HESI Insights - June 2022

HESI THRIVE (www.hesithrive.org) is proud to support research grants that help to reduce toxic effects of treatment during and after cancer therapy. We were honored to have Dr. Courtney Horvath, PhD, DABT share Colby’s journey with us during our 2022 Annual Meeting. He’s a powerful voice for the need and opportunity to do better. Dr. Horvath’s TedX talk recounting this story is now available online. Please share the video and help bring awareness to this important call for increased pediatric cancer research!

For those who work in organizations with resources –please consider requesting funds to sponsor a HESI THRIVE grant as this is EXACTLY the kind of research that Dr. Horvath is calling for! To date, our HESI THRIVE grants are unrestricted in terms of patient population and all weighted equally. Grants are $50,000 USD and HESI takes no overhead so it all goes to the recipient! Together we can make this happen!

If you would like to get involved please contact Syril Pettit (spettit@hesiglobal.org) or Shermaine Mitchell-Ryan (smitchell-ryan@hesiglobal.org).

HESI successfully held its first hybrid Annual Meeting on June 8-9 with it’s largest number of registrants to date! 260 people registered for the meeting with 50 in-person attendees and over 200 attending virtually from 24 countries around the globe. The meeting featured a powerful and personal talk by Dr. Courtney Horvath about the need for more pediatric cancer research (see above story) as well as a talk by Dr. Kenneth Olden, the inaugural HESI Innovation prize winner who challenged us all to address the impact of social determinants of health. We celebrated our global partnerships with talks highlighting HESI’s Global Risk Assessment Training Center and Propagate Network and heard from three HESI THRIVE 2021 Grant Winners. Sessions on Error Corrected Sequencing and Artificial Intelligence highlighted HESI’s role in cutting edge science and technology. The full meeting program and list of speakers can be found here.

If you were unable to attend the 2022 HESI Annual Meeting and would like to learn more about scientific programming at HESI, click here.

We are pleased to announce the results of the 2022 HESI Board of Trustees and Emerging Issues Committee vote! The below slate has been unanimously elected! Thank you to everyone who participated in the voting process and a big congratulations to our new and returning Trustees and EIC members!

Current list of the Board of Trustees is available here
Current list of the Emerging Issues Committee is available here

*designates re-nominees

BoT Nominees
Dale J. Hoff, USEPA
Adam Lillicrap, NIVA
Hans Sanderson, Aarhus University
Myrtle Davis, Bristol Myers Squibb
Nina Hallmark, Bayer
Jean-Pierre Valentin, UCB
Anthony Holmes, NC3Rs*
Martin van den Berg, Utrecht University*
Gary Minsavage, ExxonMobil*
Graeme Moffat, Amgen*
Ruth Roberts, ApconiX, Ltd.*
Pamela Spencer, ANGUS Chemical Company*
Douglas Wolf, Syngenta*

EIC Nominees
Jacquelin MacDonald Gibson, Indiana University
Misti Ushio, ValoHealth
Suzanne Fitzpatrick, FDA*
Anthony Bahinski, Vivodyne Inc.*

A literature review of bioaccumulation and biotransformation of organic chemicals in birds was undertaken, aiming to support scoping and prioritization of future research. The objectives were to characterize available bioaccumulation/ biotransformation data, identify knowledge gaps, determine how extant data can be used, and explore the strategy and steps forward.

Read full article here:
A Critical Review of Bioaccumulation and Biotransformation of Organic Chemicals in Birds. Kuo DTF, Rattner BA, Marteinson SC, Letcher R, Fernie KJ, Treu G, Deutsch M, Johnson MS, Deglin S, Embry M. Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. 2022

Learn more about HESI’s Next Generation Ecological Risk Assessment Committee

It is often assumed that genotoxic substances will be detected more easily by using in vitro rather than in vivo genotoxicity tests since higher concentrations, more cytotoxicity and static exposures can be achieved. However, there is a paucity of data demonstrating whether genotoxic substances are detected at lower concentrations in cell culture in vitro than can be reached in the blood of animals treated in vivo. To investigate this issue, we compared the lowest concentration required for induction of chromosomal damage in vitro (lowest observed effective concentration, or LOEC) with the concentration of the test substance in blood at the lowest dose required for biologically relevant induction of micronuclei in vivo (lowest observed effective dose, or LOED).

Read full publication here:
A comparison of the lowest effective concentration in culture media for detection of chromosomal damage in vitro and in blood or plasma for detection of micronuclei in vivo. David Kirkland, James Whitwell, Robert Smith, Kiyohiro Hashimoto, Zhiying Ji, Julia Kenny, Naoki Koyama, David P.Lovell, Hans-Jörg Martus, Krista Meurer, Daniel Roberts, Akira Takeiri, Yoshifumi Uno, Bas-Jan van der Leede, Paul White, Andreas Zeller. Mutation Research/Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis. 11 June 2022

Learn more about HESI’s Genetic Toxicology Technical Committee (GTTC)

Protease resistance is considered a risk factor for allergenicity of proteins, although the correlation is low. Susceptibility of proteins to pepsin is commonly tested with purified protein in solution. Our aim was to evaluate the impact of experimental and endogenous food matrices on protease susceptibility of homologous protein pairs with different degrees of allergenicity. Our results indicate that inclusion of food matrices in the weight-of-evidence approach for estimating the potential risks of novel proteins to become allergens (sensitization), is most likely of very limited value.

