2017 LRI Innovative Science Award Ceremony and Workshop on Making Sense of ‘Omics’

The winner of the prestigious LRI Innovative Science Award, worth €100,000, will be announced at the opening gala dinner of the 19th annual Cefic Long-range Research Initiative (LRI) workshop on November 15-16 in Brussels. The topic of the main workshop is “Making Sense of Omics”. 


Cefic’s LRI Innovative Science Award is Europe’s biggest prize for early career life scientists. It finances outstanding research contributions developing novel approaches for assessing the potential impact of chemicals on human health and the environment.

The research undertaken by the LRI programme complements that done by SusChem with  focus on technology innovation and chemical safety/omics for regulatory applications.

Participants attending the 19th Annual Workshop have the opportunity to gain insights into the LRI programme and its future direction.

Omics: global perpectives
This year’s workshop theme is “Making Sense of Omics”. A dedicated session will discuss the regulatory applications of omics from a European and US perspective.  ‘Omics’ describes a wide portfolio of biology research areas including genomics, proteomics and  or metabolomics.

The event showcases the results from LRI Programme projects and their impact on pressing issues around the technical aspects of chemicals policy. Chemicals-related topics to be examined at the workshop by leading scientists involved in policy making in Europe, Canada and the USA include:

• Biodegradation
• Bioaccumulation
• Carcinogenicity
• Inhalation nanotoxicology

Key speakers
Key speakers of interest to the media include:

• Dr Albert Piersma - professor in reproductive toxicology at Utrecht University and Senior Scientist at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands, member of the Dutch Health Council and of advisory committees for the EU, OECD and WHO
• Dr Frank Gobas – environmental toxicologist at Simon Foster University, Canada and a member of scientific expert groups and advisory boards for the UN, the US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and the Canadian government
• Dr Damian Helbing – assistant professor at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, USA

More information and registration
The LRI workshop takes place at two venues with the opening gala dinner and awards ceremony at Le Plaza Hotel in Brussels on the evening of 15 November with the workshop taking place at The Square conference facility in central Brussels on 16 November.

The full programme for the workshop is available here and you can register via this link. Participation is free.

Register now for 18th Annual LRI Workshop!

The 18th Annual Cefic-LRI Workshop will take place in Brussels from 16-17 November 2016. The event is organised by the Long-Range Research Initiative Programme (LRI) of the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) and it's main focus this year will be on ‘AOPs (Adverse Outcome Pathways) and Genomics: how useful, how to address risk, and where next?’

The event kicks off on the evening of Wednesday 16 November 2016 at the Le Plaza Hotel with an invited poster session and networking cocktail followed by the Workshop Dinner and the 2016 LRI Innovative Science Award ceremony.

This evening session will be chaired by Nicolas Cudre-Mauroux from Solvay Award. He will introduce 2015 LRI award winner Dr Alice Limonciel of Innsbruck Medical University who will present the results of her study to establish thresholds of activation for stress response pathways and ligand-activated receptors for chemical classification.

This will be followed by the presentation of the €100,000 2016 LRI Innovative Science Award to the winning research concept who will outline the work they intend to undertake thanks to the award funding.

On Thursday, 17 November the workshop venue will be The Square in Brussels. This main workshop session will consist of a morning plenary session covering the impact of LRI research in the following key project areas:

• Environmental methodology of mixtures and residues
• Grouping of nanomaterials
• Dust and workers exposure
• Dermal absorption modelling
• Eye irritation alternatives
• Epidemiological evidence of Endocrine Disruption
• Epigenetics normality

After Lunch a thematic panel discussion on ‘AOP and Genomics: how useful, how to address risk, and where next?’ will be chaired and moderated by Prof Ian Kimber of the University of Manchester.

You can download the programme for the event here and registration is now open and free!

More rebel thinkers required!

Are you a real rebel thinker? Do you have a good idea for novel research in human health or environmental risk assessment? Then you can help your ideas come alive with the Cefic-LRI Innovative Science Award 2016. Your idea could be worth € 100 000! But be quick - the closing date for applications is 18 March 2016.

The European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic), in conjunction with Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), Federation of Toxicologists and European Societies of Toxicology (EUROTOX), International Society of Exposure Scientists (ISES) and Chemical Week, is offering a €100,000 award to support promising new research in the field of novel approaches to the characterisation of molecular initiating events, or other key events, in pathways for human and environmental toxicity. But you must apply by 18 March 2016!

