European Teratology Society

European Teratology Society (ETS). Online. Available HTTP (accessed 1 April 2003). 

Expert Workshop 2004 (Ispra, Italy), Society of Toxicology 2009 (Baltimore, US), the Teratology Society 2009 (Rio Grande, Puerto Rico), and the European Teratology Society 2009 (Arles, France). The purpose of this chapter is to briefly summarize results in relevant publications, views expressed in regulatory guidelines and opinions vented at the above-mentioned workshops. 

In 2007, the DART committee held a workshop on alternative assays, which was followed up by a workshop held at the European Teratology Society Annual Meeting in 2009. These workshops focused on three alternative assays (1) whole embryo culture (WEC), (2) mouse embryonic stem cell tests (mESC), and (3) zebrafish. Each assay was presented and data from users were shared, and strengths and limitations were discussed. It should be noted that the WEC and mESC are validated by ECVAM as alternative embryotoxicity assays. Still, there are numerous research needs before even validated tests can achieve regulatory acceptance. The discussions, conclusions, and recommendations of the 2007 workshop were published by Chapin et al. (14). Bullet lists of next steps to move forward were defined for each assay (14) and are briefly summarized here ... 

In 2009, the DART committee organized a follow-up workshop (held in conjunction with the European Teratology Society Annual Meeting) to the 2007 workshop, to evaluate researchers progress towards addressing those next steps for the WEC, mESC, and zebrafish. It was apparent in the 2009 workshop that much work needed to be done. A Zebrafish Consortium (scientists from Bristol-Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and other companies) provided encouraging results at this workshop and is expected to finish their collaborative project at the end of 2011. 

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