On Sunday, March 10, 2019, I attended the very informative Continuing Education course “Beauty of the Skin Is in the Eye of the Beholder: A Basic Course on Dermal and Ocular Toxicology,” endorsed by the Dermal Toxicology Specialty Section and the Association of Scientists of Indian Origin Special Interest Group, during the SOT 58th Annual Meeting and ToxExpo. This course was very well received and had a room full of attendees.
The purpose of this course was to provide the audience with the fundamentals of dermal and ocular toxicology and methods to assess absorption and toxicity. There were five presentations by experts in the dermal and/or ocular fields.
Dr. Mike Hughes from the US Environmental Protection Agency set the stage with anatomy of the skin and various factors affecting absorption. The second talk was given by Dr. Neera Tewari-Singh from Michigan State University. Her presentation focused exclusively on dermal toxicity. Ocular and corneal anatomy was discussed in detail by Dr. Marion Gordon from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. The fourth talk covered corneal injury. Dr. Patrick McNutt from the US Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense focused his talk on corneal injury and regeneration. The final speaker was Dr. Nicole C. Kleinstreuer from National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, who talked about an integrated assessment of in vitro and in vivo toxicology studies for the rapid identification of clinical candidates. She is the winner of this year’s SOT Achievement Award for contributing to the field of toxicology, particularly in the areas of alternative toxicological methods and computational toxicology.
Overall the audience was left with a good basic understanding of dermal and ocular toxicity.
This blog was prepared by an SOT Reporter. SOT Reporters are SOT members who volunteer to write about sessions and events they attend during the SOT Annual Meeting and ToxExpo. If you are interested in participating in the SOT Reporter program in the future, please email Giuliana Macaluso.
Editor’s Note: A recording of the SOT 58th Annual Meeting and ToxExpo Continuing Education course “Beauty of the Skin Is in the Eye of the Beholder: A Basic Course on Dermal and Ocular Toxicology” is available on CEd-Tox, the SOT online Continuing Education catalog.