The award judges will be looking for innovative research ideas, focused either on human health or environmental safety, which can pioneer new approaches to identifying and characterising molecular initiating events (MIEs) and other key events or biomarkers that are relevant for important new Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs).

In 2012 the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) launched a programme for the definition of AOPs as analytical constructs that describe series of linked events that are causally related and that lead to an adverse health outcome or environmental effect at the tissue, organism or population level. Such AOPs characteristically describe MIEs and other subsequent key events on the pathway to an adverse outcome.

The objective of the Cefic-LRI Innovative Science Award is to stimulate innovative research, "out-of-the-box" thinking and new approaches which will advance the assessment of hazardous substances.

The Cefic-LRI Innovative Science Award was established in 2004 to inspire highly innovative and industry relevant projects in biomedical toxicology and ecotoxicology led by promisingly early career scientists. The prize of € 100 000 has been awarded annually ever since - boosting the careers of twelve younger European scientists in the challenging research fields with which LRI is engaged.

Who can apply? 
The award is intended for a European-based scientist with less than ten years of research experience after their doctoral degree. Active involvement in interdisciplinary research, their current academic track record, and access to appropriate networks will be considered in the selection of the finalists.

Valid entries submitted by end-of-play on 18 March will be assessed by a panel of judges to select three finalists, who will be invited to present their ideas in Brussels on 6 June 2016, where the ultimate winner will be decided.

The LRI Innovative Science Award will be officially presented at the LRI Annual Workshop on 16 November 2016 and the 2016 Awardee will be expected to present the results of his or her research at the LRI Annual Workshop in November 2017.

For more details on the Cefic-LRI award and how to apply visit the awards webpage.

What is LRI?
The Long-range Research Initiative (LRI) programme is a major voluntary initiative of the European chemical industry to support the long-term sustainability of its sector and European society. Through the programme we hope to identify the hazards posed by chemicals and improve the methods available for assessing the associated risks.

The LRI sponsors high-quality research of a standard publishable in a reputable peer-reviewed journal, and seeks to provide sound scientific advice on which industry and regulatory bodies can draw-on to respond quickly and accurately to the public's concerns.

LRI AMBIT Workshop

Cefic’s Long-Range Research Initiative (LRI) is organising a training workshop on the AMBIT tool on 21 January at Cefic’s Brussels offices. AMBIT tool is a predictive toxicity model based on read-across and categorisation. The tool is a web-based application freely available to all and could prove very useful for companies for both R&D and regulatory purposes – in particular for REACH.

The AMBIT tool is described on the LRI website and in more detail on its own website and in this presentation from the LRI 2015 programme workshop.

The workshop is entitled ‘Linking LRI AMBIT Chemo informatics system with the IUCLID Substance database to support Read across of Substance endpoint data and Category formation.’
AMBIT is an essential component of the LRI toolbox of methods and instruments, while IUCLID (International Uniform Chemical Information Database) is a key tool for the chemical community to fulfil data submission obligations under REACH. The linking of the two systems was undertaken in LRI project EEM9.3.

The inclusion of high quality substance data will enhance the predictive power of the AMBIT in-silico tool. The new version of AMBIT also implements workflows for assessments and should minimise overall animal testing needs and resource costs.

Another important new feature is the automatic assignment of chemical structures from the AMBIT structure pool to all the constituents, impurities and additives defined in an IUCLID substance. A search for a defined structure yields relevant substances and endpoint data that could be filtered as required by the user.

In addition AMBIT has several output options including the generation of an assessment report as a Word document that itemises justification/ validation of the approach taken.

AMBIT is an open source application with many functions that can be further developed or customised. The EEM9.3 project ended this month (December 2015) and the new version of AMBIT will become a free, open, publicly available tool.

The AMBIT workshop on 21 January will allow users to gain “hands on” experience of the new system.

Free registration
There is no charge for attendance at the AMBIT workshop but places are restricted to a maximum of 50 participants – so reserve you seat now! You can view the programme of the workshop here.

To register, please send an email to Andreea Udrea withh cc to LRI Programme Manager Bruno Hubesch. Places will be allocated on a ‘first come first served basis’.

For more information on LRI activities, please contact Dr. Bruno Hubesch, LRI Programme Manager or the LRI Secretariat.

