BioClavis partner on newly launched RISK-HUNT3R project

BioClavis will join 36 partners, including academic researchers, regulatory authorities, and safety scientists from key industry sectors, such as Pharma and Cosmetics, for the newly launched RISK-HUNT3R project. This five-year Horizon2020-funded project aims to develop methods for reliable, efficient, and cost-effective chemical safety assessment based entirely on animal-free methods. 

RISK-HUNT3R – Risk assessment of chemicals integrating human centric next generation testing strategies promoting the 3Rs – will address the EU directive to replace, reduce and refine (the 3Rs) the use of animals in safety testing of chemicals and medicines. RISK-HUNT3R will focus on developing strategies with regulatory relevance in mind and, unlike previous efforts, the consortium includes regulatory experts. 

Building on work conducted in the EUToxRisk project, RISK-HUNT3R seeks to develop a complete and truly human-centric risk assessment strategy. By making use of scientific advancements in in silico and in vitro methodologies, the consortium will develop a modular framework for next generation risk assessment (NGRA). Utilising TempO-Seq to conduct High-Throughput Transcriptomics (HTTr) on in vitro cell models, the project aims to determine sets of genes that are co-regulated in pathological or toxicological situations, and to develop complex quantitative networks of adverse outcomes. This will ultimately form the framework for the development of a reliable, efficient and cost-effective chemical safety assessment approach, based entirely on animal-free methods. 

BioClavis will use TempO-Seq, a novel molecular profiling technology developed by US-based sister company, BioSpyder Technologies Inc., to carry out HTTr analyses for RISK-HUNT3R. TempO-Seq is an efficient high-throughput assay, specifically designed for rapid and inexpensive profiling of molecular signatures of any size up to entire transcriptomes, all without extraction or isolation of RNA. Horizon2020 has invested a total of over €60m in RISK-HUNT3R and two other international projects (PrecisionTOX and ONTOX), which together form the ASPIS cluster (Animal-free Safety assessment of Chemicals: Project cluster for Implementation of novel Strategies). For more information about RISK-HUNT3R, click here.