Warmest greetings on behalf of my colleagues on the ecopa board of directors. Following last year’s annual assembly a number of new faces have joined the ecopa team, and we look forward to expanding our collaborations at EU level while continuing to serve as a pan-European co-ordination and support network for our national platforms (NCPs).

At this time I would like to extend special thanks to recently retired board members Vera Rogiers, Bernward Garthoff and José Castell, and to outgoing General Secretary Stijn Budts, for their leadership in building ecopa, and for their ongoing collaboration during this period of transition.

I look forward to sharing the next exciting chapter of ecopa with all of you, and to welcoming you to our annual conference – this year in Milan!

Adela López de Cerain
President of ecopa


START-UP project comes to an end
The FP7-funded support action START-UP (Scientific and Technological Issues in 3Rs Alternatives Research in The Process of Drug Development and Union Politics) officially concluded in April. Developed on the initiative of *ecopa* and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel with collaboration from several national consensus platforms, the aim of START-UP was to identify and make recommendations to abolish bottlenecks in the 3Rs approach in pharmaceutical discovery and development. The first START-UP workshop, on refinement, was held in Rome in February 2009. The second workshop, on reduction, has been held in July 2009 in Innsbruck, Austria. The third workshop, on replacement, was held in October 2009 in Budapest, Hungary. Final reports of these workshops have been compiled and supplied to the European Commission in April 2010, together with recommendations and road maps. This final document will be used to make a booklet about the START-UP project that will be distributed to the general public. Read more >


Initiative to 'AXLR8' the move toward a pathway-based paradigm in toxicology
The FP7 Health programme is funding a coordination initiative called AXLR8 (‘accelerate’) to assist in the monitoring EU-funded 3Rs research activities and related international initiatives with the aim of accelerating the transition to a toxicity pathway-based paradigm for chemical safety assessment through internationally coordinated research and technology development. The first AXLR8 scientific workshop was held in June in Potsdam, Germany, and a follow-up public information forum is planned for 1 September in Linz, Austria in conjunction with the ESTIV/EUSAAT 2010 congress. Mark your calendars! Read more >


EU research corner
*ecopa* is dissemination partner in several large-scale integrated projects funded through the EU’s 6th and 7th Framework Programmes for Research and Technology Development, including carcinoGENOMICS, ESNATS, ReProTect and Sens-it-iv. Visit our website for the latest news regarding these projects. The €50 million EU/COLIPA joint research initiative aimed at developing replacement approaches for repeated dose toxicity prompted 28 project proposals, of which the following seven have been selected for funding: COACH (Coordination of projects on alternative approaches to assess repeated dose toxicity of cosmetics and chemicals) COSMOS (Integrated in silico models for the prediction of human repeated dose toxicity of cosmetics to optimise safety) DETECTIVE (Detection of endpoints and biomarkers for repeated dose toxicity) HeMiBio (Hepatic microfluidic bioreactor) NOTOX (Predicting long-term toxic effects using computer models based on systems characterisation of organotypic cultures) ScreenTox (Stem cells for relevant, efficient, extended, and normalised toxicology) ToxBank (Supporting integrated data analysis and servicing of alternative test methods in toxicology)


Policy corner
EFSA publishes guidance on data requirements for food flavourings Read more > MEPs vote to modernise testing requirements for biocides Read more > ECHA issues guidance on avoiding testing on animals Read more > Two new EFSA opinions on testing for shellfish biotoxins Opinion 1 > Opinion 2 > New Eurobarometer survey finds Europeans increasingly question ethics of animal experiments Read more > Summary of ECVAM validation and regulatory acceptance activities during 2009 Read more > US EPA ToxRef database made open-access Read more > OECD approval of in vitro skin irritation test guideline Read more >


... including all those who have made in-kind contributions to ecopa


	> ecopa website

	> upcoming events

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	Mark your calendars
	AXLR8 Information Forum & ESTIV/EUSAAT/LINZ 1-4 September 2010 Linz, Austria DACOPA ‘3Rs Integration’ workshop 23-24 September 2010 Vilvoorde, Denmark ecopa-IPAM workshop & annual conference 26-27 November 2010 Milan, Italy
	EU animal welfare policy survey
	An online consultation is running through 31 July to gather European citizens’ feedback and perceptions regarding the last eight years of Community animal welfare policy, including legislation, research, communication and international activities. Have your say today >

	EPAA Science Award & Communications Prize
	The European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing is offering an award to support the development and regulatory acceptance of 3Rs alternative methods, and a prize for an essay or article that broadens awareness of the 3Rs. Submission deadline: 15 September 2010.

	National consensus platforms throughout Europe
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