2015 LRI Innovative Science Award Winner Announced

French researcher Dr. Alice Limonciel was awarded the €100,000 LRI Innovative Science award, one of Europe’s largest research grants for early career scientists, at an award ceremony at Cefic’s 17th Annual Long-Range Initiative (LRI) Workshop in Brussels on November 18, 2015.

Dr.  Limonciel’s winning research proposal is entitled "Establishment of thresholds of activation of stress
responses pathways and ligand-activated receptors for chemical classification” and will investigate cellular responses to the acceleration of chronic kidney disease progression due to chemical exposure. The project aims to identify the genes involved in cellular stress response pathways, quantify these responses in parallel with markers of cellular dysfunction and deliver a new generation of quantitative tools based on gene expression to evaluate the hazard linked to chemical exposure for use in risk assessment strategies.

Dr. Pierre Barthélemy, Cefic Executive Director of Research and Innovation commented: “It’s always a pleasure to see the enthusiasm of early career scientists and their desire to make our world safer. The LRI Innovative Science is a great opportunity for them to develop their breakthrough ideas with complete freedom, find new approaches to tackle risk assessment and help reduce uncertainty as it relates to chemicals safety”.

Dr. Limonciel (pictured above, right, receiving the award from Yves Verschueren Managing Director of Essenscia)  studied pharmacology and toxicology at the engineering school Polytech’ Nice-Sophia in France. She completed her doctoral studies in the department of Physiology and Medical Physics at the Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria in 2013.  Dr. Limonciel is currently working at Innsbruck as a Postdoctoral researcher on molecular mechanisms of nephrotoxicity notably using the integration of multiple omic datasets such as transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and epigenomics.

A video from the LRI Award ceremony 2015 is embedded below. 



The award ceremony and dinner were the highlights of the first day of the 2015 Annual CEFIC-LRI Workshop. The second day of the workshop will focus on non–animal-based safety assessment and will showcase the outcome and impact of several LRI projects completed in 2014-2015 from the fields of environmental risk assessment, bioconcentration, chemo-informatics, exposure modelling, skin sensitization and acceptance of innovation.

About the Award
The LRI Innovative Science Award worth €100 000 was first introduced in 2004 as a funding opportunity for young scientists based in Europe. Its aim is to stimulate innovative research, to foster ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking and to introduce new approaches that will advance the environmental assessment of hazardous substances. More than a decade later, it is still the biggest award of its kind in Europe and has helped numerous scientists realise their ambitions and become part of the LRI scientific network.

The Long-range Research Initiative (LRI) is part of Cefic's voluntary initiatives to improve the Regulatory Framework of the chemical industry in Europe. Its mission is to identify and fill gaps in our understanding of the hazards posed by chemicals and to improve the methods available for assessing the associated risks.

For more information on the LRI activities and the award, please contact Programme Manager Bruno Hubesch.

LRI Workshop looks at progress in Non-animal-based safety assessment

Don’t forget the Long-Range Research Initiative Programme (LRI) of the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) is holding its 17th annual workshop on 18 and 19 November 2015 in Brussels. This year, the Annual CEFIC-LRI Workshop will focus on non–animal-based safety assessment and will showcase the outcome and impact of several LRI projects completed in 2014-2015 from the fields of environmental risk assessment, bioconcentration, chemo-informatics, exposure modelling, skin sensitization and acceptance of innovation.

Registration is now open and free!
The Cefic-LRI workshop is a must-attend event for the scientific community and an excellent networking opportunity for policymakers. This year’s venue is Le Plaza Hotel Brussels.

On the evening of the first day the LRI programme will present the winner of the LRI Innovative Science Award for 2015 and also catch up with the progress of winner of the 2014 LRI Award winner Dr Alexandra Antunes of the Centro de Química Estrutural, Complexo Interdisciplinar Instituto Superior Técnico in Portugal and her work on Covalent Modification of Histones by Carcinogens: a novel proteomic approach toward the assessment of chemically-induced cancers.

AMBIT tool
The second day will feature plenary sessions on the impact of LRI projects that cover subjects including an integrated modelling tool for ecological risk assessment, a mechanistic bioconcentration model for ionogenic organic compounds in fish, passive sampling formats, exposure modelling platforms and much more.

One of the presentations will feature the project to revise and update the AMBIT tool as a predictive toxicity model based on read-across and category formation. The tool can be used for both research and regulatory purposes and will be released in early 2016 and will be fully loaded and formatted with the non-confidential part of the REACH database. LRI will soon organize hands-on training to familiarize research experts with this new web-based application. Keep an eye on the LRI website for more announcements on this.

