Institute for in Vitro Sciences

Science program:iivs worked with more than sixty companies to determine the appropriate non-animal testing strategies, conduct testing, and assists in interpretation of data. Over 880 compounds/products were tested at the iivs laboratory - most in more than one test. Iivs continues to optimize and standardize in Vitro methods to make them suitable for industry and regulatory needs. Many of these efforts are in collaboration with stakeholders such as industry, government and ngos. Advancements are shared with the scientific community through presentations and publications so that other industry and regulatory scientists can benefit. Iivs has developed and promoted the use of human precision cut lung slices (hpcls) for potential regulatory application as an alternative to using animals for inhalation and respiratory endpoints. Based upon our successful use of hpcls in in-house studies, stakeholders have inquired whether they could procure these hpcls tissues for use within their own laboratories. Iivs prepared and qualified hpcls tissues for 17 sponsor run laboratory studies that would have otherwise used animals.

Education and outreach program:iivs participates in numerous training activities for a variety of stakeholders including industry and regulatory scientists. These trainings are tailored for the specific audience and generally include lectures, hands-on demonstrations and data interpretation. Two major programs in which iivs participates are the physicians committee for responsible medicine nura training and the animal free safety assessment collaboration coordinated by humane society international. Iivs scientists were invited to participate in expert panels convened by the organization for economic cooperation and development (oecd) which harmonizes in Vitro testing approaches for the worldwide scientific community. These panels discussed new methods for genetic toxicology, skin sensitization, eye irritation and skin corrosion. Iivs is leading efforts with industry consortia and 2 divisions of the us federal drug administration to apply non-animal methods for specific endpoints. Iivs is also involved in efforts to support the us environmental protection agency's goal to reduce reliance on animal models. Iivs staff hold board positions within societies that have the mission to work collaboratively to increase the use and acceptance of alternative methods, such as the american society for cellular and computational toxicology, the european society for toxicology in Vitro, the us society of toxicology and the chinese society of toxicology.