Register now to participate in the Society of Toxicology/US Food and Drug Administration colloquium on “Immunotoxicology in Food and Ingredient Safety Assessment: Approaches and Case Studies” on April 14, 2015. Scheduled from 8:15 am–12:30 pm, registrants can participate onsite at the FDA Wiley Auditorium, College Park, Maryland, or by viewing the webcast. More details about each can be found at the links below.
April 6 is the closing for Registration for On-site Attendance. Webcast Registration will continue until the event.
The focus of this colloquium is on the methods used in the safety assessment of substances present in foods that may target the immune system. The immune system is a complex set of cellular, chemical, and soluble mediators that protects the body against foreign substances. Immunotoxicology is the subdiscipline of toxicology that focuses on unintended modulation of the immune system following exposure to environmental chemicals or therapeutics. Adverse effects may include immunosuppression, immunostimulation, allergic hypersensitivity, or autoimmunity, and may result in outcomes such as increased incidences of infectious diseases or neoplastic diseases, allergy/asthma, or autoimmune diseases, respectively.
The majority of immunotoxicity testing efforts to date have focused on the potential for xenobiotics to suppress immune function or induce dermal sensitization. With the increased use and development of immune-based or immune-targeted therapeutic proteins, unintended stimulation of the immune system also has become an area of concern. The colloquium will begin with a brief overview of the cells and soluble mediators critical to immune function and the tiered testing strategies used to identify substances that may target immune effectors. Following this introduction, experts will provide a state-of-the-art review of methodological approaches using case studies to elucidate how immunotoxicology data can be used in assessing the safety of ingested materials.
Presentations:
FDA Welcome and Overview: Susan Mayne, Director, FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, College Park, Maryland
Welcome from SOT: Peter Goering, SOT 2014–2015 Vice-President, FDA, College Park, Maryland
Introduction to Immunology and Immunotoxicology: Dori Germolec, Colloquium Chair, Toxicology Branch, National Toxicology Program, NIEHS, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
Immunomodulatory Effects of Perfluorinated Compounds in Rodents and Humans: Jamie DeWitt, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina
Use of Adjuvant-free Food Allergy Model to Study Immunotoxic Effects of the Food Additive tBHQ: Cheryl Rockwell, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
Dietary Supplement Modulation of Autoimmune Disease: Prakash Nagarkatti, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, South Carolina
This is the third in the series and materials from the previous sessions are available on the SOT FDA Food Safety Colloquium website. These colloquia are scientific training that is high quality, cutting-edge, future-oriented toxicological science to provide a well-grounded, foundation to inform the work of US FDA employees and others. These events are not a public forum for discussion of toxicology regulatory issues.