Panel discussion
And in the afternoon of Day 2, Prof Ian Kimber of the University of Manchester with moderate a dedicated panel discussion on non-animal-based safety assessment to consider the questions: “Non-animal based safety assessment: within reach or over-sold? Do we need to set back expectations?”

The panel will focus on current and future developments in non-animal toxicity testing methods and address the key issues and challenges to developing non-animal methods in toxicology. It will also examine visionary versus unrealistic regulatory expectations e.g. in view of REACH 2018.

The panel will consist of:

• Dr Karel de Raat, ECHA
• Dr Karen Niven, Shell
• Dr Alan Poole, ECETOC
• Dr Rick Becker, American Chemistry Council
• Dr Raffaella Corvi, JRC/EURL-ECVAM
• Prof Jim Bridges, Univ. Surrey
• Dr Kirsty Reid, Eurogroup for Animals

More information
For more details of the 17th Annual CEFIC-LRI workshop visit the dedicated webpage and download the final programme.

To register for the event, please click here.

You can follow the event on Twitter via the hashtag #lri2015

For more information on the workshop, please contact Dr. Bruno Hubesch, LRI Programme Manager or the LRI Secretariat.

More about LRI
The Long-range Research Initiative (LRI) programme is a major voluntary initiative of the European chemical industry to support the long-term sustainability of its sector and European society. Through the programme we hope to identify the hazards posed by chemicals and improve the methods available for assessing the associated risks.

The LRI sponsors high-quality research of a standard publishable in a reputable peer-reviewed journal, and seeks to provide sound scientific advice on which industry and regulatory bodies can draw-on to respond quickly and accurately to the public's concerns.

LRI research supports the 3R's principle. Read more here: http://cefic-lri.org/lri-research-programme/research-areas/intelligent-testing/ and http://cefic-lri.org/news/cefic-lri-in-joint-cross-sector-workshop-on-alternatives-for-skin-sensitization-testing-and-assessment/.

LRI Innovative Science Award Video

A new video captures the importance of the LRI Innovative Science award to early-career scientists. The LRI Innovative Science award, the largest European health and environment research grant award, gives early career scientists complete freedom to develop their breakthrough ideas, find new approaches to tackle risk assessment and help reduce uncertainty in relation to chemicals safety.

In the new video the winners of the 2014 and 2013 LRI award talk about their winning proposals, the potential impact of their research, future plans and overall experience after receiving an LRI grant.



Dr. Alexandra Antunes of the Instituto Superior Técnico, winner of the 2014 LRI award, is investigating a novel way to detect chemically induced cancers and predict the carcinogenic potential of chemicals. Alexandra’s award-winning research idea was also featured on the Horizon 2020 Projects Publication, an online initiative that provides timely and invaluable information regarding the European Commission’s latest and largest ever research and innovation framework programme.

Dr. Sabine Langie of the Flemish Institute for Technological Research, winner of the 2013 LRI award, investigates respiratory allergies in childhood caused by environmental exposure.

More information
To find out more about the LRI Innovative Science award and past winners visit the LRI website. The competition for 2015 is now open and the deadline for applications is 17 March. Find out more, including how to enter the competition here.

Rebel thinkers required!

Are you a rebel thinker? Do you have a good idea for novel research in human health or environmental risk assessment? Then you can help your ideas come alive with the Cefic-LRI Innovative Science Award 2015. But be quick - the closing date for applications is 17 March 2015.

The European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic), in conjunction with the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), the Federation of Toxicologists and European Societies of Toxicology (EUROTOX), the International Society of Exposure Scientists (ISES) and global chemicals news organisation IHS Chemical Week, is offering a €100,000 award to support promising new research in the field of novel use of surrogate data to assess apical endpoints in human health and/or environmental risk assessment. But you must apply by 17 March 2015!

Apical endpoints are empirically verifiable outcomes of exposure, such as developmental anomalies, breeding behaviours, impaired reproduction, physical changes and alterations in the size and histopathology of organs etc. These gross changes observed in-vivo can offer evidence of toxicity for a substance being studied.

Criteria
The award judges will be looking for new approaches and techniques that, in addressing the challenges of assessing chemical risks, will enhance our understanding of the causes of adverse effects. 

