National Conference on Alternatives to Animal Experiments (NCAAE
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Meeting Report National Conference on Alternatives to Animal Experiments (NCAAE-2018) in Commemoration of Launching of the Society for Alternatives to Animal Experiments (SAAE) in India doi:10.14573/altex.1902191 Introduction alternatives to animal experiments in India. The panel discus- sion of the “First National Congress on Alternatives to Animal In India, Bharathidasan University in Tiruchirappalli has played Testing”, hosted by the National Facility for Biopharmaceuticals a significant role in the popularization and practice of alterna- and EnvisBE Solutions, Mumbai, in collaboration with EpiSkin tives to animal experimentation. Since the establishment of the Academy, France, discussed this suggestion and recommended Mahatma Gandhi-Doerenkamp Center (MGDC) for Alternatives launching such a society (Akbarsha et al., 2018). to Use of Animals in Life Science Education at Bharathidasan After the tenure of the DZF to support MGDC ended, the Cen- University in 2009 by the Doerenkamp-Zbinden Foundation ter was taken over by Bharathidasan University, and the Univer- (DZF), Switzerland (Akbarsha and Pereira, 2010), the Center sity Grants Commission (UGC), Government of India, sanctioned has worked towards replacing, reducing, and refining animal use a grant to run the Centre under the scheme “Centre with Poten- in education, research, and testing. The MGDC organized more tial for Excellence in Particular Areas” under the name “National than 100 hands-on training workshops for college and university Centre for Alternatives to Animal Experiments (NCAAE)”. It teachers and students on digital and simulation models to replace was decided to organize a National Conference on Alternatives animal use in teaching and research. More than 20 of these work- to Animal Experiments to discuss the perspectives of the current shops were on animal cell culture techniques and in vitro toxi- state of practice and existing strategies to promote the develop- cology, four were on 3D tissue constructs for testing chemicals ment of non-animal technologies in India, on a par with the other for skin irritation and corrosion (in collaboration with Episkin, countries, to better predict human, animal and environmental re- Lyon, France), two were on integrated discrete multiple organ sponses to a wide range of chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The co-culture (in collaboration with In Vitro ADMET Labs, Colum- ultimate goal would be to develop a strategic roadmap to guide bia, MD, USA), one was on systems biology (in collaboration the country’s future investment and policy changes with regard with Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences, RTP, NC, USA), and to animal experiments and offer a platform for sharing ideas with 5 seminar-cum-workshops were on digital and simulation alter- international experts in the field. natives for physiology and pharmacology for medical students Finally, the first National Conference of Alternatives for Ani- (in collaboration with PeTA-India). mal Experiments was held on November 27, 2018, at Jamia Ham- Other institutions and organizations have also undertaken ac- dard (a deemed-to-be university), New Delhi with Vice Chancel- tivities aimed at promoting alternatives and reducing animal use lor Prof. Seyed E. Hasnain as Patron, and Prof. Sheikh Raisuddin, in India: The Government of India Committee for the Purpose of Department of Medical Elementology and Toxicology, as Orga- Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA), nizing Secretary. More than 250 delegates participated. On this the custodian of the Animal Welfare Act of India, has conducted occasion, the outline and objectives of the Society for Alterna- and sponsored conferences on alternatives, and training pro- tives to Animal Experiments (SAAE) were introduced. It gener- grams on animal handling and care (Akbarsha et al., 2011). The ated enthusiastic response from the the stakeholders. concepts and practices of alternatives also were discussed in a special plenary session at the 99th Indian Science Congress, held in Bhubaneshwar (Akbarsha et al., 2012). Further conferences Inauguration of the National Conference on and seminars on alternatives include one jointly organized by Alternatives to Animal Experiments (NCAAE-2018) the Society of Toxicology, India and SEAC, Unilever, at Hin- dustan Unilever Ltd., Bangalore (Roy and Akbarsha, 2014); and Prof. Sheikh Raisuddin, the Organizing Secretary, welcomed one sponsored by the Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of the delegates and introduced the background of the conference. Advanced Research (CEFIPRA), conducted at the Indian Insti- He highlighted the research activities of the Department of tute of Technology, Mumbai (Akbarsha et al., 2016). The Japa- Medical