The purpose of the present development is to use avian MoDCs to implement a cellular platform to increase understanding of the immune responses induced by various antigens of interest (e.g. vaccine candidates) and evaluate their immunogenic potential. Considering the difficulty to work on dendritic

For the risk assessment of compounds migrating from food contact materials (FCM), information on the exposure to the migrant as well as its possible hazards is needed. To support the evaluation of both starting products and NIAS from plastic FCM, the VERMEER FCM tool has been developed within the

In silico tools are computer-assisted methodologies with a high-throughput that allow to predict the toxic potential of compounds without experimental testing. Consequently, in silico tools are time-, cost- and animal-saving in nature. The most commonly used methods are (quantitative) structure

The tetanus neurotoxin (TeNT) is one of the most toxic proteins known to man, which prior to the use of the vaccine against the TeNT producing bacteria Clostridium tetani, resulted in a 20% mortality rate upon infection. The clinical detrimental effects of tetanus have decreased immensely since the

The ERα CALUX transactivation assay is described in Annex 4 of the OECD TG 455. It uses the human U2OS cell line to detect estrogenic agonist and antagonist activity mediated through human estrogen receptor alpha (hERα).This test method is specifically designed to detect hERα-mediated

MELN cells [provided by INSERM, Montpellier, FR; Balaguer et al. (1999)] are oestrogen-sensitive human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) stably transfected with the oestrogen-responsive gene (ERE-βGlo-Luc-SVNeo) carried by integrated plasmids. A standard set-up has been developed to expose MELN cells

The rainbow trout gill cell line assay quantifies cell viability using fluorescent measurements for metabolic activity (Alamar Blue, AB), cell membrane integrity (5-CarboxyFluorescein DiAcetate AcetoxyMethyl ester, CFDA-AM) and lysosomal membrane integrity (Neutral Red, NR). Chemicals are added to

VITO can offer expertise in animal-free methods for inhalation testing. VITO has an Air-Liquid Interface (ALI) platform with three ALI exposure modules: two commercial systems for bronchial studies and one in-house developed system for lower airway studies. At VITO ALI exposure modules, aerosol