These could include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following:

• Techniques to combine different types of existing information on similar chemical(s);
• The use of predictive computational modelling such as Quantitative Structure Activity Relationships (QSARs);
• Novel non-animal toxicology testing, for example in-vitro and/ or high-throughput screening assays.

The objective of the Cefic-LRI Award is to stimulate innovative research, "out-of-the-box" thinking and new approaches which will advance the environmental assessment of hazardous substances.

The Cefic-LRI Innovative Science Award was established in 2004 to inspire highly innovative and industry relevant projects in biomedical toxicology and ecotoxicology led by promisingly early career scientists. The prize of € 100 000 has been awarded annually ever since; boosting the careers of eleven younger European scientists in the challenging fields with which LRI is engaged.

Who can apply? 
The award is intended for a European-based scientist with less than ten years of research experience after their doctoral degree. Active involvement in interdisciplinary research, their current academic track record, and access to appropriate networks will be considered in the selection of the finalists. 

Valid entries submitted by end-of-play on 17 March will be assessed by a panel of judges to select three finalists, who will be invited to present their ideas in Brussels on 1 June 2015, where the ultimate winner will be decided.

For more details on the Cefic-LRI award and how to apply, please visit the awards webpage.

What is LRI?
The Long-range Research Initiative (LRI) programme is a major voluntary initiative of the European chemical industry to support the long-term sustainability of its sector and European society. Through the programme we hope to identify the hazards posed by chemicals and improve the methods available for assessing the associated risks.

The LRI sponsors high-quality research of a standard publishable in a reputable peer-reviewed journal, and seeks to provide sound scientific advice on which industry and regulatory bodies can draw-on to respond quickly and accurately to the public's concerns.

One Million in Prizes! Ten years of LRI Innovative Science Awards

The recent LRI Annual Workshop in Brussels on 21 November was the occasion to celebrate ten years of the LRI Innovative Science award. The event saw the presentation of this prestigious award for younger scientists to its tenth recipient: Dr. Sabine Langie of VITO. Dr Langie received her prize of € 100 000 from Prof. Ellen Fritsche of the University of Dusseldorf: herself a previous winner and now a member of LRI’s External Scientific Advisory Panel (ESAP).

The Cefic-LRI award programme has been hugely successful over the past decade. The LRI Innovative Science Award was established in 2004 to inspire highly innovative and industry relevant projects in biomedical toxicology and ecotoxicology led by promisingly early career scientists.

The prize of € 100 000 has been awarded annually ever since - boosting the careers of ten younger European scientists in the challenging fields with which LRI is engaged.

This year’s award – making a total of one million euros distributed to research projects under this element of the Cefic-LRI programme so far – was presented by Prof Fritsche (below, left) to Dr Sabine Langie (below, right) of the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO) at the LRI Annual Workshop.

Dr. Langie will use the award to broaden her current work on the analysis of DNA methylation patterns in the saliva of children participating in two significant birth cohort studies in Flanders. She is exploring the hypothesis that prenatal chemical exposures can alter foetal DNA methylation patterns and predispose the child to develop allergic diseases later in life.

The use of saliva is less burdensome for the children in study and easier to collect than, for example, blood samples. The ultimate aim of the study is to develop prevention strategies (including reduction of chemical exposure), particularly in children, and reduce the societal burden associated with allergic diseases.

Career boost
Reviewing the history of the award Prof. Fritsche, who won the award in 2006, described the prize as: “Nitromethane for an Early Career – the LRI award was a big accelerator for my career - a rocket!” This view was echoed by contributions from other awardees over the years.

Dr Roman Ashauer of York University won the award in 2007 and says: “The Cefic-LRI Award allowed me to pursue my own ideas. It was motivation, encouragement and the crucial bit of extra fuel in the tank to push the envelope.”

Similarly Prof Paul van den Brink of Wageningen University, the winner in 2005, commented: “The award gave me the first sense of academic freedom. It was a real push to my career and opened doors for further funding.”

The first ever winner of the award in 2004 Prof Roger Godschalk of Maastricht University is still feeing the effects of the award saying: “With the LRI-award, I was able to put my ideas into practice. It eventually evolved in to my own research line at our institute, which I can continue to build even 10 years after winning the CEFIC LRI-award.”

“Winning this award has been a pivotal factor in my research and professional career. It has allowed me to create my research group, managing my own research budget and having two PhD students working alongside me in the project,” said 2010 winner Dr Maria Saborit of Birmingham University.

