemistry, biology, medicine and environmental science with varying format, quality and level of uncertainty is a major roadblock in chemical risk assessment (CRA). Computational methods like ontology-based text mining, natural language processing (NLP) models, and data mining approaches can...

Key messages The human relevance of testing strategies currently used, including toxicity studies in experimental animals and New Approach Methodologies ( NAMs), is usually uncertain. A pragmatic workflow for human relevance assessment of Adverse Outcome Pathways ( AOPs) and New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) would greatly help to overcome this challenge...

Overview Over the years, various tools and database platforms have been created to store, analyse, and visualise data and trends on the presence of chemicals and trends in their exposure in the environment. However, each tool or platform was developed for different user groups, offering various services and addressing different...

Key messages The project will illustrate the usefulness of early warning monitoring tools both for environmental and biomonitoring; Criteria for acceptance and prioritization of early warning signals will be defined. Overview This project is supporting the establishment of an Early Warning System (EWS) to identify and prioritise new and existing...

Key messages Novel suspect and non-screening methods are crucial to detect a wide range of chemicals that may not be well understood or prioritised. Quality assurance and quality control for these methods is not yet well established. In this project, a harmonised quality assurance and quality control framework will be...

Key messages It is relatively difficult to identify occupationally exposed groups from the general population data. In order to be able to identify potential occupational exposed groups from general population surveys, it is of utmost importance to have a high enough sample size with ISCO-coded information on occupations. This means...

Key messages This project will explore the potential of animal species, in particular gammarids and bees, as sentinels of the chemical status of the environment and the human food chain, using innovative screening methods based on advanced high-resolution mass spectrometry and effect-directed analysis. Overview Capturing the complexity of real-world chemical...

Overview Ensuring chemicals safety for human health and the environment requires reliable testing methods. However, traditional genotoxicity assessments - used to determine whether a substance can damage DNA - often rely on animal testing and fail to incorporate modern scientific advancements. The project is leading the way in developing Integrated...

Key messages The project develops a strategy to connect chemical exposures with health outcomes using effect biomarkers. It follows a two-step approach: integrating health data into human biomonitoring (HBM) surveys and assessing retrospective exposure through biobanked samples. It will deliver concrete tools for PARC surveys, including standardized procedures and materials...

Key messages Further analysis will focus on assessment processes for specific hazard criteria across frameworks; theoretical analysis of the legal texts and guidance documents to investigate the data requirements and assessment processes. Case studies will be performed on specific substances to analyse what information was required to classify a substance...