2010 IFBiC and HESI Biotechnology Update Symposium

The International Life Sciences Institute's (ILSI) International Food Biotechnology Committee (IFBiC) and the Health and Environmental Sciences Institute's (HESI) Protein Allergenicity Technical Committee (PATC) co-hosted a symposium for representatives from organizations within North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) countries responsible for safety assessment of products of agricultural biotechnology.  The symposium was a forum for information exchange where science, not advocacy, was the agenda, where you could find out about IFBiC’s and HESI’s biotechnology activities, and where you could discuss key priorities and challenges with regulatory colleagues from across the NAFTA region and top scientists in the field.

Program Outline

Representatives of NAFTA regulatory agencies were invited to present on regional priorities and challenges, and engage in discussion with colleagues from government, industry and academia.  In addition, IFBiC and HESI representatives presented overviews on recent work, including the following areas:

IFBiC

• Safety assessment of crops modified using RNAi and transcription factors
• Ongoing work on international training in sampling and detection of protein or DNA
• Release of the latest version of the Crop Composition Database
• Food and feed safety assessment of stacked event products
• Applicability of mammalian toxicology studies to safety assessment of biotech crops
• New projects on membrane-bound proteins and the application of crop composition data in safety assessment

HESI PATC

• Overview of research and activities
• Sequence homology evaluation / bioinformatics assessment
• New methods in characterizing allergens
• Basic research to develop new soybean protein characterization methods using mass spectrometry
• Perspectives from the November 2009 PATC workshop on “-omics” technologies for assessing the variability in plant gene, protein, and metabolite expression

Materials

Scientific Program

Symposium Participants

Presentations

Overview: HESI Protein Allergenicity Technical Committee (PATC)
PATC research, workshops, and other activities
Dr. Greg Ladics, Dupont

Evolution of the Allergy Assessment Process
Dr. Gary Bannon, Monsanto

Quantitation of soybean allergens using mass spectrometry
Dr. Jay Thelen, University of Missouri

Overview: ILSI International Food Biotechnology Committee (IFBiC)
IFBiC research, workshops, and other activities
Dr. Ray Shillito, Bayer CropScience

Version 4.0 of the ILSI Crop Composition Database
Dr. Rob Alba, Monsanto

Food and feed safety assessment principles to evaluate new applications for agricultural biotechnology
Dr. Wayne Parrott, University of Georgia

Safety assessment of stacked traits
Dr. Natalie Weber, Dupont

ILSI-IFBiC Task Force 10: Mammalian Toxicology Studies for the Safety Evaluation of GM CropsTF
Dr. Daland Juberg, Dow AgroSciences

North American government perspectives
EPA Updates:  Proposed Data Requirements for Plant-Incorporated Protectants (PIPs)
Dr. John Kough, US EPA Office of Pesticide Programs

North American government perspectives: Mexico
Dr. Reynaldo Ariel Alvarez Morales, Intersecretarial Commission of Biosafety and  Genetically Modified Organisms

Canada’s Perspective on Research Needs for Safety Assessments of the Next Generation of Novel Agricultural Products
Dr. Luc Bourbonniere, Health Canada Evaluation Division
Dr. Marina Steele, Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)

If you have any further questions, please contact Kate Walker, Scientific Program Manager of the ILSI International Food Biotechnology Committee (kwalker@ilsi.org), or Nancy Doerrer, Associate Director, Scientific Program Stewardship, the HESI Protein Allergenicity Technical Committee (ndoerrer@hesiglobal.org).