Read full publication here:
Impact of Food Matrices on Digestibility of Allergens and Poorly Allergenic Homologs. Akkerdaas JH, Cianferoni A, Islamovic E, Kough J, Ladics GS, Mcclain S, Poulsen LK, Silvanovich A, Mouriès LP and van Ree R. Frontiers in Allergy. 31 May 2022

Learn more about HESI’s Protein Allergens, Toxins, and Bioinformatics Committee (PATB)

On October 21–22, 2020 the HESI (Health and Environmental Sciences Institute) Protein Allergens, Toxins, and Bioinformatics Committee, and the Society of Toxicology Food Safety Specialty Section co-hosted a virtual workshop titled “From Protein Toxins to Applied Toxicological Testing”. Key outcomes of the workshop are highlighted in this publication.

Read the full article here:
“From Protein Toxins to Applied Toxicological Testing” virtual workshop identifies the need for a bioinformatic framework to assess novel food protein safety. Bauman PA, Doxey AC, Eberini I, Islamovic E, Jungo F, Kessenich C, Kough J, Krishanh M, Palazzolo L, Privalle L, Rodriguezi CE, Satchell KJF, Silvanovich A, Mouriès LP. Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology. June 2022.

Click to learn more about HESI’s Protein Allergens, Toxins, and Bioinformatics Committee

HESI’s Next Generation Ecological Risk Assessment Committee presented at SETAC Europe Copenhagen, Denmark. Connie Mitchell presented on the NAMs for EDC Testing Project.

Click to learn more about HESI’s Next Generation Ecological Risk Assessment Committee

HESI’s Next Generation Ecological Risk Assessment Committee attended the 21st International Symposium on Pollutant Responses in Marine Organisms (PRIMO21). Connie Mitchell presented on the EnviroTox Database.

Click to learn more about HESI’s Next Generation Ecological Risk Assessment Committee

Dr. Paolo Boffetta of Stony Brook University presented a talk titled “Evidence integration in epidemiology and risk assessment” at a recent webinar series, hosted by HESI’s Environmental Epidemiology Committee.

The full recording is available here.

Abstract: Hazard identification and risk assessment are based on integration of human data, primarily coming from epidemiology and clinical studies, with experimental and mechanistic studies. I will review three approaches aimed at integrating different lines of evidence: the IARC Monographs program (hazard identification for carcinogens), the Epi-Tox framework (hazard identification) and the Venice criteria (genetic risk factors), addressing their strengths and limitations, and will discuss how data integration can be applied to risk assessment.

Click to learn more about HESI’s Environmental Epidemiology Committee.

A number of HESI committees will be presenting posters at the EFSA One 2022 conference.

Committee Posters

Animal Alternatives in Environmental Risk Assessment Committee

• New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) for the Endocrine Activity Toolbox: Environmental Assessment for Fish and Amphibians (virtual poster)

Comprehensive Protein Allergen Resource

• The COMPARE Database: A Comprehensive Public Resource for Allergen Identification and Protein Allergenicity Assessment (presented in person by Lars Poulsen)

Transforming the Evaluation of Agrochemicals (TEA) Committee

• Transforming the Evaluation of Agrochemicals (presented in person by Marco Corvao)

For more information see the ONE 2022 website.

HESI’s Environmental Epidemiology Committee invites you to attend a joint presentation by

Dr. Tim Lash (Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University)

and

Dr. Brian Nosek (Center for Open Science).

29 June 2022 1:00-2:30 pm EST.

Webinar Details

Registration Link

Here in Washington, DC we are in the middle of summer, as those who attended our Annual Meeting in-person know well. It was wonderful to connect with the extended HESI family and hear about existing programs and discuss new opportunities. Even as a staff member, I always learn something new about HESI at these meetings, and this year was no exception. The theme of the meeting, “Growing forward, giving back” was particularly evident in the presentations and discussions on global outreach and training, COVID-19 testing method development, and the THRIVE program. I encourage you to take a look at the agenda and reach out to us if you would like additional details.

Those of you who know me well realize that I always like to highlight some of HESI’s work in the ecological space. Although it wasn’t featured as prominently as usual at the Annual Meeting, we are as busy as ever! In 2022 we successfully merged the Bioaccumulation and Animal Alternatives Committees into the new “Next Generation Ecological Risk Assessment Committee,” which has led to several new projects forming and an expanded group of stakeholders, experts, and partnerships. We have an excellent HESI team working to manage this large and diverse program and connect to other related HESI projects with ecological initiatives, such as the UVCB, TEA, and RISK21 projects. Please take a look at our new committee page and feel free to contact me, Connie Mitchell, Sandrine Deglin, Saddef Haq, or Raechel Puglisi if you have any questions.

Best regards,

Michelle Embry, PhD
HESI Associate Director, Environmental Science