publication date: Aug 11, 2011
|
author/source: Roche Diagnostics
The
xCELLigence RTCA System of Roche (
SIX: RO, ROG;
OTCQX: RHHBY) is being used in the European Union's DETECTIVE
("Detection of endpoints and biomarkers for repeated dose toxicity using
in
vitro systems") Project, a joint study funded by the European Cosmetics
Association (
Colipa) and the European Commission,
where Roche is a member of the consortium . The DETECTIVE Project encompasses
fifteen scientific and commercial partners from different EU states under the
leadership of Professor Dr. Jürgen Hescheler from the University
of Cologne, a pioneer in producing
cardiomyocytes from stem cells. The goal is to establish a screening pipeline
of high content and high throughput, using classical functional genomics,
proteomics, and "cellomics" technologies. Ultimately, human biomarkers will be
identified and characterized for use in cellular models using repeated dose
in
vitro testing, in particular for use in the field of cosmetics.
As of March
2009, animal experiments are no longer permitted for use in toxicology testing
in the cosmetic industry. Significant progress has been made in recent years to
develop alternatives to
in vivo toxicity tests for assessing the human
safety of new products and product ingredients. Current conditions do, however,
not permit complete replacement of animal testing. This is especially true for
the testing of repeated dose effects - the effects of products and ingredients
used repeatedly over longer periods of time.
The recently launched xCELLigence RTCA Cardio
System will be used for real-time testing of effects in human cardiac cells for
these studies. In addition, human renal and hepatic cells will be tested using
the xCELLigence RTCA SP Instrument. These Roche Real-time Cell Analyzer (RTCA)
Systems use label-free impedance readings to monitor cellular events in real
time. Unlike more complex patch clamping methods, these new systems can be used
in a fully controlled environment for continuous monitoring of both short-term
and long-term experiments. For more information about these impedance measuring
monitoring systems, please visit:
www.xcelligence.roche.com.
The DETECTIVE Project is actually one of six separate projects of the SEURAT
("Safety Evaluation Ultimately Replacing Animal Testing") initiative
started 1 January 2011, to run five years. The other projects are SCR & Tox
("Stem Cells for Relevant Efficient Extended and Normalized Toxicology"),
HeMiBio (Hepatic Microfluidic Bioreactor), COSMOS (Integrated In Silico Models
for the Prediction of Human Repeated Dose Toxicity of COSMetics to Optimise
Safety), NOTOX, (Predicting long-term toxic effects using computer models based
on systems characterization of organotypic cultures), ToxBank (Supporting
Integrated Data Analysis and Servicing of Alternative Testing Methods in
Toxicology). These new approaches apply recent improvements in generating
induced pluripotent stem cells from human skin samples for the production of
human cells and tissues. DETECTIVE will initially use human hepatic, cardiac
and renal models as common target organs of repeated dose toxicity. This
strategy for establishing biomarkers should then be applicable to other organs
and organ systems affected by systemic toxicants, and make it possible to
define human toxicity pathways for each of the human organs.
Subscribe to any of our newsletters for the latest on new laboratory products, industry news, case studies and much more!
Request your free copies HERE
Popular this Month
Top 10 most popular articles this month
Today's Picks
Looking for a Supplier?
Search by company or by product
Please note Lab Bulletin does not sell, supply any of the products featured on this website. If you have an enquiry, please use the contact form below the article or company profile and we will send your request to the supplier so that they can contact you directly.
Lab Bulletin is published by newleaf marketing communications ltd.