The multiplex immunoassay is based on the Luminex technology and allows the detection of diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis antigens of human combined vaccines in the same run. As potency test of these vaccines are currently performed on animal through challenge and/or serological assays,

Last updated on: 28-02-2022 - 09:19

Contact: Maxime Vermeulen
Organisation: Sciensano
Partners: VAC2VAC
Status: Still in development
The DPRA is an in chemico method which quantifies the remaining concentration of cysteine- or lysine-containing peptide following 24 hours incubation with the test chemical at 25 +/-2,5ºC. The synthetic peptides contain phenylalanine to aid in the detection. Relative peptide concentration is

Last updated on: 22-02-2022 - 10:59

Contact: Bart Desmedt
Organisation: Sciensano
Status: History of use, Internally validated, Validated by an external party (e.g. OECD, EURL ECVAM,…)
The neutral red uptake (NRU) assay provides a quantitative measurement of the number of viable cells. The test is based on the ability of living cells to take up and bind neutral red (NR), a dye which easily penetrates cell membranes via non-ionic diffusion and accumulates in the lysosomes. Dying

Last updated on: 21-02-2022 - 15:23

Contact: Roel Anthonissen
Organisation: Sciensano
Status: History of use, Published in peer reviewed journal
The in vitro Alkaline Comet Assay is a microgel electrophoresis technique which allows to measure DNA damage (single and double strand breaks, alkali labile sites, incomplete excision repair sites and cross links) cell by cell. Cells are mixed with 0.8% Low Melting Point Agarose which is spread as a

Last updated on: 21-02-2022 - 15:21

Contact: Roel Anthonissen
Organisation: Sciensano
Status: History of use, Published in peer reviewed journal
The Ames test is a short-term bacterial reverse gene mutation assay specifically designed to detect a wide range of chemical substances that can produce genetic damage that leads to permanent gene mutations. The test has been described in detail in OECD TG 471 and employs several histidine dependent

Last updated on: 21-02-2022 - 15:15

Contact: Roel Anthonissen
Organisation: Sciensano
Status: Published in peer reviewed journal, Validated by an external party (e.g. OECD, EURL ECVAM,…)
Alkaline comet assay (COM) and Micronucleus test (MN) are well-established cytogenetic tests that are used to detect both immediate damages i.e. DNA fragmentation, and permanent damage which results in micronuclei formation. These techniques are often applied separately or, sometimes, in combination

Last updated on: 18-02-2022 - 16:42

Contact: Ha Nguyen
Organisation: Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Sciensano
Partners: University of Liège (ULiège)
Status: History of use, Internally validated
Cardiomyocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC-CMs) offer an attractive platform for cardiovascular research, including disease modeling, drug toxicity testing and development of regenerative therapies. Patient-specific iPSC-CMs are very useful to study disease pathogenesis and

Last updated on: 30-06-2020 - 14:13

Contact: Maaike Alaerts
Organisation: University of Antwerp (UAntwerpen)
Status: Still in development, Internally validated
Vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) deficiency plays a pivotal role in aneurysm development. Unfortunately, access to native VSMCs of patients and (particularly) control individuals is extremely limited. It has been shown that iPSC-derived VSMCs recapitulate the yet known disease processes very well.

Last updated on: 03-06-2020 - 13:51

Organisation: University of Antwerp (UAntwerpen)
Status: Still in development, Internally validated
The GIDM-colon is a validated in vitro model that allows the study of the availability of compounds and the metabolisation at the level of the colon. The human physiological conditions of the gastrointestinal tract (stomach, small intestine and colon) are mimicked. The continiuous flow eliminates

Last updated on: 03-02-2020 - 08:44

Organisation: University of Antwerp (UAntwerpen)
Status: History of use, Internally validated, Published in peer reviewed journal
A compound of interest (e.g. new psychoactive substance, endocrine disrupting compound, ...) is incubated with human liver microsomes and liver cytosolic fractions to generate both Phase I and II metabolites. Samples are prepared for analysis using a simple method in order to avoid possible losses

Last updated on: 08-11-2019 - 14:01

Organisation: University of Antwerp (UAntwerpen)
Status: Published in peer reviewed journal