Data mining
Delegates to the LRI workshop also got an update on the work of 2012 winner Dr Andreas Bender of the University of Cambridge who is looking to determine biologically relevant effects of compound exposure by chemical, biological and phenotypic data integration.

The in-silico prediction of in-vivo toxicology of a particular compound is a non trivial problem due to the lack of direct correlations between structural features and toxicity. However chemical, protein target and phenotypic data provide complementary bioactivity data and Dr Bender’s work is based on the hypothesis that more accurate toxicity predictions could be made by integrating these data. His core expertise is in data mining and the research has had success in predicting likely protein targets for compounds based on their structure in areas such as mode of action analysis, modelling of bioactivities, natural products and traditional medicines.

The performance of the model algorithm used is increasing all the time and Dr Bender is looking to the ultimate objective of automated prediction of targets given only their chemical structure. These techniques will be useful in future personalised medicine scenarios and he has recently received a € 1.5 million ERC Starter Grant to extend the work towards bioactive mixture modelling.

More information
Details of the next LRI Innovative Science Award will be released in early 2014. The focus of this eleventh competition will be in one of the environmental areas of research covered by LRI. For more details keep an eye on the Cefic-LRI website and to find out more about all previous winners click here.

Additional Cefic-LRI Grants for 2013 Announced

The Long-range Research Initiative (LRI) is a major voluntary initiative of the European chemical industry to support its competitiveness and innovation potential. The LRI programme aims to identify and fill gaps in the understanding of the hazards posed by chemical substances and to improve the methods available for assessing the associated risks. Requests for proposals in a range of research areas were published in June and now two further topics have been published for research commencing in 2014.

LRI sponsors high-quality research, published in peer-reviewed journals, and seeks to provide sound scientific advice on which industry and regulatory bodies can draw to respond more quickly and accurately to society’s concerns.

In addition to the LRI programme for 2013 announced in June, the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) is now accepting further grant applications to carry out research in the following areas:

• LRI-AIMT4: Use of non-animal data to supplement and strengthen read-across
• LRI-C3: Epigenetics - Normality in Toxicologically Relevant Species

Further details of each research area can be found by following the links on each topic.

Applications
The submission deadline for these two extra research areas is 10 January 2014. Project specifications, budget details and application forms can be found on the Cefic LRI website. Only proposals that fit the project specifications and are submitted via the official LRI application form will be considered.

The scientific evaluation and selection of applications for funding are managed by a scientific committee provided by ECETOC. In particular, within LRI, ECETOC has the responsibility of maintaining three “core teams”: health effects, human exposure & risk assessment and environment.

LRI events
Dr. Bruno Hubesch, Cefic-LRI Manager  will be chairing the session on low dose toxicity at the 34th Annual European Meeting of the Toxicology Forum (ToxForum) that takes place on 22 to 24 October in Brussels.

ToxForum aims to be recognised as the leading international toxicological organisation promoting and encouraging dialogue amongst all stakeholders on public health issues.

And don’t forget the 15th Cefic-LRI Annual Workshop that takes place on 20 to 21 November 2013, also in Brussels. The 2013 workshop will discuss how a science-informed approach to decision-making can contribute to relevant policy initiatives. The event will showcase the results and outcomes of several LRI projects completed in 2012-2013. The key areas of discussion will be thresholds of concern, bio-monitoring, domestic exposure, endocrine disrupters, nanomaterials, toxicogenomics and sediment testing.

You can find more information on the workshop here or go straight to registration here.

More information on LRi
For further information, please contact Dr. Bruno Hubesch, Cefic-LRI Manager, or the LRI Secretariat or visit the Cefic-LRI website.

LRI Workshop: Science-led Decision-Making

Cefic’s Long-range Research Initiative (LRI) programme will hold its 15th annual workshop on 20-21 November 2013 in Brussels and registration is now open. This year’s workshop is titled: “Science-informed decision making: are we on track?”

The workshop’s objective is to demonstrate to scientists, academia, regulators and stakeholders the value that the LRI programme has created and to present its future direction. The workshop will commence on the evening of November 20 with a poster exhibition and dinner at the Sheraton Brussels hotel.

The event aims to examine in particular how science and scientific thinking can contribute to a decision-making process which ensures that future policies and initiatives are based on a holistic view and a realistic assessment of all the relevant data.

On November 21, the morning session of the workshop will discuss new results from the programme’s current project portfolio. The workshop will focus on key areas including thresholds of concern, bio-monitoring, domestic exposure, endocrine disruption, nanomaterials, toxicogenomics and sediment testing.