Elementology & Toxicology at Jamia Hamdard in the nese Society for Alternatives to Animal Experiments organized field of alternatives, especially work on neurotoxicological as- the Asian Congress of Alternatives in Japan during 2016, where sessment and mechanistic studies on neurological disorders us- it was informally suggested to MGDC to establish a society for ing Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster mod- 472 ALTEX 36(3), 2019 MEETING REPORTS els. Dr Renu Swarup, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology entific dialogue and identify actionable consensus recommenda- (DBT), Government of India, was the Chief Guest at the inau- tions as a further step toward a comprehensive Indian roadmap guration. She highlighted the support rendered by DBT towards for 21st century, human-specific health research and funding. implementation of newer and advanced technologies in biotech- Dr Hajime Kojima, representing the Japanese Centre for Vali- nology research including non-animal methods. In vitro, includ- dation of Alternative Methods (JaCVAM) and the Japanese Soci- ing stem cell applications, and in silico approaches are among ety for Alternatives to Animal Experiments (JSAAE), in his ple- the priority methods contributing to humane experimentation. nary lecture briefly reviewed the establishment of the Japanese Research, validation, translation, integration, and scalability Society, and explained how JSAAE has been promoting the 3Rs are greatly encouraged. Special avenues are open to practicing in Japan through a wide variety of domestic activities and inter- stem cell technologies towards the development of alternative national cooperation. He ensured full support to the SAAE-India. methods. DBT will promote scientists working towards the de- Dr Christian Pellevoisin, Scientific Director, EPISKIN Acad- velopment of newer methodologies as alternatives. Prof. Yogen- emy, Lyon, France, in his plenary lecture spoke about “Recon- dra K. Gupta, a renowned experimental as well as regulatory structed skin models for in vitro hazard and risk assessment of pharmacologist, retired professor from the All Institute of Med- chemicals and cosmetics”. Following the European Cosmetics ical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, and President-designate of Regulation (2013), Episkin has observed a strong progressive SAAE-India, exhorted that the gap between those who rely on an- shift to non-animal methods for safety testing of ingredients and imal experiments and those who want non-animal methods must cosmetic products also outside Europe. Mechanistic approaches be bridged. Validation of new methods should aim at practica- to replace animals are based on in silico, in chemico, and in vi- bility, predictability, and reproducibility. “If ever experiments on tro assays that can model one or more key events of AOP. Such animals are a must, one must qualify and explain the ‘must’, but individual in vitro test systems preferably use cells of human or- shall not use animals without a pertinent need”, he said. He stated igin with a 3D organization to best mimic the in vivo situation in that animal experiments can indeed be replaced in several con- humans. Reconstructed human epidermis (RHE) presents several texts. Prof. Mohammad A. Akbarsha, General Secretary-desig- advantages for evaluating some safety endpoints. To date, several nate of the SAAE-India, former Director of MGDC and the Doe- alternative methods in toxicology have been developed based on renkamp Chair for India, explained the background, need of such in vitro skin: skin penetration, skin corrosion/irritation, phototox- a conference in India and the current status of the SAAE-India. icity, genotoxicity, and sensitization and two alternative methods Prof. Syed E. Hasnain, Vice-Chancellor, Jamia Hamdard, high- based on in vitro skin models have been validated as full replace- lighted the importance of alternatives in biomedical research and ment methods: OECD TG 431 for in vitro skin corrosion and Prof. Ahmed Kamal, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Jamia Hamdard, and OECD TG 439 for in vitro skin irritation. Other methods based Prof. Maheshwar P. Sharma, Dean, School of Chemical & Life on human reconstructed epidermis and full thickness models are Sciences, Jamia Hamdard, offered felicitation. at different stages of the validation process for different toxico- logical endpoints. Further, Episkin Academy is engaged in sup- porting research to find further applications for the RHE. Scientific Lectures Prof. Eui-Bae Jeung, from the Laboratory of Veterinary Bio- chemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Veterinary Medi- Dr Troy Seidle, Vice-President Research & Toxicology, Humane cine, Chungbuk National University, Republic of Korea, also as- Society International, Toronto, Canada, said in his keynote ad- sociated with the Korean Society