OTS: 4th ONTOX Annual Meeting: Towards the Legacy and Sustainability of ONTOX

Valencia, Spain, April 25 (TASR/OTS) - The ONTOX project proudly concluded its 4th Annual meeting, held on 23–24 April in the vibrant city of Valencia, Spain. Bringing together project partners, international researchers, and members of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), the event provided a vital platform to reflect on ONTOX’s achievements and chart the course ahead as the project will enter its final year in 2026. The gathering reaffirmed ONTOX’s mission to transform chemical safety assessment through ethical, science-driven innovation without the use of animals.

Over two days, attendees explored the latest progress from across the ONTOX consortium – a global collaboration of 19 partners from Europe and the USA. At the heart of the initiative lies a bold ambition to integrate probabilistic risk assessment approach and to use artificial intelligence to predict repeated toxicity effects of chemicals in the liver, kidneys, and developing brain. This novel approach holds promise for reshaping chemical risk assessment in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, biocides, and food safety.

Centre of Experimental Medicine SAS (CEM SAS) is responsible for ONTOX’s non-scientific tasks (communication, dissemination, exploitation, and data management). CEM SAS focuses on the overall communication strategy and creating various communication materials to reach relevant stakeholders from research, regulatory authorities, industry and the general public.

The agenda focused this time on building stones of OPRA – ONTOX’s cutting-edge algorithm tailored for next-generation probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) – and the ONTOX Hub, a powerful platform that will provide end users with tools developed during the project, including a growing database of models, methods, and resources supporting the PRA. Together, these tools form a crucial part of ONTOX’s long-term sustainability, ensuring its innovations remain accessible and impactful well beyond the project’s official end.

“This year’s annual meeting was a pivotal moment for ONTOX partners to move the project to the next level,” said Prof. Mathieu Vinken, ONTOX Coordinator (Vrije Universiteit Brussel). “It was an opportunity to agree on the integration of individual outputs from the ONTOX working groups into an overarching algorithm that has the potential to truly shape the future of probabilistic risk assessment in the EU.”

One of the event’s highlights was the poster session, dedicated to Early-Stage Researchers (ESRs). Twelve talented young scientists presented their groundbreaking work in New Approach Methodologies (NAMs). Following a careful review by the SAB, the Best Poster Award was presented to Devon Barnes from Utrecht University, the Netherlands, for his outstanding poster on the development of in vitro battery for predicting nephrotoxicity. The winner received a complimentary pass to the 23rd European Society of Toxicology In Vitro (ESTIV) Congress, set to take place from 29 June to 2 July 2026 in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

“The ONTOX project is continuing to develop approaches for using NAMs to predict of adverse effects associated with negative human health outcomes. It is exciting to see how literature-based, in vitro and in silico information will come together in a practical way to help end users making decisions on chemical safety,” said Patience Browne, SAB member and principal administrator at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). “The SAB particularly noted the excellent contribution and development of early career scientists and the coordination of thoughtful input from members of diverse workgroups. We are excited to see how AI can be included in practical approaches for evaluating chemical safety as part of the ONTOX deliverables.”

As ONTOX progresses toward its conclusion in 2026, the insights, tools, and collaborations showcased in Valencia will help ensure its enduring impact. The meeting marked a key milestone—one that strengthens the project’s foundation and accelerates the transition toward a future of toxicology without animal testing.

About ONTOX:

Ontology-driven and artificial intelligence-based repeated dose toxicity testing of chemicals for next-generation risk assessment (ONTOX) is a project funded by the European Commission's Horizon 2020 (H2020) research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No. 963845. The vision of ONTOX is to provide a functional and sustainable solution for advancing human risk assessment of chemicals without the use of animals in line with the principles of 21st-century toxicity testing and next-generation risk assessment. ONTOX is part of the ASPIS cluster, the collaboration of three EU-funded H2020 projects (ONTOX, PrecisionTox and RISK-HUNT3R) that represents Europe's €60M effort towards the sustainable, animal-free and reliable chemical risk assessment of tomorrow.

- Website: https://ontox-project.eu

- LinkedIn: @ONTOX

- X: @ONTOX_EUproject

- Facebook: @ONTOX

Contact:

Dr. Helena Kandarova

ONTOX deputy coordinator on dissemination, exploitation, communication and data management; Scientific Director of the Institute of Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology, CEM SAS

helena.kandarova@outlook.sk

Tel.: +421 2 32295724

About the Centre of Experimental Medicine SAS (CEM SAS):

The Centre of Experimental Medicine of the Slovak Academy of Sciences was established on 1 January 2018 by merging the Institute of Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology, the Institute of Normal and Pathological Physiology and the Institute of Heart Research into one Centre. CEM SAS is focused on the integrated research into the causes, mechanisms of development and possibilities of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of societally important diseases with an emphasis on diseases of the cardiovascular and the nervous systems, metabolic disorders, mental disorders and mental health problems as well as diseases originating in the prenatal and early postnatal developmental periods. The research in CEM SAS is carried out on in silico, in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo models with the aim to transfer the acquired knowledge to clinical practice. An important part is the evaluation of the effects of bioactive natural substances, their derivatives and original synthetic substances with pharmacotherapeutic potential, animal models of human diseases as well as the study of side-effects of toxic and chemical agents and radiation.

- Website: https://cem.sav.sk/en/

- LinkedIn: @Ústav experimentálnej farmakológie a toxikológie SAV

- Facebook: @Institute of Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology, CEM, Slovak Academy of Sciences

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