Innovative Science
In the afternoon, the workshop will continue with the official ceremony for the prestigious Cefic-LRI Innovative Science Award for early career scientists. This will be followed by presentations from external stakeholders (European Commission, European Parliament and specialised media) on the subject of science-informed decision making. The venue for the workshop will be the International Auditorium, Boulevard du Roi Albert II 5, Brussels.

A highlight of the workshop will be a presentation by Dr. Sabine Langie (left) of the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO). Dr. Langie is this year’s winner of the Cefic-LRI Innovative Science Award worth € 100 000. The award will help fund her studies on the environmental programming of respiratory allergy in childhood and, specifically, the effect of exposure on DNA methylation. The overall goal of the research is to provide new levels of insight into the molecular mechanism underlying the effect of prenatal exposure on childrens’ allergy risk. The objective of Dr Langie’s research falls within one of the main priorities of the Global ICCA-LRI Research Strategy: to improve our understanding of exposure to chemicals and their effect on health. The research is also highly relevant to European strategy priorities on public health and the Children’s Environment and Health Action Plan in Europe (CEHAPE).

Science for Policy Impact
The LRI programme is one of the major voluntary initiatives of the European chemical industry to support its competitiveness and innovation potential. LRI aims to identify hazards posed by chemicals and to improve the methods available for assessing any associated risks.

LRI strives to have a policy impact for its scientific research. It is acknowledged as a preferred partner to provide industry inputs in scientific debates for our stakeholders, particularly on the regulatory side.

In particular LRI engaged with the European Chemical Agency (ECHA) to develop a better understanding of the use of alternatives in the context of REACH (the European regulation on chemical products) context, resulting in a collaborative workshop on acceptance of read-across methodology in late 2012. On the basis of that success, LRI initiated a further collaboration with ECHA on use of alternative testing (in vitro) for skin sensitization in February 2013.

Dr. Bruno Hubesch, LRI Programme Manager commented: “I believe LRI is an ideal platform to engage with stakeholders on research areas of public interest.”

More information
The LRI workshop will be attended by representatives of the European institutions and bodies, academia and industry and provides an excellent opportunity to network with both scientists and policy makers. For more information visit the Cefic-LRI website or contact LRI Programme Manager Bruno Hubesch. The draft programme for the event can be access here and you can register for the event here.

Cefic-LRI Grants 2013 open

The Long-range Research Initiative (LRI) is a major voluntary initiative of the European chemical industry to support its competitiveness and innovation potential. The LRI programme aims to identify and fill gaps in the understanding of the hazards posed by chemical substances and to improve the methods available for assessing any associated risks. The topics in which proposals for research during 2013 are requested have just been announced.

LRI sponsors high-quality research, published in peer-reviewed journals, and seeks to provide sound scientific advice on which industry and regulatory bodies can draw to respond more quickly and accurately to society’s concerns.

In the context of its LRI programme for 2013, the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) is accepting grant applications to carry out research in the following areas:

• LRI-B14: Skin sensitisation - chemical applicability domain of the Local Lymph Node Assay (LLNA)
• LRI-B15: Efficiency of Risk Management Measures (RMM)
• LRI-ECO23: Combining passive sampling and toxicity profiling to assess mixture toxicity of surface waters
• LRI-ECO24: Prediction of Non-Extractable Residues (NER) using structural information 
• LRI-ECO25: Development of soup tests for the risk assessment of NER in soil
• LRI-EMSG58: Quality assessment of the epidemiological evidence of adverse effects to humans of endocrine active substances in the environment
• LRI-N4: Grouping nanomaterials and establishing criteria for Safe by Design
• LRI-S3: Benefits and risk evidence streams for decision makers

Further details of each research area can be found by following the links on each topic.

More information
The deadline for applications is 1 September 2013. Project specifications, budget details and application forms can be found on the Cefic LRI website. Only proposals that fit the project specifications and are submitted via the official LRI application form will be considered.

The scientific evaluation and selection of applications for funding are managed by a scientific committee provided by ECETOC. In particular, within LRI, ECETOC has the responsibility of maintaining three “core teams”: health effects, human exposure & risk assessment and environment.

For further information, please read the complete LRI Requests for Proposals on the Cefic LRI website, or contact Dr. Bruno Hubesch, Cefic-LRI Manager, or the LRI Secretariat.