The determination of harmlessness in long-term toxicity tests is especially important with regard to cosmetic products, as their long-term application may lead to progressive cell, tissue or organ damage. Until now, such research was carried on animal, for instance rodents. Fifteen scientific and commercial partners from different EU states have combined to create this research project under the leadership of Professor Dr. Jürgen Hescheler of the University of Cologne with the objective of developing alternative strategies for the determination of long-term toxicity. The parties involved have set up an integrated research strategy for methods to animal replacement under the name of SEURAT ("Safety Evaluation Ultimately Replacing Animal Testing"). This shall develop methods of evaluating harmlessness which can entirely replace animal testing. Within this framework, bio-markers for detecting of long-term toxicity in human cells are to be developed, using state-of-the-art methods and high-content/high-throughput technology.
The first project phase of SEURAT was initiated on 1 January 2011. The project is set to run for five years.
Further information: http://www.idw-online.de/
Information on Colipa: http://www.colipa.eu/
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Tuesday, 01 February 2011 16:06
Alternative to animal experiments in cosmetic research Featured
January of this year saw the launch of the research project DETECTIVE, funded with more than eight millinon euros and led by Professor Dr. Jürgen Hescheler of the University of Cologne. DETECTIVE is a project of the 6th EU Research Framework Programme in collaboration with the COLIPA (European Cosmetic Association). The project's oblective is to help ascertain endpoints (study objectives) and bio-markers for the long-term toxicity examinations with the assistance in vitro systems.